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C OMING A TTRACTIONS Following Rémy Fourré's primer on digitaljit-ter this month, in November Robert Harley will be using the UltraAnalog jitter analyzer to measure the S/PDIF performance ola num-ber of CD transports—including the C.E.C.

1, Mark Levinson No.31, Meridian 200 & 602, and Proceed PDT 3—as well as looking at the effect of the Audio Alchemy DTI. Also in November: Sam Tellig—fresh back from his honeymoon in the Czech Republic—talks about tube amps from Cary and McIntosh; Thomas J. Norton auditions the Mark Levin-son No35 DIA processor; Corey Greenberg reports on the intriguing DIA 100 integrated

amplifier from Acurus; Jack English listens to the Merlin Excalibur II loudspeaker; Robert Harley reviews DIA processors from MSB and McCormack; Dick Olsher reports on the awe-some Jadis JA-200 monoblock; and I will be writing about English rninimonitors from Har-beth and Rogers.

Next, an apology to Kirk Stanton Simmons of KSS Audio Engineering. We incorrectly attributed ownership of KSS in our August SCES report (p.103) to Fred Abrams. Fred only did the setup and is in charge of sales and mar-keting for KSS. We also described the KSS OIL

(continued on p.352)

STAFF President

LARRY ARCHIBALD Founder & Chief Tester J. GORDON HOLT

Publisher M ARK FISHER

(505) 982-2366 Editor

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PETER W. M ITCHELL BEBO M ORONI M ARKUS SAUER DON A. Scan STEVEN STONE SAM TELLIG BARRY W ILLIS

Musician in Residence LEWIS LIPNICK

Contributing Editors (music) PAUL L. ALTHOUSE CARL E. BAUGHER ROBERT E. BENSON LESLIE S. BERKLEY

KEVIN CONKLIN JOHN CRABBE ROBERT DEUTSCH

M ORTIMER H. FRANK ROBERT HESSON BETH JACQUES BARBARA JAHN

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STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 3 WorldRadioHistory

•

FEATURES 75 AS EASY AS ABC

Stew Glick offers some tuning tips for the terminal tweak.

80 INTERFACE & THE DIGITAL

Rémy Fourré of UltraAnalog offers a primer on jitter in digital audio.

101 RECOMMENDED COMPONENTS Fully revised, fully updated.

251 M OZART'S SYMPHONY 40 IN G MINOR Mortimer H. Frank listens to many, many recordings of this most emotionally intense of Wolfie's symphonies, and even recommends a few.

EQUIPMENT REPORTS

`••••• • ..0",

4

175 M ARTIN-LOGAN QUEST Z LOUDSPEAKER (DICK OLSHER)

183 ADCOM GFA-535 II POWER AMPLIFIER (COREY GREENBERG)

183 ROTEL RB-960BX POWER AMPLIFIER (COREY GREENBERG) 193 BRYSTON 7B NRB-THX MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER (THOMAS J. NORTON)

202 AUDIO FILE DISCLIFT CD TONGS (STEVEN STONE)

203 PS AUDIO LAMBDA CD TRANSPORT (ROBERT HARLEY)

206 PS AUDIO REFERENCE LINK D/A PROCESSOR (ROBERT HARLEY)

222 M ARTIN-LOGAN AERIUS LOUDSPEAKER (JOHN ATKINSON)

230 ROTEL RHT-10 FM TUNER (DON scoTT)

232 RF ENGINEERING RC-8-PS POWER SEQUENCER (J. GORDON HOLT)

235 AUDIOSTREAM PREMIER R-SERIES EQUIPMENT RACK SYSTEM (STEVEN STONE)

235 ARCICI SUPERSTRUCTURE II SPECIAL EQUIPMENT RACK (STEVEN STONE)

235 ROONMJNE DELUXE JUSTARACK (STEVEN STONE)

FOLLOW-UP 196 KRELL KSA-250 POWER AMPLIFIER (THOMAS J. NORTON)

212 PS AUDIO ULTRALINK DIA PROCESSOR (ROBERT HARLEY)

226 1141EL CS2 2 LOUDSPEAKER (JOHN ATKINSON)

239 SONIC FRONTIERS SFP-1 PHONO PREAMPLIFIER (ROBERT HARLEY)

241 M ICROSCAN ANTI-RESONANCE DEVICES (JACK ENGLISH) 241 114E W ELL-TEMPERED RECORD PLAYER (COREY GREENBERG)

241 SUMIKO ANALOG SURVIVAL KIT (ARM WRAP) (COREY GREENBERG)

242 M IRAGE M -1SI LOUDSPEAKER (THOMAS J. NORTON)

243 AIR TIGHT ATM-2 POWER AMPLIFIER (DICK OLSHER)

244 AIR liGHT ATM-3 MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER (DICK OLSHER, THOMAS J. NORTON)

245 SANUS SYSTEMS CF-35 COMPONENT STAND (THOMAS J. NORTON)

4 STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

OCTOBER 1993 VOL. 16 NO.I0 ©Stereophile — Vol. 16 No. 10, October 1993, Issue Number 165. Stereophile (ISSN #0585-2544) is published monthly, $35 per yearfor US residents by Stereophile, 208 Delgado, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Second-class postage paid at Santa Fe, NM and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Stereophile, P.O. Box 469027, Escondido, CA 92046-9027 Printed in the U.S.

COLUMNS 7 AS WE SEE IT

Robert Harley muses on the differences he has found between setting up systems for audio and video.

15 LETTERS Topics this month: DCC; "old goats" and others respond to Corey Greenberg's August attack on Genesis Technologies' Arnold Nudell; Corey Greenberg himself comments on the "war" between Home Theater and the High End; and many, many readers respond to Martin Colloms's recent reviews of the Combak Harmonix "tuning" devices.

43 INDUSTRY UPDATE High-end news from the US and UK, including the dealer-promoted manufacturer seminars taking place in October; Ken Kessler talks to a UK manufacturer who has decided to bypass high-end retailers; Robert Harley and Peter W. Mitchell listen to recordings illustrating the performance of DCC's PASC and MiniDisc's ATRAC data-reduction schemes; Alvin Gold on the Mission 760i loudspeaker; Steven Stone discusses a recent court case involving "The Greatest Show on Earth"; and ThomasJ. Norton and Peter W. Mitchell report on their auditions of the latest digital cinema soundtrack systemsfrom Matsushita and Sony.

251 BUILDING A LIBRARY Mortimer H. Frank recommends recordings of Mozart's Symphony 40.

261 RECORD REVIEWS In Classical: The first releases in London's "Entartete Musik" series; Norrington's expectedly unconventional Brahms Requiem; Bruckner from Barenboim, Blomstedt, Solti, & Wand; two very different takes on Schubert's Impromptus; recent Sibelius recordings; and Philips's exhaustive Lockenhaus Collection.Jazz from Mingus, Mongo, and Bruce Dunlap. New Rock releases from Heidi Berry, the Candy Skins, Carlene Carter, Skartaglen, and Paul Westerberg. Corey Greenberg ends his Stereophile record-reviewing career with a bang with his shakin; quakin' review of Hasil Adkins's Out to Hunch: read it and never be the same. Plus audiophile recordingsfrom Chesky, Clarity, Dorian, Mercury Living Presence. And from Audio Quest, our Recording of the Month: Mighty Sam McClain's mighty fine Give It Up to Love.

307 M ANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS 354 THE FINAL WORD

Larry Archibald discusses the plight of the high-end retailer.

INFORMATION 3 COMING ATTRACTIONS

325 WHERE TO Buy Stereophile 334 AUDIO MART 174 BACK ISSUES 259 SUBSCRIPTIONS 98 Stereophile HIGH END HI-FI SHOW

353 ADVERTISER INDEX

STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

flow there's an 11EIT loudspeaker in everybody's range. There is no single perfect loudspeaker for

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WorldRadioHistory

A

ROBERT HARLEY

/'ve watched from the sidelines with great interest the recent debate in this column over Home Theater? At one

extreme is the suggestion that Stereophile begin reviewing video and Home Theater products. The other end of the spectrum was

1 See "As We Seek," March, June, and August'93; and "Let-ters," May, June, July, August, and September'93, and in this issue.

best expressed by John Atkinson at Stereo-phile's 1993 High-End Hi-Fi Show in San Francisco. Hearing the booming bass over-flow of a Home Theater demonstration blast-ing down a hallway, he said, "They've brought televisions to our hi-fi show!"

In addition to being a music lover and audio purist, I also happen to appreciate film as an art form. Because I like movies, it would


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HOME THEATER IS A BOON TO THE FILM AFICIONADO. seem natural to want a Home Theater sys-tem. But are Home Theater and high-quality music playback inherently at odds with each other, or can they coexist in harmony?

I've just installed a Home Theater and have some insights into these questions? First, Home Theater is tenific. A large-screen mon-itor, Dolby Pro Logic decoder, subwoofer, and surround speakers greatly enhance the experience of watching movies at home. Moreover, by owning certain films on laser-disc, you can get the "director's cut" version and see the film as the director intended. Owning a film also allows you to watch it repeatedly and appreciate it on a different level each time. Some films need to be seen many times for a full understanding of the artistic intent. Without question, Home The-ater is a boon to the film aficionado. But I wouldn't want to listen to music

through the Home Theater system. I'm firmly convinced that the requirements of good video soundtrack playback are opposed to high-quality, music-only reproduction. You just don't seem to be able to get good sound from a Home Theater system. One expensive Home Theater loudspeaker system, JBL:s Synthesis One, even has a second set of drivers and a front-panel switch for selecting sound for film or music. Moreover, putting a large direct-view monitor or rear-projection tele-vision between the loudspeakers destroys imaging. This is the reason my enthusiasm for Home Theater is limited to those instal-lations in which the Home Theater is sep-arate from the music system—including use of a different room. The compromises in-volved are too high a price to pay for hav-ing a single system for both music and video? As much as I like watching good movies,

however, the experience is without question a step below pure music-listening. I find music much more engaging, compelling, and rewarding than film, no matter how good the

2 The system is: a Sony 46" XBR rear-projection television, Panasonic LX-1000 laserdisc player, Marantz AV500 Dolby Pro Logic preamp, five Marantz MA500 THX power amps, and the NHT VT-1 tower and VT1C video loudspeaker sys-tem with the NHT SW2P powered subwoofer. Cable is the S1.50/foot AudioQuest F-4. The Home Theater is in the living room, completely separate from my listening room.

3 There's one exception: the Cello system. Every time I've heard it, it sounded terrific on both music and video sound-tracks.

movie is or how well it's presented techni-cally. If! had to choose between never seeing another film and never hearing another piece of music, I wouldn't hesitate to forgo movies in favor of music.

This commitment to music is reflected in my attitude toward my music and my Home Theater system: When I make even a small improvement in my music system, I get ex-cited by it—the musical significance of that difference is meaningful to me. But when I upgrade the Home Theater, the difference isn't as significant. I don't care nearly as much about sound for video as I do about sound in my listening room. All I want from a Home Theater sound system is some sur-rounds, bass extension, and clear dialog. My requirements for a music playback system are far more stringent.

Part of the reason sound quality is much more important for music is that audio for visual images has an intent completely differ-ent from that for audio for music playback. Sound becomes subsidiary to image. The qualities in reproduced sound that we value as audiophiles are unimportant in Home Theater. Instead of delicacy, nuance, correct timbre, and realistic spatial presentation, Home Theater tends to go for bashing the viewer over the head with volume and bass.

Unfortunately, many critics of Home The-ater have had their impressions shaped not by watching one of their favorite movies at home with a good Home Theater system, but by a relentless series of mind-numbing, five-minute demonstrations at CES. These demos use ridiculous amounts of booming bass and absurdly loud playback levels to try to beat it into you that Home Theater is "good." The sound quality of these demon-strations is often a travesty by audiophile standards, with hard, brittle, metallic timbres that make one physically cringe. The sound effects are so jacked up beyond any reality that it assaults the senses. When Arnold Schwarzenegger cocks his shotgun in Termi-nator 2 (a CES demo favorite), it sounds like the shotgun is beingfired. No wonder many audio purists think Home Theater is a per-version of audio playback. But why is the mass market embracing

Home Theater? The first reason is for the


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THE SUCCESS OF HOME THEATER IS IN LARGE PART DUE TO MUSIC-LISTENING BEING LESS INVOLVING THAN IT ONCE WAS. qualities I described earlier: Movie-watching is more enjoyable with a Home Theater sys-tem. But there may be an underlying force at work here. I believe that the commercial success of Home Theater is in large part due to pure music-listening being less involving than it once was. Listeners are being driven to seek visual stimulation to compensate for what's been lost in music. The recording and playback of music is

vastly different from what it was 20 or more years ago. Think of the recording and play-back technology of the past: very simple tubed consoles; simple microphone tech-niques; groups and orchestras live in the stu-dio; few or no overdubs; and LP playback. That has all been replaced by horrible-sound-ing recording consoles (with literally hun-dreds of transformers and cheap op-amps in the signal path); performances that are edited, overdubbed, and multi-tracked to death; drum machines rather than drummers; over-close microphone placement; digital record-ing; poor engineering practices in transfer-

ring analog to digital; CD playback; and dome tweeters that mostly sound bright, hard, and ragged. How involving can music be with hard-sounding, over-bright digital recordings played back on cheap CD players and bright loudspeakers?

It's no wonder that pure music-listening is being pushed aside by the masses in favor of visual stimulation.4

So where does this leave the audiophile and music lover who likes film? My advice is to add a second, much cheaper audio system to your television—and don't mix it with your hi-fi. Buy a Japanese Dolby Pro Logic re-ceiver for $400 and a moderately priced set of video loudspeakers, and forget about it. Don't get into trying different cables or tweaks—the differences don't matter.

Save your money and efforts for some-thing really important—music.

4 Anyone who thinks today's recordings are vastly better than those made in the 1950s should listen to Keith Johnson's 1957 (!) recording of the Red Norvo Quintet, recently released on Reference Recordings RR-CDR

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A Critical Consensus on Sonic Frontiers!

SFL-1 Linestage Preamplifier

"Kudos is due SONIC FRONTIERS for offering the audiophile a line-level preamp competitive with any price-no-object unit I've heard to date. Specifically, anyone contemplating the purchase of an Audio Research LS-2 would do well to also audition the

latest SFL-1; you'll be surprised.

Wake up, exalted residents of Class A Towers - the SFL-1 is knocking on the door!" Dick Olsher, Stereophile, Vol. 16 No. 2, February 1993 (USA)

SFS-40 Stereo Tube Amplifier

"After hours and hours of A-B listening, the SONIC FRONTIERS rose above the crowd to earn our commendation as a Component of Merit. This amplifier is a winner in every

respect, and I have no idea how they provide so much amp for the money."

Martin G. DeWulf, Bound for Sound. Issue 10a, 11a 1992 (USA)

"It is wonderful! ...the SFS-40 will likely be the beginning of a long love affair for a large number of you who are looking for an entry point into the vast world of genuine high end

audio. We highly recommend this unit."

Guy Trepanier, Son HI-FI Video, No. 83, Jan./Feb. 1993 (Canada)

SFS-80 Stereo Tube Amplifier

"...the SFS-80 had been one of two amplifiers [the other being the ARC Classic 60] I used in my system, but now I am listening to the SFS-80 exclusively... I can whole-heartedly

recommend the SFS-80 with great enthusiasm."

Joel Shumer, The Audiophile Voice, Vol. 1 Issue 3, March 1993 (USA)

'The SFS-80 is an extremely straightforward and well-made amplifier with a Hall-of-Fame parts list and outstanding sonic performance: great power, impressive bass, realistic dynamics and rich harmonics....the SFS-80 is a musically satisfying power amplifier and

an outstanding bargain."

Jack English, Stereophile, Vol. 16 No. 4, Apri11993 (USA)

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L ETTERS

We regret that resources do not permit us to reply individually to letters, particularly those requesting advice about particular equipment purchases (We are also unable to take telephone calls regarding equipment purchases) Were we to do this, a significant service charge would have to be assessed—and we don't have time to do it anyway! Although all letters are read and noted, only those of general interest are selected for publication. Please note, however, that published letters are subject to editing, particularly if they are very long or address more than one topic. All correspondents should include their name, address, and a daytime telephone number.

UNHAPPY READER Editor: How Dick Olsher could call the Air Tight ATM-3 amplifier a "four-star product" (June, p.174) is beyond me. So "a loose resistor which had never been soldered" was discov-ered. For a component costing +$10,000/ pair, this is ridiculous. Cancel my subscrip-tion. DAVE ANDERSEN

Orange, CA

HAPPY READER Editor: Fteading J. Gordon Holt's reviews of the Sony CDP-X779ES (Vol.16 No.6) and Marantz DD-92 (Vol.16 No.7) reminded me of what insightful equipment reviewing is all about. During the 25 years I've been reading audio equipment reviews, no other reviewer has exhibited as clear and concise a style as Holt's. Mr. Holt's ability to explain complex con-cepts with understandable analogies never fails to amaze. (Color me green with envy.) JGH is never shy to commit—he often states his purchase decision—a trait many readers appreciate. Time and again, J. Gordon Holt proves he is the Maimonides of equipment reviewers. MARK ANGIOLETTI

Chicago, IL

SMUG READER Editor: I am a mid-fi buff. The reproduction of sound (music) is in the same category as color TV or pictures (snapshots). As long as the colors are reasonably accurate, the picture is

satisfactory. You would never try to match the color ola necktie or shirt by direct com-parison with a color print. I accept the reproduction of sound the

same way. I judge my equipment perfor-mance by how well it can reproduce square-waves up to 2 or 3kHz. I believe in measure-ments. I got a real thrill, therefore, when in your July issue [you gave] PASC and DCC good reports. The real kicker was when you resorted to measuring with meters and 'scopes to see what was missing in the data. You couldn't hear the loss of data! Good luck to you all.

ROGER W. MONTAGUE An Objectivist from Washington, DC

ANNOYED READER Editor: Those of us who bought JGH's book resent greatly having large excerpts reprinted in Ste-reophile. We paid for the material once, and don't at all like paying for it again.

ANNOYED READER Washington, DC

Although a good portion ofJGH's recent three-part series on subjective terminology ("Sounds Like?" in Vol.16 Nos. 7, 8, and 9) did appear in his 1990 book The Audio Glossary,' the text was rewritten, signeantly expanded, and re-edited. I don't think,

1 Subjective terms are only a small part off. Gordon Holt's complete Audio Glossary, which is available for $9.95 paper-back, 817.95 hardcover, plus $1.75 S&H, from Old Colony Sound Lab Book Service, P.O. Box 243, Peterborough, NH 03458-0243. Tel: (603) 924-6371 & 6526. Fax: (603) 924-9467. —JA


therefore, that Mr. A. Reader's complaint isjusufied. —JA

DON'T ADVANCE THE STRANGLEHOLD Editor: I don't see audiophiles benefiting by MD and DCC. Why doesn't Stereophile adopt an edi-torial policy that encourages these two for-mats to annihilate each other by competition or lack of use by Stereophile readers? If you're not getting paid by Philips or Sony, why help advance the mass marketers' stranglehold on consumer audio, as well as promoting son-ically questionable (at best) formats?

THOMAS M. DAWSON Lisle, IL

According to an article in the August 6 Wall Street Journal, neither format has taken the world by storm. MD, however, has taken the lead in the US, with an installed base of "more than 40,000" units, compared with "less than 20,000"for DCC—JA

MISSING THE DCC POINT Editor: Regarding DCC, JGH seems to have missed the forest for the trees (July '93, p.153). If standard cassette replay is inadequate and we are advised to keep our cassette decks for re-playing our existing tape collections, then what is the point of DCC? The raison d'être of DCC is backward com-

patibility. Why put up with the disadvantages of a tape medium for friture recordings if one cannot obtain good sound from existing tapes? If one must keep the old deck, then it would seem much more reasonable to go with DAT for future recordings. Or, if one does not mind a system that throws away 75% of the data, then Sony's MD at least eliminates tape (assuming its sound is okay).

Finally, I wish audio magazines would stop using the misleading term "data com-pression." Compression means to squeeze, and suggests the data is all there, but squeezed in tightly. With DCC and MD, a majority of the data were discarded (or were never re-corded), and can never be reconstituted. I can understand why Philips and Sony would want to mislead consumers. But the press should not countenance such deception, and should use terms that are accurate and not misleading. MARC RICHMAN

Washington, DC

Although I prefer the phrase "data reduction," data compression is the correct generic term, Mr. Rich-man, subdivided into self-explanatory "lossless" and "lossy" categories.2 See this issue's "Industry Update"for more on DCC and MD. —JA

THE WAR RAGES ON! Editor: In 1776, Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called Common Sense, a powerful and emo-tional exhortation to throw off a repressive, foreign government. Almost immediately, Paine's writing caused a groundswell of sup-port for revolution.

In the fall of 1993, Stereophile readers, buoyed by Corey Greenberg's scathing indictment in August of the Old Goat mentality at home (Santa Fe) and abroad (Chicago), demand more comprehensive rock/pop record reviews. Results of a specially commissioned reader survey reveal that rock is preferred over clas-sical by almost 4:1.

Richard Lehnert decrees that survey to be null and void. "An aberration," he says. Corey writes the first of his Crisis papers! The war rages on! RONALD KOCHAN

Highlands Ranch, CO

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN? Editor: [Corey Greenberg's SCES Report] in August (p.113) found a responsive chord here, in par-ticular the sense of eternal frustration on the sameness ofit all and the wonderful pictures: Arnie Nudell ripping off himself with the Genesis clone of the Infinity IRS with the eternal byline ". . . an all-out assault on the state of the art for [fill in a very large num-ber]." Somehow that "all-out assault" line would scan more cleanly as "an all-out assault on that old sense of déjà vu all over again." The "more affordable" Wilson Grand SLAM/V1E (p.93) looked like nothing so much as an odd pile of ill-assorted boxes on a shipping dock somewhere. I wonder if the name connec-tion with the "Grand Slam" breakfast at Denny's is deliberate. S. MARQUI SS

Plymouth, CA

COREY DOESN'T GET IT Editor: It's the obstreperous Corey Greenberg who just doesn't get it. Not because he uses the

2 The August'93 issue of IEEE Spectrum featured an excel-lent primer on the subject. —JA

16 STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993

WorldRadioHistory

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word "limpid" as though he thinks it means "limp" (August, p.117), or that he seems to be butt-obsessed. It's that in order to "juice his lizard," he needs his music up to "He-Man levels." It's that piercing blast that shoves me out the door.

I'd head for the door if he played Beethoven at those levels. Maybe it's because I was born before rock'n'roll—Ana! An "Old Goat"— and, therefore, my hearing hasn't been de-stroyed. I admit I don't like rock music. I think it

is uninteresting. I have no problem with rock lyrics. Corey is correct: They are not limpid. Tipper Gore is nice, but how she knows that some of the lyrics are dirty is beyond me. Maybe they're singing Shakespearean son-nets. How can you tell?

So, Corey, I don't like having my ears shat-tered, nor do I like having my butt kicked. Moreover, it's not the size of Rush Lim-baugh's butt that is cause for concern, it's the size of his audience. They, like others, might profit from listening—maybe even with lim-pidity. EDWARD CLAYMORE

San Francisco, CA

We remain satisfied that Corey's use of the word "limpid" was correct on p.117 of the August issue.

-PG

THE BOOK OF GENESIS Editor: Let me guess, Corey. The snake's blood you drank in Taiwan inadvertently released your evil twin brother on the world and the real Corey Greenberg lies gagged and bound in a closet in New Mexico (hey, not a bad idea!). Or, maybe Corey Greenberg is really just a pen name cleverly disguising your true iden-tity. Who could you really be? Elvis? Jesse Helms? Adolf Hitler? A spoiled brat? We can only guess. You have achieved something great, how-

ever. I must tell you that your mission to elim-inate our foolish and endless devotion to Audiophile-Approved pap and get back to real music that real people listen to is wonderful. It saved me. No, really! Before I read about your quest to rid the world of this slime, I was doomed to spend the first two hours of my morning listening exclusively to Sara K. and Amanda McBroom "recite their laundry lists" (as my friend Ken Kessler puts it). After that, I would get secret perverse pleasure

from subjecting my entire family to another hour of original Sheffield recordings (so the past audiophile pap wouldn't be forgotten). But now, thanks to your insight, I have been saved. Hail Corey! But there's a problem, oh exalted one. That

was our secret. We didn't want anyone to know. You see, Arnie and I are both really closet audiophile-pap devotees. We hide behind all kinds of great music (that we only pretend to enjoy) just to make sure nobody catches us. Surely, the five minutes you spent in our room at the June SCES (August, p.113) couldn't have told you about our little secret. And, surely, I wouldn't want to accuse you ofjumping to conclusions or having your head up your ass. So how could you deter-mine that we were polluting the poor unwit-ting saps that walked into our CES room— from the one or two cuts you heard? Could it be that you missed the non-audiophile discs we played? Maybe you missed the Pink Floyd, the Vinx, Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales, Take 6, the Mahler Symphony 5? I know you heard Peter McGrath's wonderful recording of the Corigliano Symphony 1 (you squirmed with discomfort through the whole thing). Maybe you don't have a clue as to what you're talk-ing about?

Actually, I think we just pissed you off. I am awfully sorry you didn't get your way. If we had only known that your marna didn't raise you with any manners, that you didn't know how to act when you're a guest in some-one's room.. . gee, had we known all of that, we would have just thrown you out of the room to begin with and not extended the courtesy that we did give you.

Let me, however, share a couple of thoughts with you anyway. First, the person you so quickly dismiss as "an old goat" who hates rock'n'roll is, besides being my best friend, one ola small handful of people who have devoted their lives to successfully bringing the joy of music (of all kinds) into millions of people's homes. He does not hate rock-'n'roll, I assure you. Have you nothing but contempt for those

who actually make a contribution? Is the chip on your shoulder so big and your heart so full of anger and guilt at your own lack of mean-ingful contribution that you have no room for appreciation, respect, and encouragement for those who have? What could you possibly hope to achieve


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by your angry words? Have you furthered the cause of music? Humanity? Hate litera-ture? Did you take the time to hear all that we played on the Genesis Is? Were you there during any of the several different times that the audience applauded, a phenomenon I have never witnessed at over 40 CE Shows? Were you there when your colleagues at Ste-reophile publicly and privately praised the way the system sounded? Are you deaf? Were you there to see the sheer joy in people's eyes when they viewed and listened to our efforts? Do you care? Or did you come in predis-posed to vent your anger on anyone who had the gall to not agree with everything you think? 'Xcuuuuuse me!

Let a medium-aged goat (I'm an ancient 45) give you a little advice. Everyone knows that the only reason you are asked to write for Stereophile is that you provide a fresh approach, an alternate viewpoint, and you create color and controversy. Your writing style is born of your internal anger that you vent on the readers, along with a healthy dose of enthusiasm (which is indeed infectious). I believe that people tolerate your bursts of anger so they might enjoy your insights and enthusiasm. The problem is that your anger hides the real Corey Greenberg. Once matu-rity strikes you (it happens to the best of us, Corey) your anger will subside, the chip on your shoulder will dissolve, and the world will be privy to your true nature.

If that nature goes one way, you'll keep your job. If it goes the other way, I would suspect you'll be thrown out. So what is the true nature of Corey Greenberg? The first possibility is that you are a bright and insight-ful young man with room in his heart for all kinds of music, tastes, and viewpoints. The second is that you are an insensitive jerk. I hope for the former, but I suspect the lat-

ter. Good luck, bud. PAUL (RAISED ON ROCK'N'ROLL) MCGOWAN

Genesis Technologies, Vail, CO

Corey Greenberg declined to respond to Mr. McGo-wan, but did offer the following letter in response to Ken Gould's "As We See It" in August. —JA

CG VS THE HIGH-END AUDIO FASCISTS Editor: After reading Ken Gould's anti-Home The-ater "As We See It" in August (Vol.16 No.8,

p.7), I feel I must clarify my position regard-ing Home Theater coverage in the pages of Stereophile. With all due respect, JA mischaracterizes

my position in his introduction to Mr. Gould's essay. In fact, I have never stated— privately or publicly, as JA implied that I had on the CEFORUM section of Compuserve3 —that I felt Stereophile should be reviewing video components. Never have, never will. Because, like JA, I think Stereophile should stick to covering what it knows best—audio —and leave video coverage to the 100 or so video-specific mags on the newsstand already. What I do think Stereophile should be re-

viewing more of is the audio side of Home Theater—surround processors, speakers, multi-channel amplifiers, and anything else that makes up the sonic half of the Home Theater experience. Because, as I wrote in my Home Theater primer for Rolling Stone'sJune 10, 1993 issue, it's the audio advances in the Home Theater sector, not developments in video technology, that have sparked the in-credible growth and public awareness of Home Theater in the past several years. The televisions that Home Theater nuts watch their movies on haven't radically improved in the past five years, but the recent advent of affordable, high-quality surround-sound is the reason that many audiophiles are now getting interested in Home Theater—and why many high-end manufacturers and deal-ers are gearing up to meet that demand.

I've been watching with amusement the unfolding drama between hardcore high-end audio fascists and audiophiles who would also like to experience their favorite movies in their homes with as much quality as pos-sible. I've always been a music lover, but I've also always been a movie lover. Why the desire for high-quality movie reproduction in the home is considered heresy by some audio-philes is beyond me. "Every dollar spent on a Home Theater

is one less dollar spent on a high-end audio system," goes the familiar bleating refrain from the Down With Video crowd, but I just don't get it—does that mean that because every dollar I spend on my motorcycle is a

3 Compuserve's CEFORUM Consumer Electronics forum features audiophiles and industry professionals chattering, debating, and otherwise bitching endlessly online about all things audio/video. My own Compuserve ID is 75230,2714 —all you need is a modem and a prayer to log on and deluge me with all the hate mail you can spew. —CG


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dollar I'm not spending on my hi-fi rig, motor-cycles are bad for high-end audio, too? And semiautomatic weapons? And Ben &Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream? I believe that everybody wins with Home

Theater. The general public—which thus far hasn't even been aware of high-end audio's existence—is now flocking to audio-special-ist retailers to buy new speakers, amplifiers, cables, etc. for their new Home Theaters. It's the smart retailer who will take this oppor-tunity to sit these high-end virgins down for a moment to hear, for the first time, their favorite music played on a high-end audio rig. The retailer can also point out that records and CDs sound significantly better on a high-end audio system than when played on even the best Home Theater system.

All it takes is this first listen to a really good system to awaken the general public to the virtues of high-end audio—something the High End has traditionally been largely una-ble to do. Home Theater is bringing new potential customers into the tent, and any-one in the High End—whether a dealer, manu-facturer, or magazine—who ignores this growing consumer segment has got his or her head in the sand.

As always, the bottom line should be FUN. I dig Home Theater—who wouldn't want to experience favorite movies in the comfort of one's own home with higher quality than almost any commercial theater in the coun-try? The same quality-driven impulses that lead audiophiles to high-end audio are be-hind Home Theater, and it's time the High End stops telling people what they should want, and starts listening to the people to find out what they do want. The smarter dealers, manufacturers, and magazines already reali7e this and accept Home Theater for what it really is—another source of fun which the people want and the business can sell to them.

For my part, I plan to continue reviewing the kinds of products I love: high-end audio gear. But I also plan to review the audio side of Home Theater, too: surround processors, video-specific speakers, multi-channel amps, and anything else that contributes to the audio side of the Home Theater experience. Many of my readers are clearly interested in these product categories, and that's all I need to hear. See you at the movies, Pee Wee!

COREY GREENBERG Austin, TX

VIDEO VS THE HIGH-END DINOSAURS Editor: I have been following the ongoing debate among your staff over Home Theater and Stereophile's review policy regarding video equipment. Long a connoisseur of high-definition audio, I am also a movie aficionado. I found video a natural addition to my exist-ing audio system. While the outcome of your review-or-

not-to-review debate will have no impact on me, I believe it may have an impact on the future economic viability of your publica-tion. With the advent of digital HDTV, the future of audio will become inextricably tied to vide& The day may soon arrive when, due to the economic purposes of the recording industry (the same people who brought you the Compact Disc), audio will be perceived only as the soundtrack for the video perfor-mance. Future releases of audio-only signal sources may be relegated to the MiniDisc or the Digital Compact Cassette. While I don't advocate this as the best out-

come, we as audiophiles need to prepare for change. None of us can stop technological change: Hopefully, we will use the develop-ments to achieve our goals. Ken Gould's guest editorial in the August

1993 issue exhibits an unhealthy resistance to change. Mr. Gould's opinion is that his "Holy Trinity" of equipment designers, audio stores, and devoted listeners can be destroyed by the commercial drive that some high-end manufacturers are currently pursuing. Mr. Gould feels that economic success will cause manufacturers to ally themselves "with the dark side of the force," and that this will no doubt destroy the purity of the high-end designers. But wait! This is not religion. It's audio!

Contrary to Mr. Gould's religious belief, the future of high-end audio is determined by a branch of statistics known as demo-graphics. The basic market demographics of the "typical" audiophile is a baby-boom male with above-median income level. Guess what, guys! We aren't making more baby-boom males. Unless we can develop new audio afi-cionados, the High End as we know it will die offjust as surely as the baby-boom male. High-end audio needs to expand its mar-

4 See Tom Norton's report on digital cinema sound systems

in this issue's 'Industry Update?' —JA

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ket niche, and if video is a viable route, then it should be pursued. To overlook the pos-sibility is to accept the inevitable: High End as we know it will be another dinosaur, like Mr. Gould. MARK ANGIOLETTI

Chicago, IL

THE WORD OF GOD? Editor: Mark my words! When J. Gordon Holt says something, you fools had better listen. In the long run, video is going to take over the High End. Period. Right, JGH? Right, God?

BEN E. DOUGHTY Cleveland, TN

JARGONED OUT Editor: I read, with great interest and anticipation, JGH's article, "Sounds Like?" Part One, on subjective terminology (Vol.16 No.7, p.59). I have obtained quite a bit of information from Stereophile over the past couple of years, but, after devouring many equipment reviews of all kinds, a couple of pressing questions keep recurring.

There is a generous, unstinted use of these non-measurable terms by your entire staff to try and convey the sonic pictures of the equipment being reviewed. (The tomato seen bouncing off the top of the list of "audio jar-gon" on the May cover is mine. I was aim-ing for "dynamic bloom:' but missed.)

After reading RI-I's report on the extremely expensive Mark Levinson No31 Reference CD Transport (Vol.16 No.6, p.138), I seri-ously began to wonder how all these colorful accounts ("expansive "transparent:' "liquid:' "right," "inner detail," "spectacular sound-stage," and "sweetness") could be applied to a component which is designed merely to spin the CD. I own the Stereophile and Chesky Test CDs. None of these have tests for "sweet-ness" or "inner detail." If you would (could?), please explain, in non-white-paper, laymen's terms, how various-priced CD players, pro-cessors, transports, power amps, preamps, turntables, and cables can differ so greatly in their abilities to re-create these subjective characteristics. Are these characteristics in-tended by the designer and built into the unit? Is it a crapshoot? What actual device or qual-ity or quantity makes one CD player or set of interconnects able to produce better "soundstage" or "sweetness" than another?

If these components are intentionally engi-neered to sound a certain way, should not the equipment manufacturers and the reviewers label the units as such to facilitate system-component and pocketbook matching? Al-though some of your reports do suggest certain ancillaries to seek or avoid for a nice system match, there is little method or con-sistency to your otherwise informative re-ports regarding this matter. JA's "summing up" of the Thiel CS2 2 (Vol.16 No.1, p.247) refers to the Audio Research Classic 120 and the Thiels being "a marriage made in heaven!' This can't be the only great combination of power amplifier with this particular speaker. I am certain that most of your readers (and

I) have neither the time nor the money to be able to crisscross hundreds of combinations of various components to come up with a winning system the way you folks do. You have certainly defined the terms. If these sub-jective descriptions are valid, why not give your readers a more "objective" guide to these subjective terms? How about a simple value or rating system? ALLAN V. PENA

Torrance, CA

SCAM OF THE YEAR? Editor: I read with laughter, amusement, and dis-belief Martin Colloms's recent review of the Combak Harmonix RFA-78 Room Tuning Devices (August, p.156). I was reminded of those who paint the edges of their CDs green with Magic Markers, of the rings which some attach to the edges of their CDs, of the Tice clock, and of $600/foot CD intercon-nects. I thought the rip-off artists in the world of audio had thought of everything, but, boy, was I wrong! The 16 metal discs, each the size of a quarter and which are to be attached to the corners and sides of the ceiling and floor of the listening room, sell for $595—and win, hands down, the prize for "Audio Scam of the Year!' I was very amused by Mr. Colloms's ac-

count that, at first, he refused to hear any difference in sound quality, but then it slowly dawned on him that he was hearing a change that he attributed not to the primary room response, but to energy storage and delayed reverberation of the room surfaces them-selves. He said the room seemed to allow a wider dynamic range, sounding strangely quieter, and allowing for darker, deeper si-


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lences between musical notes. He noted that the RTDs improved the perception of musi-cal rhythm by giving the musical notes better-defined beginnings and ends. Mr. Colloms is in the Land of Oz with

Dorothy if he claims such acuity of hearing. Sounds like hogwash to me! 11 16 little discs can cause all those changes, just think what a piece of furniture moved around the room would do. The movement of one's body would cause major changes in room acous-tics. I suppose anyone dumb enough to spend $595 for 16 quarter-sized metal discs had bet-ter say they hear some difference—just so they don't feel stupid or guilty for spending all that money. RALPH WILSON

Waynesburg, PA

HAR/vIONIX SUBVERSION Editor: I strongly disagree with Martin Colloms's review of Harmonix tuning devices by Corn-bak. They degrade the sound by 25%. And the Harmonix RFA-78 Room Tuning De-vices can destroy a room's sonic qualities. Being an audio TERRORIST, I recently

placed these tuning devices in all of the major symphony halls across the country, including Chicago Symphony Hall, Powell Hall in St. Louis, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York's Avery Fisher Hall, plus halls in London, Berlin, and others in Europe. I have changed the acoustics of all of these great halls with Combak tuning devices. Can anyone hear the difference?

MARON HORONZAK Webster Groves, MO

HARMONIX NUMEROLOGY #I Editor: Years of reading high-end publications have finally infected me with a locutionary ailment common to certain reviewers: the increas-ing tendency to quantify purely subjective impressions, as in: "The addition of Holy Icon decals to the front panel of the Thun-der Lizard power amplifier resulted in a 3.5% improvement in upper-midrange piety." Or: "After applying Miracle Grow to the playing surfaces of various CDs in my collection, there was a 14.6% increase in bloom." What got me hooked wasn't the use of numbers for rough approximations—"The new Sonic Sage is at least 50% more revealing than its predecessor"—it was the attention to tiny

increments and the use of least significant numbers, sometimes taken two places to the right of the decimal! How precise, how exacting!

At first I thought this form of verbal short-hand was a charming, tongue-in-cheek at-tempt to poke fun at the "meaningful mea-surement" school of reviewing. But then I found it creeping into my everyday conver-sation. I thought it made me sound more scientific, more authoritative. Maybe it helped bolster my sagging self-confidence. I don't know. Once I started doing it, I couldn't stop. Now I can't simply say, "The sky is bluer

than sapphire." I have to say something like, "The visible atmosphere is resonating near the wavelength of 475 nanometers with 12.8% greater intensity than this time yester-day." When it comes time to make compara-tive distinctions, instead of reaching for descriptive metaphors, I begin defaulting to ratios and percentages: "You know, the grass seems at least 27.5% greener after it rains," or, "The roses smell sweeter in the morning by a 5:4 ratio than they do late in the day." I notice formerly loquacious friends dis-

tractedly examining the ceiling during dis-cussions or suddenly remembering that they have to dash to the store to buy cat food. "You know, Andy," I said to one, "You are less interested in hanging out with me by a factor of at least 1.5 than you were 2.3 months ago. What gives?"

I've tried to contain my obsession with attaching significant numbers to sensory experience, and seem to be doing quite well, at least in casual exchanges at work—that is, in about 72.1% ofordinary encounters. I may even pass for normal among 65.5% of my workmates. (Of this I'm not quite sure, and my uncertainty seems to be increasing by about 3dB/month.) My therapist tells me that in order to work through this problem, I must stop resisting and surrender to it. So, at home, I let it all hang out. A typical din-ner conversation: Me: "I talked to Charlie Weatherford in

St. Louis today. Did you know they've had 309% more rain this year than in any year since 1965?"

Wife: "Urn, no, I didn't." Me: "You know, I could swear this Char-

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is higher by about 11.5 points than the last time we had it!'

Wife: "Really. That's interesting, dear?' Me: "I was reading in the latest Audio Ava-

tar that Protean Polyphonics is bringing out a new cable which promises a 28° increase in apparent soundstage width and at least a 10.25% improvement in harmonic integrity?' Wife: "Fascinating. Did you see where I

left the TV Guide?" Sometimes I get the impression she's not

really interested in the acuity of my obser-vations. Like last night, after what I thought was an especially torrid romantic interlude (working from a base established by averag-ing our last 300 such encounters), I turned to her and said, "Darling, you were marvel-ous. Sweeter by a factor of almost 3.07, more tender by at least 17%. Expressiveness in-creased noticeably, maybe by as much as 5.2 points. Intensity was improved by several dB—my estimation is, probably on the order of 9 to 9.2. You really know how to commu-nicate the music?' When I came out of the bathroom, she was

gone. There was a note on the bed saying, "I've gone to stay at Nancy's. Get a life, or get out!" I haven't always talked like Data, the an-

droid on "Star Trek." I started after reading publications like Stereophile. I don't want to lose my wife. I want to be normal! But 52.67% of the time (± 0.05%, averaging public and private conversations), I can't con-trol myself.

Help! BARRY WILLIS Atlanta, GA

HARMONIX NUMEROLOGY #2 Editor: Martin Colloms found a 7% improvement to his Linn turntable system with the Corn-bak bases. Come on! I also have Combak bases on my LP12. But I don't pretend to know what percentage my popcorn improves with extra butter. I like butter on my pop-corn and bases on my LP12, but I certainly can't tell the difference between a 6% and a 9% improvement. DENNIS DAVIS

Mill Valley, CA

HARMONIX NUMEROLOGY #3 Editor: While I appreciate MC's efforts to quantify the measure of improvement he heard in his

reference system while reviewing the Corn-bak Harmonix Tuning Devices (Vol.16 No.7, p.131), the mathematical aspect of his analysis was nonsensical.

First, it's a wonder that MC was able to as-sess the improvement heard in individual components with such specificity ("a 3-4% lift in speaker quality was obtained which was not confined merely to the woofer band-width . . ." Indeed! Could it not have been 2.2% or maybe 5%?). This sort of "preci-sion" demeans the import of the article and Stereophile's efforts to correlate specs to per-formance, since it obscures a subjective anal-ysis with a false cloak of scientific objecti-vism. Reviewing audio components and accessories is an art, not a science, and the measure of aural improvement to a single component in a complex audio chain can-not be so easily reduced to a mere minuscule number. The result is meaningless misinfor-mation, and a disservice to your readers.

Second, in his conclusion, MC gauged the overall improvement that the Tuning Devices had on his system to be "30-40%." If this were true, it would seem the Combak Har-monix products represent an extraordinary bargain in high-end audio: Who wouldn't spend 3-4% of the cost of his/her system on "dots" and "belts" to achieve an improve-ment that would otherwise cost 10 times as much? Talk about sonic value per dollar! Of course, MC's percentages are indeed

incredible: ie, they are not credible at all. Presuming that every component in MC's system (electronics, speakers, cables, CDs, etc.) equally contributed to the final sonic product, the overall improvement to his sys-tem would be equal to the average improve-ment to the components. In no event could the overall improvement exceed the greatest percentage improvement to any single com-ponent! MC's aggregation of individual component percentages is laughable.

This sort of voodoo mathematics is remini-scent of Max Bialystock's (played by Zero Mostel) scheme in The Producers, in which he sells 50% of a terrible Broadway show to each of dozens of gullible little old ladies. It's a terrific idea (one that Combak should enjoy all the way to the bank), but not something a reasonable person would invest or believe in. Combak's products may well be worth the investment, but I don't know, and MC's article didn't help me decide.


MC ought to know better than to concoct such a flawed means of assessing the strength of an audio accessory. Stereophile has helped to define a language by which the quality of music can be responsibly assessed. That lan-guage, not meaningless numbers, are what its readers have come to expect.

SCOTT M. LEVENTHAL Wynnewood, PA

I agree, Mr. Davis—I can't tell the difference be-tween a 6% and a 9% improvement. But, with practice and many, many comparisons, a ballpark figure comes to mind, and that's the number I put down. All numeric indicators for subjei the perfor-mance can-y a significant tolerance, due to both test imprecision and, more fundamentally, variations of system setup, matching equipment, room acoustics, and program source. They are only intended as a relative guide as to how items compare.

While I appreciate Mr. Leventhal's critical view concerning the questionable scientific aura suggested by the use of numbers or percentages to describe changes in sound quality, I stand by those numbers in my attempt to quantify my and my colleagues' subjective reactions—made as dispassionately as possible—in response to the changes in sound quality arising in those systems in which Harmonix products were tried. I am very familiar with the improve-ments wrought in amplifiers, loudspeakers, and CD players—for example, resultingfrom credible up-grades in engineering and structure—and such improvements are hard won. It was both frustrating and entertaining to find that the insubstantial tuning devices could provide such surprising enhancements in a well-set-up audio system. Where I gave a figure, for example, of 30-40% overall improvement to the sound quality of the test system, I meant it! It really did sound a whole lot better, an improvement comparable to what could be achieved with major upgrades to at least two important system com-ponents. I will continue to report on all components which

affect sound quality in the most consistent way I know how, and in the absence of adequate language to describe variations in sound quality, I will continue to use numbers. Many critics end up stonewalled against a heap of superlatives, as I did several years ago before I elected to use an admittedly imperfect numerical scoring system. -MC

REVIEW THE SONY? Editor: First of all, I would like to say that I've en-joyed reading Stereophile for many years now,

but I seem to have one little problem. That problem has to do with the "Recommended Components" listing and a particular piece of equipment. For many years now, the Sony TC-D5M Professional portable cassette recorder has made the list, but I always see NR, which I believe means not yet rated. My question is, WHY? I recently purchased one from J&R Music

World (800-221-8180) for about $550. I think it's a great cassette deck, and I took the risk because of the "Recommended Com-ponents" listing. But I would like to see a full-fledged equipment report on it in one of your upcoming issues. I would also like to see a report on the Headroom headphone amplifier and audio image processor before I purchase one. (It was advertised on pp.84-85 of the March issue of Stereophile.)

RICHARD A. MASSO Austin, TX

First, I am currently working on a review of the Headroom headphone amplifier. Second, "NR" stands for "No Review." Though it has never been formally reviewed in Stereophile, the Sony TC-D5M portable cassette recorder appears in "Recom-mended Components" because I have used one with excellent results since 1979. Don't let its "NR" sta-tus stop you from enjoying what it does, Mr. Massa

-JA

You OWE SIGNET AN APOLOGY Editor: I think that whoever puts "Recommended Components" together owes Signet a deep apology. To quote TJN's October 1990 re-view (Vol.13 No.10, p.131), "They are solid Class C loudspeakers, in my judgment, but they also pound heavily on the door of the far more expensive and panache-drenched Class B minimonitors." How, by the beginning of 1993, does the

Technical Editor of Stereophile get overruled? The Signet SL280 is downgraded to a Class D speaker with a bright tweeter. The SEAS tweeter in the Signet is not bright at all when paired with my Acurus DIA-100. The bass response (35Hz) blows away the Spica TC-50. Signet has a better reputation for relia-bility. Its soundstage and detail are easily the equal of the Epos ES14. . If I owned Sig-net, I would be after your head.

PHILIP W. MEECH San Francisco, CA


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As the one who compiles "Recommended Compo-nents," Mr. Meech, I take the blame for the down-grading of the Signet. Alarmed by the over-wide range of performance in each of the Class B and Class C loudspeaker categories in "Recommended Components" a couple of years back, I decided to redefine the then Class D category as "Class E" (for entry level) from the October 1991 listing onward. That enabled me to split old Classes B and Cinto three new ones—B, C, and D—which more closely defined what could be expected in each class. The Signets are indeed excellent speakers—and a great value at their current price of $700/pair—but the consensus among our writers was that they just didn't quite make the new Class C But to be honest, I don't see why that should matter to you, Mr. Meech. It seems that the Signets work well in your system, and that's what's really important. Enjoy your music andforget "Recommended Components" —until you're trying to decide what to buy next.

—JA

THE DAHLIA REVISITED Editor: I was about to build the European crossover designed by Martin Colloms for Dick 01-sher's Dahlia loudspeaker (September 1987, p.79). However, I noticed that the series in-ductor value of 3.1mH in the woofer feed would mean that the woofer would begin rolling off at about 400Hz. Was this a mis-print—ie, should it be 0.31mH rather than 3.1mH? Thank you. JIM FEDERICI

Connecticut

European tastesfavor a richer and more distant bal-ance for the Audax TPX cone woofer used in the Dahlia. The inductor value of 3.1mH is correct and is chosen because the woofer's natural response begins rising at around 4dB/octave above 300Hz, while, in addition, its impedance is raised by the contri-bution of voice-coil inductance. The crossover design has a large series inductorfor midrange equalization and a correspondingly small shunt capacitor to retune for the correct crossover point. -MC

THE VINYL TRUTH #I Editor: I want to thank Corey Greenberg for kicking this old rocker right in the butt—it was just what I needed. I'm talking about Corey's review of phono cartridges (Vol.16 No.4, p.203). I know, I know, Stereophile (and espe-cially TAS) have been saying all along that vinyl still rules where it counts .5 But it took

Corey to "lay it down" as only he can (hey, Corey, I was right with you, babe, for the ending of "Spoonful" at the San Francisco Hi-Fi Show) to get me thinking again about LPs. I no sooner finished reading Corey's article than I ran out and bought a VPI Jr./ Pega RB300/Sumiko Blue Point Special combo —I'm awaiting the Mk.III upgrade and sta-bilizer base that should arrive any day now. You see, although I, too, got sucked in—

hook, line, and credit card—by "perfect sound forever," I've also collected vinyl for more than 25 years. Thank God I didn't trade in most of my rare and valuable (to me) records. Recently, I've been scouring the used record stores to replace much of my lost vinyl—with great success, I might add. Now, armed with a subscription to Goldmine (thanks, Guy Lemcoe), I'm on my way—I will never give up on vinyl again.

"Costs less, sounds better" than the No.30. . .you bet! Thanks, Corey.

JOHN WARMOUTH Manteca, CA

ThE VINYL TRUTH #2 Editor: As a longtime record collector and certified beer-budget audiophile, I have followed Stereophilds turntable reviews with a mount-ing sense of disbelief. My present turntable, an 1974 AR XA with a tweaked original arm, sounds almost as musical as my new CD player, and for a time I thought about buying a new turntable and cartridge to get even bet-ter LP playback. I'd like to thank CG, GL, and DO for their turntable reviews, which are informative and very enjoyable to read. Thanks to these reviews, I'm convinced that my best course of action is to keep using my old AR turntable and spend the upgrade money on LPs, CDs, open-reel tapes, and possibly a new pair of speakers. Your idea of "affordable" is out of sync

with reality. The higher-priced Class D turn-tables, if equipped with a decent cartridge, are more expensive than any CD player rated in Class C or Class D in "Recommended Components." Any novice audiophile who

5 I overheard the following at the 1993 Hi-Fi Show in the Vandersteen room. A young attendee (probably late 20s— geez, am I that old?) handed Richard a CD to play on Richard's No.30/31 setup.

Richard: "I have this on vinyl, if you'd prefer." Young attendee: "YEAH!" Nuff said!


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browses through your component picks will likely conclude that setting up an LP play-back system is too expensive, and will buy a CD player instead. The costs of upgrading to a Class Cor high Class D turntable are just as daunting to budget-constrained audio-philes who appreciate the musicality of LP playback, but don't have a trust fund or a six-figure income to bankroll their audio hobby. Your Class D recommendations all offer

less environmental isolation than my vintage AR. A floating subchassis suspension, as used on the AR and the Linn LP12, is an excellent way to isolate the stylus from acoustic feed-back, motor vibration, and structure-borne vibrations. Not one of your Class D picks has this type of suspension, and the under-$1000 turntables don't provide any suspen-sion at all. If we assume that an audiophile on a budget is unlikely to buy a $200+ stand for his new $500 turntable, the decision by SOTA, VPI, Rega, et al, to leave the suspen-sion out of their "budget" turntables makes no sense at all. It's even difficult to justify this decision on purely economic grounds be-cause the old AR, which would sell for about $300 in today's inflated currency, had an excellent suspension.

If you want to convince more audiophiles of the virtues of LP playback—and you should, if you want the LP to have a future—then I suggest that you seek out some good low-cost turntables to recommend to your readers. These 'tables should cost less than $400, including base, dust cover, and arm, and should include an effective spring or elastomer suspension for environmental iso-lation. They should also deliver near-high-end sound, of course. I suggest listing these entry-level high-end turntables under Class E in "Recommended Components," as you do with budget-priced speakers. Exposing more audiophiles to the glories of well-reproduced analog sound is the best way I know to ensure a future for the LP and the equipment needed to play it back.

DONALD P. BILGER Livonia, MI

IT DON'T COME EASY Editor: Sometimes, being an audiophile isn't easy. There are lots of decisions, compromises, and disappointments. Like speaker spikes. A set of speaker spikes carne with my Thiel

CS3.5 speakers, but I was hesitant to try them, considering the possibility of instant new carpeting, etc. But a couple of days ago, after rereading some of the articles in Stereo-phik, each of them implying that spiking was practically mandatory, I summoned up the courage and stuck them in. My system isn't too terrible (by 1990 stan-

dards): a magnificent Krell KSA-100 power amp, the new Adcom GFP-565 preamp, a Stax Quattro CD player, and a Rega turn-table, with Linn arm and Ortofon MC car-tridge. Very respectable sound. A number of fellow audio freaks have admired the overall sound of the system, especially with regard to the "low-end authority" one of them mentioned. Upon installing the spikes, I was astounded

at the immediate overall improvement in every area: greatly increased clarity and defi-nition, much-improved imaging, and awe-some bottom-end extension! I was thrilled! Nirvana! I had no idea the spikes could make that much difference! That is, until last night, when I had an

audio pal over. He brought a few LPs along, but I couldn't play a single one at anything above a very low level without horrendous, room-shaking low-end rumble! I had never had this problem before! Removing the speaker spikes cured the

problem. I have some choices available. . . perhaps replace the turntable with a Basis (bah!), or possibly some expensive turntable stand, or maybe even some cones or some such under the turntable? Or listen to CDs only! Drat! I decided to leave well enough alone, and

go with the slightly reduced clarity and defi-nition of no spikes. Actually, if I hadn't heard the difference, I would have been happy without them. Trouble is, I did hear the differ-ence! It can be frustrating to be an audiophile!

CHUCK Ross South Holland, IL

As the Rega doesn't have any suspension, it is prone to rmaly the problem Mr. Ross mentions. Placing the turntable on a Target wall-mounting shelf will help. So tvillfinding the positions in the room where the bassfeedbackfrequency has its nodes (ie, where the sound pressure level is at a minimum) and siting the turntable at one of them. Regarding Mr. Bilger's complaint that we don't recommend any inexpensive high-performance turntables that have suspensions,


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the reason is that there aren't any! Even the most recent version of his AR turntable, when it was last available, cost $725 with arm, and at that price—let alone his conjectured $300—it did not offer AR sufficientfinancial incentive to keep it in production. Incidentally, our 1988 survey showed that the two most common turntables owned by Stereophile readers were the AR and the Linn LP12. Make of that what you will. —JA

DEALING WITH REALITY Editor: Your subscription-renewal reminders are in the recycling bin.. . . It just seems pointless to wade through pages of technosnooze data and graphs in each issue dealing with the change-your-life component of the month when each product is far above my budget.

Sanity checic, guys. Listen up. A $750 equip-ment purchase is a major expense for myself and the vast majority of your readers. Such an acquisition would not qualify as "cheap-skate" at all in my book. In fact, a system made up of components in this price range would constitute a significant investment. You must realize that most of us are not out there buying components that sport price tags that belong on automobiles. We have reality to deal with. Besides, I can't believe that all of tomorrow's classic audio compo-nents have five-figure price tags on them today. So how about it? Give us perhaps a few

more reviews of satisfying and musical com-ponents we all might actually be able to own, rather than dream about. You'd have a lot of happy readers—and at least one more renewal.

ANDREW PENNELLA Stamford, CT

TASTY PBJ Editor: After reading Corey Greenberg's enthusiastic comments regarding Kimber Kable's KC-PBJ interconnect (July 1993, Vol.16 No.7, p.125), I decided to have a listen for myself. I concur with Corey's findings—the PBJ wire is indeed tasty. In fact, I replaced all the cable in my system with PBJ. I urge anyone in the market for new interconnect to give PBJ an audition (even if you can afford veal cutlets). But what is even more impressive than the

sound is the price: $62/1m pair. My local dealer informed me that Ray Kimber is a very

ethical man who believes that many high-end manufacturers falsely inflate the prices of their products to increase profits. Perhaps these designers and manufacturers don't realize what Ray Kimber knows: If one sells a prod-uct for less, per-unit profits will decrease; however, if it's a superior product, one will sell more of it and make more profits overall. I would be willing to wager that PBJ wire is selling like hotcakes, and that Kimber Kable is going to make lots of dough.

Hats off to Mr. Ray Kimber for making a superior product and selling it to the masses at a terrific price (good business sense). And hats off to Mr. Corey Greenberg for taking the time and energy to find such a wonderful product. It's PB&J for me!

TODD BROMGARD Chicago, IL

PBJ IN CANADA Editor: It was pleasant to see that Corey Greenberg has discovered Kimber PSB interconnects, since many of my friends and I have used them since late 1987! Sure enough, it was brought to most people's attention by Russ Andrews in the British hi-fi press, and has oddly been renamed by Mr. Ray Kimber as "PBJ."

This cable can also be woven by hand from Kimber 4TC, except that the colors are not so nice and the weave not quite as good as from a machine Just to prove a point, readers should try using this apparently unshielded (it isn't really) cable from MC cartridges to preamp. I have had no hum problems on my Maplenoll/Koetsu Red Signature, and the stuff sounds as good there as everywhere else Note that in Martin Colloms's great cable

review in HFN/RR some years ago, Kimber PSB only got an above-average, not excel-lent, rating. I personally attribute that to MC's not using it throughout his entire system—since I build my own electronics, including severely modified CD players, I use Kimber hookup wire throughout. It's the same good stuff, with Teflon dielectric and seven-sized conductors—and no excuses or boring "White Papers" required to explain what it is. Three years ago, at a friend's hi-fi store, I

attended a lecture on a type of cable with a name not unrelated to a well-known engi-neering university. As the talk and demo


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proceeded to cables of ever more dizzying cost and unfathomable construction prin-ciples, the Mirage M-1 speakers let out gasps of despair at the ever more strange signals fed into their terminals! The sound appeared to become progressively worse with the more expensive interconnects. Then, while the businessmen talked marketing, we slipped some PSB between Kinergetics CD40 and power amp. Well, what a difference for the better! I recently was in Calgary, and found a

dealer with a reel of PSB on the shelf. "Awful stuff;" he said. "Our customers find it shrill, and much prefer Cardas." Since I was only on a visit to the West, it seemed to me, an Easterner, that a mild insult was in order! "Can we put that down to the altitude," I asked, "or is it just an Albertan affliction caused by the giveaway price?" The gentle-man declined to answer, but, unfortunately, would not sell me the reel for a cheap price, either.

So be warned: If you want your cables to be a tuning filter in the manner of solid-core conductor, Kimber is not for you. It's for serious audiophiles who like music, but aren't snobbish—and who don't equate actual tre-ble with cheapness! Yeah, I like it a lot.

W. M. BRUCE ARMSTRONG Waverly, NS, Canada

HIGH-END INSURANCE Editor: I recently reviewed my homeowner's insur-ance and noted that, officially, my insurance company only insures stereo equipment up to $1000. I spoke with my agent on the phone, and she said that most likely my insurance company would reimburse me for the full cost of my equipment if there was a total loss. In light of this, I was wondering if you knew of any insurance companies that specialize in protecting stereo equipment, similar to how there are insurance compa-nies that specialize in performance and antique automobiles. NEAL BLATT

Ann Arbor, MI

I do not claim to be any sort of expert on home-owner's insurance, but the $1000 limit seems unusual—I've never heard of any such restriction. I would NOT however, depend on any verbal reas-surance that the company would "most likely" cover me. Request that the exception be deleted, and ff they

will not do so, accept the fact that any loss over $1000—minus any deductible—is at your own risk. Otherwise, either check out the price of a rider on the policy to cover your equipment, or shop around for a better company. Every insurance company operates a little differently. I wouldn't expect that you would need any sort of "specialist" company to insure consumer electronics gear in your home.

You might also want to investigate something called "replacement cost coverage," offered by some companies. It will protect you from the insurance company knocking off a big chunk of the settlement for "depreciation," though such coverage will cer-tainly increase your premium (a tradeoff which must' be factored-in). This is a real-world problem which I'm sure affects many audiophiles. -111%1

LIVE, LOVE, & FLATULENCE Editor: I just returned from a Steppenwolf concert: goosebumps everywhere, soundstaging no-where, no depth, no height, no pinpoint imaging. One way to achieve balancing is to stand in the middle. The stomach moves, the heart palpitates. There's energy, an instant nonchemical high. The feet move by them-selves, and the hands clap automatically. A muddy, unfocused sound may be totally enjoyable.

Put my C-J, Linn, Oracle, Celestion high-end system in the dust. The High End is just fun—real music is visceral, sort of like your first heart attack. Love and farts, KEN MCNULTY

Framingham, MA

A NON-ISSUE? Editor: "Women & the High End"? Man, what a non-issue. Or it was a non-issue. Can some-one tell me what a person's race or gender has to do with the pursuit of audio enjoyment?

People hear differently, have diverse tastes, and certainly are unalike in their degrees of devotion to our hobby. I'm pretty sure women are people (maybe from another planet) and don't deserve to be singled out as a curiosity. So there aren't many women into high-end audio; this information may be interesting in an academic sense, but this is not an issue.

Actually, this listener never even thought about it until recently. No babes, huh? Time for a new hobby. . . NOT! JOE PLAZIAK

Niles, IL


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US: John Atkinson Dealers who are putting on manufacturer and designer seminars should let me have the details so I can give them some free publicity in "Industry Update."

Specialized Sound, 621 South Gammon Road, Madison, Wisconsin, is presenting John McIntosh of B&W on October 21, at 7pm. Seating is limited, so call (608) 271-7744 for reservations.

Also on October 21, Karen and Jack Sum-ner of 'fransparent Audio Laboratories will be giving a talk entitled "Can You Really Hear the Benefits of Cables That Have Been Properly Designed?" at Florida's Sound Components (1533 Madruga Ave., Coral Gables, Florida). Also appearing at Peter McGrath's Sound Components store will be John Dunlavy, previously of Duntech and now of Dunlavy Audio Labs, on October 28; and, giving the World Premieres of the new Mark Levinson No.38 remote-con-trolled preamplifier and the Proceed PAV audio/video preamplifier/surround-sound processor, will be Sandy Berlin and Mark Glazier of Madrigal Audio Laboratories. Call (305) 665-4299 for times and details.

Manhattan's Sound by Singer (18 E. 16th St., New York) is presenting a series of semi-nars throughout the fall. Lew Johnson and John Reagan of Conrad-Johnson Design will appear on October 14; David A. Wil-

son and Mark Goldman of Wilson Audio Specialties will appear on October 28; Dan D'Agostino, Dean Roumanis, Joe Sammut, and Steve Portacarrero of Krell and Krell Digital will appear on November 11; and Jason Bloom of Apogee Acoustics will appear on December 2. Call (212) 924-8600 for times and details.

Brooklyn's Innovative Audio is also presenting David Wilson with his new Wil-son $58,950 X-1/Grand SLAMME loud-speakers on Friday and Saturday, October 29 and 30, along with Richard Fryer of Spectral and Bruce Brisson of MIT. Three weeks later, Chief Engineer Martin Dalgleish of Linn Products will host a Linn Seminar at Innovative Audio on Thursday-Friday, November 18-19, from 2-8pm each day, with special presentations at 2pm, 4pm, and 6pm. The peripatetic David Wilson will also be

demonstrating the X-1/Grand SLAMME loudspeakers at Progressive Audio, 1764 N. High St., Columbus, Ohio, on November 16. Seating at this presentation is limited, so call Progressive Audio at (614) 299-0565 for times and reservations.

Georgia dealer Hi-Fi Buys' "store-within-a-store the Sound Gallery (1200-A Wilson Way, Smyrna, Georgia), is hosting a whole series of seminars this fall: Bob Stuart of Meridian on October 12; Ian Paisley of


Mirage on October 14; Jason Bloom of Apogee Acoustics on October 21; Mo Iqbal of Monitor Audio on October 26; Bill Low of AudioQuest on October 28; Dan D'Agostino of Krell on October 28; Glen Grue of Classé on November 2; Mark Schifter of Audio Alchemy on November 4; and Michael Elliott of Counterpoint on November 11. Each seminar will run from 7:30pm-9:30pm; phone (404) 333-9932 for details.

Kansas retailer Kier s (2429A Iowa St., Lawrence, Kansas) is sponsoring a manufac-turer seminar on Friday, October 22, from 7-10pm. Participants include Jim Yamaguchi of California Labs, with their new Alpha processor and DX-1 CD player; Matthew Bond of TARA Labs; and Gayle Sanders of Martin-Logan, who will be demonstrat-ing the Quest and Aerius loudspeakers. For reservations, call (913) 842-1811.

In Canada, Mor-tone Stereo Sales, 35 Harvard Road, Guelph, Ontario, will be presenting the Grand Opening of its new high-end sound room on October 14, with demonstrations of the latest Nalcarnichi and Aragon components. Mor-tone says that if you plan to be there, you can bring your own recordings. Space is limited; call (519) 821-4151 for a reservation.

Finally, UltraSystems' Manhattan show-room has Roonilime head honcho Michael Green available for personal customer con-sultation on room acoustics and treatment, clamping devices, and speakers until June 1994. Michael will also make house calls, but as all consultations are by appointment only, those interested should call UltraSystems at (800) 724-3305, or Fax (215) 297-8661.

Dealers holding similar events should Fax (don't call me) the when, where, and who at (505) 983-6327 at least eight weeks before the month of the event—ie, if you're putting on something in January 1994, you should get the information to me by November 1. Mark the Fax cover sheet "For the attention ofJohn Atkinson—Dealer Bulletin Board."

UK: Ken Kessler What's the weakest link in the hi-fi chain? Cables? Amplifiers?

What has turned hi-fi from being a Top Ten desirable into a laughingstock and a nightmare?

According to more than one British manu-facturer, try retailers. Or, specifically, British retailers. Whatever anyone thinks of reviewers (I'm the first to admit that my profession has done as much as any other part of the hi-fi community to damage the credibility of hi-fi in the public's view), most manufacturers would point out that retailers are in the front line They're the ones who deal with the pub-lic one-on-one, so they're the ones who make or break sales, who attract or frighten, who serve or deceive. They're also the ones with the biggest profit margins.

British dealers bleat as loudly as any about monstrous overheads, gray (parallel) imports, irresponsible magazines, good/bad/honest/ crooked reviews, ball-busting manufacturers, idiotic customers, etc. ad nauseam, but—at last—I've found a manufacturer willing to go on record about how he views retailers. John Watson of Mana Acoustics—a tweak I had assumed more likely than not to sym-pathize with Flat-Earth, politically correct UK retailers—has had his fill of 'em and closed down his entire UK dealer network. (He cites only London's Sound Organisation and The Comflake Shop as dealers he'd trust with his own system.) While Mana's tables and equipment supports can be purchased from specialist retailers in countries other than the UK—Naim USA is the American distributor—all British purchases must now be made directly from Mana.

Watson's tales of recidivist behavior among British retailers, of sloth, dishonesty, and appalling service, make for an interesting comparison with the self-righteous mutter-ings of the retailers themselves, most of whom believe their own dogma. And what-ever Linn, BADA (British Audio Dealers' Association), and the other "retail reformers" think they've achieved, it's still hell out there for the average customer. . . even if he thinks he's selected a dealer with sufficient care. Not knowing enough about American,

French, Canadian, Italian, German, or indeed any other high-end retailers to put John's tales into context, I can't regard them as a universal and accurate yardstick for the global hi-fi marketplace ca 1993. But whether you're a manufacturer, distributor, or customer, see if any of the following seems familiar to you:


Watson mentioned one disillusioned cus-tomer who had spent over £20,000 ($30,000) in one store Upon purchasing a new pream-plifier (+C4000), the customer decided to have his power amps and power supplies updated to the new-look fascias so they'd match his latest purchase. The equipment would be away for six to eight weeks. Did the shop treat this valued customer with a "loaner" amp, even a cheapo budget inte-grated amp so he'd have music in the interim? (Party game: Find a single hi-fi retailer in the universe who doesn't have some old or obso-lete amp out in the stockroom which could easily be used as a loaner.) You know the answer! Watson recently spent the better part of

one morning on the phone to a customer interested in a full system's worth of Mana tables. An hour after the call ended, a retailer phoned up for precisely what the customer had discussed. The retailer happened to be located in the same town as the caller. Upon checking, John ascertained that the retailer's order was on behalf of the same individual. The retailer boasted about the sale, then asked for every possible financial consideration after Mana had done all the work. Watson said he decided that he'd rather keep his own profit margins if he had to do all the work. One retailer, who owed money on an

invoice for more than 90 days, proceeded to berate Watson for having the nerve to press for payment after the retailer acknowledged that, yes, he'd already sold everything on the invoice. When Watson asked the where-abouts of the money, he was told, "I used it to pay my VAT bill."

Another +£20,000 customer, accustomed to browsing on Saturdays while he carefully added components, was astonished at the change in the staffs behavior once he had completed his system and, presumably, his purchases. No pleasantries, no cup of coffee, no welcomes. Watson reckons that, with proper train-

ing, anyone can set up his amplifier stands in 10 minutes and the equipment racks in 20-30 minutes. He grew tired of calls from Mana retailers expecting him to do the setup. He even got a call from one retailer who'd obviously cannibalized a Mana stand for its spirit level—the retailer expected Watson to drop by with another. Even more depressing is a story from Wat-

son about one self-important manufacturer who had the audacity—after proving incapa-ble of setting up his own company's system in the customer's home—to blame the poor sound on the room, the equipment tables, and, finally, even the company's own prod-ucts. Which begs the following question: When is a fairly new flagship loudspeaker "worn out" and in need of replacing? Answer: When the company has a new model. On it goes. None of it surprised me one

bit; I've had the misfortune to observe a number of these so-called experts in action. I've had phone calls and letters from readers, and heard sorry tales from manufacturers not as willing to talk on the record.

If the state of the British retailer in 1993 is anything like the above, then it helps to explain in part why the British market is in sorrier shape than any other, barring known war zones. Watson thinks that it all comes down to the dealers' failure to make the tran-sition from the golden days of the 1980s— when customers were all but throwing their money at the shops—to the current reces-sion. What started out as holier-than-thou, single-demo-room, spikes-up-the-kazoo self-righteousness has turned into the worst form of arrogance this side of a multiple "electrical" shop. Truth be told, you get better service in the stores that will also sell you a vacuum cleaner and a dishwasher. Trouble is, none of those stores, in the UK at least, can be bothered with selling "real" hi-fi.

US high-end retailers reading KK's depressing report may be confident that the standard of cus-tomer service isfar higher on this side of the Atlantic However, they should note: a) the success that Bose has had by completely bypassing the traditional audio retailer, and b) the success of mail-order com-puter and software houses, who readily supplied the expertise and help that specialist computer retailers were unable to provide. The writing is on the wall for audio retailers who cannot demonstrate to their customers the value they add to the products they sell. -JA

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uled for March 1993. Well, that show never happened. However, its organizers, Hong Kong-based YK Audio, publishers of Audio-phile and Clock And Watch magazines, recently announced that their "1st High-End Hi-Fi Show" will now take place in Beijing, October 8-10, 1993. The venue is the China World Hotel, 1 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue, Beijing 100004. Further details can be had by contacting Peggy Ma ofYK Audio, Room 203, Man Yee Building, 60 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 524-8775. Fax: 845-0746.

US: Robert Harley In the July issue (Vol.16 No.7, p.101), J. Gordon Holt, Tom Norton, and I reported our surprise at the sound quality of Philips's Digital Compact Cassette. We were taken aback because DCC's low-bit-rate encoding scheme (called PASC) requires only one-fourth the number of bits per second used in conventional CD encoding. How could a quarter the number ofbits represent the sig-nal so faithfully?

In part, my technical description of PASC included: "There are two techniques by which PASC reduces the amount of data representing the audio signal. The first is a much more efficient coding method; the sec-ond ignores certain parts of the signal which the encoder judges to be inaudible."

It's the second part that has audiophiles and music lovers worried. Just what part, and how much, of the music is discarded to achieve the low data rate? When I wrote that description, I had no way of knowing how much ofPASC's drastically lower bit rate was due to more efficient coding techniques and how much was due to the discarding of musical information. I now have an answer to this important

question. A clever experiment designed and conducted by audio consultant George Dmytryc has allowed me to hear only the por-tion of the signal discarded by PASC. This ex-periment isolates the portion of the signal ignored by low-bit-rate coders.

Here's how it works. While researching an article on MD and DCC for the magazine

Electronic Musician, Dmytryc recorded a piece of music from a CD onto a Sonic Station, a Macintosh-based, hard-disk digital audio-editing system. He then recorded the same segment of music onto the hard disk again, but with PASC encoding taking place before the conversion to a conventional S/PDIF data stream. The PASC encoder was that within a Philips DCC900 domestic recorder. All transfers were made in the digital domain with no A/D or D/A conversions.

Next, he lined up the two versions in time, with single-sample accuracy. By inverting the polarity of one version and combining the two signals, the remaining signal would consist ofjust the difference signal between CD and PASC. If the two signals were iden-tical, they would cancel completely, and no output signal would appear. In effect, the CD and PASC-coded signals were being com-pared on a sample-by-sample basis. The signal remaining at the output—called the "residue"—would be the information dis-carded by PASC. The same technique was applied to the

ATRAC low-bit-rate coding used in Sony's MiniDisc with the same musical selections, this time using the Sony MZ-1 portable MD recorder. Dmytryc performed the procedure on PASC and ATRAC-coded signals using six widely varying musical selections, along with spoken female voice. He also made mul-tiple generations (up to five) through PASC and ATRAC coders. Finally, he recorded all these tests on a write-once CD (CDR) which was made available to me. To say I was eager to hear this disc was an

understatement. After listening to the musical segment with no coding, I heard the PASC residue of that signal. I was shocked by how little signal was present. I could hear only a trace of the music, mostly treble Apparently, PASC removes only a small portion of the music signal. Most of PASC's greatly in-creased data efficiency is achieved by more sophisticated coding techniques, not whole-sale removal of musical information as I had feared. This conclusion corresponds with my listening impressions. I reported in the July issue that PASC was barely audible only some of the time, and when it was, it wasn't necessarily perceived as a degradation. This new "residue" test has resolved a lot of ques-tions about how PASC works.

Unfortunately, the same tests performed


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on ATRAC used in Sony's MiniDisc weren't so encouraging. The ATRAC residue was very much higher in level, had much more bass and midrange energy, and exhibited a curious phasey character that shifted rhyth-mically between the loudspeakers.' The cyclic nature of the residue signal is particularly troubling because the brain is very good at recognizing rhythmic patterns, even when, presumably, that cyclic character applies to information that is being subtracted from a signal. Moreover, spectral analysis of both the

coded music signals and the residue sug-gested that PASC is more faithful to the orig-inal signal. A spectral analysis of the ATRAC residue revealed energy over most of the audio band: PASC residue content was con-fined to 3kHz and above—and was much lower in amplitude. This could also be seen in FFTs of the music signal coded by the two formats. ATRAC-coded music had a notice-able rolloff above about 8kHz. A visual analysis of the Sonic Station's

waveform display showed a pre-echo ap-pearing before a transient when the signal had been ATRAC-coded. This pre-echo wasn't apparent with PASC coding. The multiple-generation tests again showed

PASC to be the superior coder. Even after five PASC coding/decoding generations, the sig-nal was virtually identical to the original. Multiple generations through ATRAC, how-ever, produced noticeable distortion. The fifth-generation ATRAC signal was grossly distorted, with a coarse fuzz riding over the waveform. 1 This phasiness was much more pronounced on headphones. I also found that the stereo ATRAC residue was considera-bly more reverberant than the PASC residue Accordingly, the MD-processed version of a signal will sound drier, less ambient than the original. —JA

Transient signals exacerbated ATRAC's generation loss. The differences between coders revealed in these tests weren't subtle. In every test, PASC was shown to be better than ATRAC—and by a wide margin. To be fair, I should point out that PASC consumes 192kb/s (thousand bits per second) per chan-nel, a 50% increase over ATRAC's 128kb/s per channel. At these compression levels, 64kb/s makes a big difference. In addition, the ATRAC encoder used in the MZ-1 is said to be not as good as the professional units used to master prerecorded MDs.

Unfortunately, it appears that we've ended up with the good coding system (PASC) on the poor carrier (Dcc) and the poor cod-ing system (ATRAC) on the good carrier (MD). I believe the optical disc-based Mini-Disc is a vastly better format for personal audio than the clunky and slow, tape-based DCC. It's a shame that Sony and Philips couldn't resolve their differences to give us

Sony MZ-I portable MD recorder


the best of both worlds—PASC coding on the MiniDisc.

US: Peter W. Mitchell In September (p.53) I mentioned that E. Brad Meyer had recorded some comparisons of MiniDisc sound on a DAT at his digital edit-ing studio (Point One Audio). I now have that tape and can report the results. Track 1 contains excerpts from several

familiar CDs, beginning with a tenor aria from Handel's Messiah conducted by Hog-wood and transferred to a professional DAT recorder in the digital domain. Track 2 con-tains the same Messiah excerpt, but this time the digital code was passed through the ATRAC perceptual coding system in the Sony MZ-1 MD recorder.

(Using the MZ-1's TosLink digital in/out connectors, the original 16-bit PCM codes were recoded by the ATRAC circuit, which reduces the digital signal to an average of three bits per sample for recording on MiniDisc. Then the signal was decoded by ATRAC in playback, generating new 16-bit PCM codes that were recorded on the DAT as track 2. The object of the comparison is to see whether the regenerated 16-bit codes sound different from the original 16-bit codes in track 1.)

Playing the DAT through a good D/A converter, one can hear the effects of the MZ-1's ATRAC circuit without being confused by the distortion in the MZ-1's own ratty D/A converter. ATRAC, like the PASC cod-ing system in DCC, reduces the digital bit rate by discarding signal information that is deemed to be inaudible to the human ear. Sure enough, the sound was slightly different. The timbre of the harpsichord seemed thin-ner, more tinkly, as if its upper harmonics were being strengthened at the expense of its rich lower midrange—producing an illu-sion that its strings were being plucked by a metal plectrum instead of a quill. The tenor voice, too, seemed to lose a bit of its chest res-onance. The stage-area reflections that are a con-

spicuous part of this recording were still there in the MD copy, but the individual sound sources seemed flattened. Thus, the tenor voice and harpsichord seemed no longer to be fully rounded and three-dimensional: They seemed like flat cardboard cutouts on a deep stage. I have heard a similar difference

when comparing a high-end CD player (with reduced timing jitter) with an inexpen-sive mass-market CD player. I don't conclude from this that ATRAC

added jitter to the digital signal; it may have introduced intermodulation distortion simi-lar to that caused by jitter. Remember, digital jitter is not directly audible to the human ear. We measure jitter in picoseconds, but the smallest timing differences audible to the ear are measured in microseconds, a million times larger. As I reported in this space in November 1989, digital timing jitter adds intermodulation distortion to the decoded analog waveform (similar to the distor-tion caused by scrape-flutter in analog tape recorders).

For track 3, the signal in track 2 was dig-itally copied back onto the MiniDisc and returned to the DAT, going through a sec-ond generation of ATRAC processing. For track 4, this process was repeated again (three generations of ATRAC), while track 5 is a sixth-generation ATRAC copy. Many writers have speculated that after an origi-nal signal has been ATRAC-processed once, a second or third pass through the ATRAC circuit will cause little or no further change. (After the subtlest details of the waveform had been sacrificed in the first pass, later generations would simply preserve the same thinned-out version of the sound, the the-ory went.)

But, in fact, each added pass through MZ-1's ATRAC circuit produced an obvious change. With successive passes the sound became progressively uglier, as ever higher levels of background hiss, modulation noise rising and falling with each note, gross distortion, and uncorrected dropouts were added to the music. Beyond the third gener-ation, the sound was unacceptably bad, even by the standards of AM radio.

Is this the best that ATRAC can do? The later tracks on the Meyer DAT compare the sound of prerecorded MDs vs the equi-valent CD. An excerpt from the MiniDisc of Hush by Bobby McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma was copied via TosLink onto DAT, and the corresponding track was dubbed from CD for direct comparison. One pair of compar-ison tracks was identified, followed by six more dubs; for each of these the source (CD or MD) was decided at random by coin toss. These six source identifications are known


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only to Meyer, so for anyone else listening to the DAT at home this is a double-blind comparison. A similar set of dubs from MD and CD was repeated for a second record-ing, the "Walking Blues" track from Eric Clapton's Unplugged (Reprise 45024). While listening to these tracks once

through loudspeakers, I heard no difference in the sound. I listened to the McFerrin tracks several more times via headphones, but still heard no clear difference in sound that would allow me to tell which tracks were from MD and which from CD. I then tried two head-phone amps, and heard a clear difference in sound between them. Compared to this, any difference between CD and MD is slight.

Finally, I tried what I call the Robert Harley test: I stopped listening critically to identify a difference in the sound as sound. I relaxed completely and just enjoyed the music, hoping to observe whether there was any subliminal difference that might affect the expressive communication of the music. Thus, I noted my degree of enjoyment and absorption in the music, my state of relax-ation, and my spontaneous toe-tapping and finger-waving. Based on these factors, I guessed which

tracks were from MD and which from CD (assuming, of course, that the reduced bit rate of MD would lead to a reduction in musi-cal pleasure). According to Meyer, I identified four of the six tracks correctly—not enough better than random guessing to demonstrate that I heard a real difference. Corey Greenberg heard the Meyer DAT

before me. Listening casually to the tape via speakers, he could not reliably distinguish the MD and CD dubs. However, in repeated listening to the Clapton tracks through Grado headphones, he correctly identified the source of five of the six unidentified dubs. There was no clear difference in guitar sound, but in the ATRAC-processed version he observed some transient congestion in Clap-ton's voice at phrase beginnings.

Since the comparison DAT was recorded via TosLink connections, it's possible that subtle differences between MD and CD could have been obscured by veiling in the TosLink. (For example, microphonic vibra-tion of a plastic-fiber cable can introduce dig-ital jitter.) It will be interesting to repeat this comparison when tabletop MD players become available with an ST optical or high-

quality coaxial digital output. Then it may be easier to resolve small differences. At any rate, it seems clear that the ATRAC

process (at least as represented by the profes-sional ATRAC mastering circuits used to make commercial MDs) introduces much less sonic deterioration than we previously supposed. It remains to be seen whether the ATRAC encoders in consumer MD recorders can produce acceptable recordings.

Dr. Roger Lagadec of Sony and David Birch-Jones of Marantz respond to RH's and PWM's reports in this month's "Manufacturers' Comments."—JA

US: Steven Stone "Damn everything but the circus" is prob-ably e.e. cummings's best-known line. After you finish reading the following tale, you might just feel that an updated line for the '90s might be: "Damn everything, especially the circus!' My tale begins in Westboro, Massachu-

setts, where Katy Moffatt was performing at the Old Vienna Coffee House, a venerable folkie club that has featured everyone from Mike Auldridge to Townes Van Zant on its minuscule stage. Watching the show on this particular evening was Ken Irwin of Rounder Records, owners and distributors of Philo Records, the US label for Katy's newest CD, The Greatest Show on Earth. After her set, Ken gave Katy a letter from Julia Strauss, Esq., the corporate counsel for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The letter stated that The Greatest Show on Earth was in vio-lation of US trademark laws and constituted unfair competition for the circus. Strauss demanded that Rounder cease and desist dis-tribution of Katy's CD immediately, remove all product from the marketplace, and take the phrase "The Greatest Show on Earth" out of the song of that title. Rounder Records immediately quit mak-

ing the CD. It also agreed to recall the disc, but the first production run of several thou-sand had already been distributed to DJs and firms on the company's promotional mailing list? Rounder further agreed to change the cover art, the title of the release, and remove the offending song from the album. All of

2 Getting promotional records back from DJs and radio sta-tions once they've been sent out is virtually impossible, because 75% have usually been given away to listeners or sold to used record stores within a few weeks of the mailing.


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ing which extends useful bass output down to a creditable 50Hz or so. The two drive-units-3/4" polyamide-dome tweeter and 5" doped fabric-cone woofer—are driven through a single pair of 4nun binding posts, and are bolted to an injection-molded baf-fle that forms a sandwich construction with the open box formed by the sides and back panel. A wraparound low-diffraction grille completes the package.

It's hard to say what the 760i's secret is. It doesn't look all that special, yet appearance is dearly part of the answer. The wraparound grille is both technically clever and visually distinctive, helping to separate the 760i from a marketplace crowded with formulaic clones and lookalikes. The 760i is also peculiarly classless, lacking some of the usual visual reference points of a budget design. The only real clue to its status is its size—or lack of it. But in the less-is-more world of audiophilia, size and cost are related only in the loosest way. In the final analysis, the Mission's diminutive proportions are scarcely an impediment to the British buyer, even if, to a US audiophile, the product looks like little more than a midrange unit in search of a sub-woofer.

Musically, the 760i has a certain charisma. It doesn't reproduce more detail than other speakers, though it's crisp and clean. Bass is tidy, but hardly earth-shattering in weight or authority. However, the 760i does have two truly

standout qualities: a subtly articulate mid-band and a tremendous dynamic consistency. You'll find, for example, that the Mission doesn't need to be turned up as loud as you might expect because it retains a strong sense of presence regardless of the volume setting. Turn the amplifier down so that the music is just audible, and the music still ebbs and swells sweetly and can be followed without strain. Yet when you do wind the volume up, the Mission neither compresses unduly nor becomes harsh or aggressive. Of course, there are limits, but over a use-

fully wide range of volume settings, the 760i offers a genuinely big, consistent perfor-mance. This—combined with its articulate midband—marks the Mission as special. But the Mission 760i is not in any sense

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sponsive to system-tweaking. For example, changing to a better amplifier results in real improvement of sound quality. It's a real David in a world of Goliaths, always a win-ning formula in the Auld Countrie. The task for dealers has been helped by the spectacular incompetence of many larger, more costly loudspeakers, and even by some of the more celebrated competitors in the same price range. Most dealers can set up a system which works well with 760is, yet struggle with Linn Kans or any of the BBC LS3/5A variants, both of which are much more demanding in different ways.

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this was done without the artist being notified. Ms. Strauss, meanwhile, had been a very

busy bee, sending similar letters to Katy Moffatt's home, her music publisher, and her co-writer, Tom Russell. Katy was surprised by the whole thing, and began to make phone calls to people she hoped could help her—or at least shed some light on the legal dog-droppings she had stepped into.

First, she called the ACLU, which decided that this wasn't a free-speech issue but a commercial-speech one? (They reasoned that she stood to make money from the song.)

Katy then called NARAS (National Asso-ciation of Arts and Sciences), and Mike Green, president of NARAS, suggested she call attorney Al Schlesinger. Schlesinger told Katy that the cover art would definitely have to be changed because the typeface used and the circus-poster graphics were too close to what Ringling Brothers uses for its own promotional materials. Schlesinger felt the cover graphics were indeed in violation of Ringling Brothers copyrights. The song itself was another matter. BM! and ASCAP together list more than

70 songs with the title "Greatest Show on Earth," going as far back as the 1920s. None (except Katy Moffatt's) has ever been the sub-ject of a legal injunction by Ringling Brothers. Many predate the Ringling Brothers trade-mark, but just as many are post-trademark. Song titles receive no copyright protection. (Entire songs do, however.) Otherwise, the first person who wrote a song titled "Baby I Love You" could prevent anyone else from using that title virtually in perpetuity. The upshot is that after several more phone

calls between Ms. Strauss and Mr. Schles-inger, Ringling Brothers relented on de-mands that the song be destroyed. They agreed to let it stand, as long as the title was substantially changed. Rounder will thus be re-releasing The

Greatest Show on Earth as The Evangeline Hotel, and the song will be renamed "Step Up, Buy

3 Given this reasoning, no song is protected from possibly malicious copyright-infringement suits. Since copyrights, when granted, can be applied retroactively to any offending property, no song is safe from harassment if someone gets a copyright on the title's text. Song titles, however, are excluded from copyright protection. Several years ago, there was a quiz show called "Dough Re Mi." According to this particular legal interpretation, an injunction against Woody Guthrie's song of the same title could have been obtained if the quiz show had gotten a copyright on that phrase—despite the fact that Guthrie's song predated the quiz show by some 30 years.

a Ticket!' You may, however, still find copies of The Greatest Show on Earth in your local disc emporium—as I did recently at Sound Ware-house. It's an instant collector's item, and a great disc of original acoustic music, regard-less of its title.

LorA

UK: Alvin Gold If one product can be said to epitomize the gulf in attitudes about hi-fi that separates the US and the UK, the Mission 760i loud-speaker is surely it. On the face of it, few loudspeakers could have less star quality than this two-way compact, which sells for just £130/pair in the UK and only 8229/pair in the US. I was surprised recently to learn that, in the

US, the Mission 760i is sold mainly through mainstream, but quality, electronics stores such as Lechmere in New England and Smith's in the Northwest. Smith's typically sells 760is with A/V packages that may include carpets, lighting, and equipment housings, plus the audio and video equip-ment itself. You might reasonably expect to find a similar market profile in the UK, with the speakers found in smart department stores like Harrods or Selfridges. The reality, however, is that in the UK the 760i is seen as beer-budget esoterica: a miniature audio-phile loudspeaker at a giveaway price. It sells in quantity through high-end dealers as a low-end speaker in budget-priced systems that quite often have fairly costly source com-ponents and amplification. It's the natural (if distant) successor to the Mordaunt-Short Carnival, a similarly low-end design that was often sold with Naim amplifiers and Linn LP12 turntables in the days when the source was all. The 760i was launched in the fall of 1991

as an update of the 760, which was similar in configuration but had a lower-spec woofer and other differences in detail. The 760i has won a clutch of awards in various coun-tries, and has become Mission's best-selling product. The 760i is a tiny box measuring 11.5" by

7" by 8", and features an inverted two-way driver configuration with bass loading by front-facing reflex port, and boundary load-


US: Peter W. Mitchell This month's AES convention, October 7-10 at the Javits Convention Center in New York city, promises to be illuminating. For exam-ple, an all-day workshop-seminar (October 9) will be devoted to low-bit-rate percep-tual coding—a morning session of descrip-tion and demonstrations, followed by an afternoon session about the search for mea-surements that might correlate with the sub-jective sound quality of low-bit coding sys-tems. Another workshop will explore career opportunities in audio for women and minorities. The list of over 100 technical papers includes studies of digital jitter, di-ther, DSP correction for room acoustics, and surround-sound. Convention attendees will have an opportunity to visit the vast Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound and also to tour Europadisk, an outstanding LP-mastering facility whose use of direct-metal mastering yields finished LPs that sound amazingly like the master tapes that they were made from—a resem-blance that was depressingly rare until a few years ago.

US: Thomas J. Norton The summer of '93 is over, and while the movie studios are still counting their record box-office receipts as I write this, the propo-nents of the various theater digital-sound systems are likely counting their fingers— and calculating their next moves. Dolby's system, SR-D, is still chugging along, but has been upstaged recently by two new systems, Sony's SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) and DTS (Digital Theater Sound):' The latter is from a company of the same

name that's independent ofbut supported by MCA/Universal and MCA/Universal's par-ent company, Matsushita. Both of these sys-tems were described by Peter Mitchell in June (Vol.16 No.6, p.49). All three of the digital formats are designed for use with standard 35mm film releases, not 70mm. This makes them accessible to a wider range of theaters 4 Oddly, the two new competitors were introduced with this year's biggest hit and biggest flop, respectively. The Digi-tal Theater System (1.71b) was installed in 1000 theaters for Jurassic Park, while Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) was installed injusta few theaters for The Last Aaion Here—PWM

in smaller cities. And all of them have stan-dard optical soundtracks as a backup and for use in theaters not equipped for digital playback. DTS got the T-Rex share of attention this

summer, tied as it was to Spielberg's mon-ster hit Jurassic Park. It stomped in on the coat-tails of this single film, and was installed in approximately 1000 theaters worldwide, about 900 of them in the US. Because of the phenomenal success ofJurassic Park, CGS was probably heard by more paying customers this summer than Dolby Digital has reached in all of its releases to date And the DTS the-ater playback equipment was not on loan; it was purchased by the theaters. A special introductory price (which appears to have been partially subsidized by MCA/Universal) helped get DTS off the ground—though even at full price ($5950), DTS's discrete six-channel system is about a third the price of the Dolby and Sony systems' And installa-tion is apparently a fast, simple process, the rack-mounted, single-chassis CD-ROM drive and processor being mounted upstream of the theater's power amplifiers (or Dolby Stereo processor, see later) and synchronized with the projector by a simple data link. MCA/Universal, distributor of Jurassic

Park, promises to release all ofits upcoming films in the DTS format. As I write this, there is at least one other DTS film imminent— Heart and Souls—and negotiations are con-tinuing with other studios for use of the sys-tem. Owing toJurassic Park, there is now a huge theater base of DTS systems ready to accept future releases. Dolby Labs has to be concerned by this

turn of events. The market penetration for Dolby Digital, which has been fully oper-ational for over a year now, stood at only about 150 theaters in the US (325 world-wide) as of August I. On the other hand, Dolby has a lot of clout in the industry, and its system is not perceived as bearing the

5 While browsing through the Sunday Los Angeles Tintes for July 25, I determined that three Dolby Digital films had been released in the preceding two weeks, with the following approximate penetration of the Southern California market: Free Willy, 98 theaters, one in Dolby Digital; Another Stakeout, 87 theaters, one Dolby Digital; and Hoots Poems, 78 theaters, six Dolby Digital. Contrast this withfurassic Park, then in its sixth week of release in LA: 70 theaters, 26 in DTS. 6 When I spoke to the manager of the DTS-equipped Santa Fe cinema, he made the point that the price of a two-channel DTS system is within his decision-making power, whereas whether or not to purchase the $20,000 Dolby SR-D system, even if it performs better, must be a corporate decision.—JA


WorldRadioHistory

The DTS 6-channel CD-ROM drive & processor fits into a single rack-mounting chassis.

mark of a single studio (in addition to the DTS/Universal link, Sony's SDDS is tied closely to its own studio, Columbia Pictures). Twice, I have heard Dolby representatives say that in two years they will still be here and the other systems will not. Dolby appears particularly dismissive of DTS and that sys-tem's separate CD-ROM digital soundtrack carrier, and seems convinced, at least pub-licly, that this approach is an unacceptable and cumbersome throwback to the early days of film sound.

This past summer I saw/heard films in all of these formats in major first-run theaters on a visit to Los Angeles. Comparing the sound from different films in different theaters is a dicey business at best, but, on balance, I have to say that I was most im-pressed by Sony's SDDS. I saw The Last Action HercP and In the Line of Fires at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood and the AMC in Century City, respectively, and concluded that SDDS may be the sweetest-sounding of the competing systems— notably so on music at less than the highest levels. Hero, in particular, also made striking use of SDDS's discrete eight channels, with a particularly pronounced surround mix. Dialogue was intelligible, sound effects appropriately explosive. The system was not perfect by any means;

the sound still hardened noticeably at high levels, a problem I've noted in all of these dig-ital formats for theater. But the flaws with

7 The agony... 8 ...and the ecstasy.

SDDS were no worse than I've noted in any number of 70mm, magnetic soundtrack presentations. [See also Peter Mitchell's thoughts on SDDS later in this issue, derived from seeing In the Line of Fire at the same AMC theater as TJN.—Ed.] The sound fromfurassic Park was a different

story. At the Avco in Westwood, I found the dialogue and sound effects irritatingly bright much of the time. The music had somewhat different problems—also bright and rather grainy, but at least not strident or as actively irritating as were the dialogue and effects. It's hard to say if these problems were in the soundtrack itself, the theater sound system (a premier THX house), or the DTS format. The midbass also lacked natural weight, but the deep bass and dynamic range of the sys-tem were striking. So were the discrete sur-rounds—though the surround effects were not as active as those in Hero. The sound did contribute significantly to the overall impact of the film, though there was plenty of room for improvement.

Later in July, DTS gave a demonstration of its system to the Los Angeles chapter of the Audio Engineering Society at the Aca-demy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater. (The Academy is not formally a THX house, but is said to meet most THX specs. The lack of an "offi-cial" designation is supposedly due to inter-nal industry politics—that the Academy has not endorsed a specific, commercial system.) The ABS members were shown Jurassic Park, and though I wasn't present, reports from those whose ears I trust indicated that the


sound was flawed in ways similar to what Pd heard at the Westwood theater. Actually, my sources' impressions were considerably more negative than my own. I found the sound often irritating but, intermittently at least, effective and exciting. One of my informants, however, used the term "excruciating." The differences in perception could well have been due to the different theaters. One thing which confused the DTS sit-

uation during theJurassic Park run was that there are actually two DTS formats: a two-channel system and a fully discrete six-channel version? In the two-channel system, the two full-bandwidth, discrete digital channels are decoded using the standard Dolby stereo matrix. (The DTS two-channel system is also compatible with several other less common matrix schemes such as Ultra-stereo and Kintek.) In the six-channel for-mat, six discrete channels are fed directly from the CD-ROM carrier to the theater's sound system—no matrix decoding is re-quired. DTS reports a 2:1 ratio of two-channel sales to six-channel among the 1000 theaters showineurassic Park. Both the Avco and the Academy theaters discussed above had the six-channel setups.

But there was no distinction made in any of the newspaper theater advertisements as to whether a given theater had the six-channel system—a poor way to market the system, in my opinion. (Apparently, there was some distinction made in print ads during the early days of the LA run, but those had long since disappeared by the time I arrived. Advertisements for future DTS releases apparently will make this distinction. There was apparently more than a little flap about this from fans in the know.) Unless you live in a major market, chances are that you saw the film in a DTS two-channel-equipped theater if you experienced DTS at all. To properly judge the film in the more

common two-channel format, I went to see Jurassic Park again at the only Santa Fe the-ater with Dis. While not a THX house, this theater has, in my experience, a sound sys-tem comparable to the best in New Mexico. But I found the DTS two-channel sound to

9 These definitions are misleading. The six-track, in particular, is not really fully six-track. There are left, center, and right tracks, plus two split (discrete) surround tracks. But the sub-woofer channel is recorded on the surround tracks and isolated later after conversion via an analog low-pass filter.

be less impressive on a gut level than what I'd heard from the DTS six-channel system in LA. There was less bass and less sheer SPL output. The music, particularly the soaring crescendos accompanying the first glimpses of the park's humongous inhabitants, con-tributed less to the experience, and the roar of the T-Rex, while certainly chilling, lacked the Hammers of Hell impact it had in the bigger house. The non-discrete, matrixed surrounds of the two-channel system were also less impressive—a rather diffuse wodge of sound which enhanced the presentation, but no more so than with standard (optical) Dolby stereo. But in one vital respect the two-channel

system was actually better. There was less hardness to the sound; the edginess observed earlier, while not completely gone, was never a distraction.

It would appear that the results you get from the IYTS system will depend heavily on the basic sound quality of the theater—an observation which will certainly be no sur-prise to readers of Stereophile. Remember, most theaters are simply dropping the UT'S playback equipment into their already inade-quate sound systems, then merrily driving everything into clipping, among other hor-rors. Even in the best venues, however, it would seem that the system could use some improvement, again assuming that the basic mix forJurassic Park was not to blame. And it's also probable—again with direct parallels to home audio—that the best-equipped theaters may be better at showing up what may be fundamental problems with the system.

All of these film digital sound processes use some form of data or bit-rate reduction scheme to fit their multi-channel sound on the carrier: the film in the case of Dolby Dig-ital and SDDS, an outboard CD-ROM in the case of LITS. DTS uses a 4:1 data-reduction ratio in its system, meaning that the per-channel data rate is roughly comparable to that of DCC, though with only a 10% data-redundancy rate (crucial in error correction) compared with DCC's (and CD's) nearly 50% redundancy. DTS claims that the lower inherent error rate of the CD-ROM carrier compared with CD—not to mention the potential error rate DCC must contend with on its many-track compact cassette tape— makes redundancy in its system less vital.


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Compared with Dolby Digital's data rate of under 64kb/s per channel, DTS's available data rate—made possible by its separate, high-capacity, CD-ROM carrier—seems almost profligate.

While its per-channel data rate should ena-ble it to offer near-DCC sound quality, there are certainly other variables involved, not the least of which is the coding scheme used. DTS uses the apt-X100 algorithm and hard-ware from Audio Processing Technology Ltd. in Northern Ireland. RH referred to a presentation of the apt-X100 in his discussion of the 10th International AES Conference (Vol.12 No.12, p.66), and the proceedings from that "Images of Audio" conference, including a paper on the apt-X100, are avail-able in book form from the AES, 60 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10165-0075. While it is claimed in this paper that the

development of the apt-X100 algorithm involved extensive listening tests, no specifics are given on such tests. The paper relies heav-ily on showing that the quantization noise generated by the coding that is used falls below the auditory noise-masking threshold. It seems likely—though I do not know this for a fact—that the development of the apt-X100 was not as heavily grounded in listen-ing tests as was, say, the development of the PASC coding used for DCC. PASC, further-more, is a more recent development in a tech-nology where "newer" often is a significant parameter. A recent check with DTS indicated that it

will, henceforth, only produce and sell the discrete six-channel system. DTS will offer upgrades to theaters having the two-channel system for a mere $1000. The advantages here are obvious. Five discrete, wide-range (plus sub) channels will be available to markets which have never had such a system—and at an affordable price. And that is an important point. Even though I have definitely heard better theater sound elsewhere than what I heard from the two-track DTS in Santa Fe, I have never heard better film sound in Santa Fe. Or in Albuquerque, for that matter. But I still have reservations about the DTS system in general, based on my experience with it in an arguably first-rate theater in LA. Hope-fully, further refinements to the system will answer my objections—if, as seems very pos-sible, it survives in this competitive mar-ketplace.

About now (or even back where you first saw the words "theater digital sound system" in the first paragraph) you're asking why any of this should matter to you if your prime interest remains the main topic of this maga-zine—home audio. It should matter to you because it's only a matter of time before some form of discrete, multi-channel, data-reduced, digital audio formatfor the home is engraved in stone. It appears that all three of the propo-nents of multi-channel digital theater sound have designs on the home market—on your home—and not just for audio/video appli-cations. As pertains to video, there were apparently

hints at that July Audio Engineering Soci-ety meeting that putting DTS on a laser videodisc may not be far off. More signifi-cantly, applications in all home-audio media would seem to be in the cards for whichever system triumphs in the marketplace. You may hope that I'm mistaken (I admit that my crys-tal ball is out for a wash and wax), but the sonic format in your local multiplex today may one day find its way into your home, perhaps even superseding all present two-channel formats.

This, plus the increasing pressures on audio engineers to use data-reduction schemes to cut costs and/or enhance capabilities—ie, as the only practical way to increase the number of channels of information on commercially practical media, and at the possible expense of ultimate sonic quality—means that we cannot remain aloof from such developments. I think that multi-channel sound for the

home—even for audio-only applications—is moving inexorably our way. Because of the inroads of Home Theater on the audio mar-ket, it's unlikely that the quadraphonic bust of the '70s will be repeated in the '90s. I don't fear this development. I agree with JGH that there are inherent limitations to two-channel stereo, an inevitable brick wall which can only be breached by the addition of more channels—properly used. This is the next fer-tile field from which further major advances in home audio will grow. But we must tread carefully, adopting a system which can move us forward from the current state of the art, not push us into a sonic black hole. The future of sound reproduction is being

written now in laboratories, corporate board-rooms, and even movie theaters. Let's stay aware of the fine print.


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US: Peter W. Mitchell As Tom Norton reports above, there now are three mutually incompatible formats for dig-ital movie sound. Actually a total of five dig-ital formats have been used to date, but two survived only briefly. For the first, used for a reissue of Disney's Fantasia, the digital soundtrack was recorded on tape by a Sony PCM-F1 processor. The second candidate, Cinema Digital Sound, was used for Termi-nator 2. The most widely accepted format, Dolby Digital SR-D, has been used in about 20 films, and 150 US theaters are equipped to play it. The two new systems, Digital Theater Sys-

tem (1/1S) and Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS), were launched withJurassic Park and The Last Action Hero, respectively. The lat-ter died at the box office before I could get to Los Angeles to hear it, but SDDS was also used in a few theaters with Clint Eastwood's In the Line of Fire. To compare the two new formats, I heardJurassic Park and Line of Fire on the same day. To hear movie sound at its best, go to the

source. Hollywood and adjacent suburbs are basically company towns, populated by employees of the movie industry. They know what movies are supposed to look and sound like, so exhibition standards are generally higher there than in the north San Diego County city in which I now reside. So I packed a picnic lunch and hit the noisy Southern California freeways—with dense foam plugs in my ear canals to ensure that I would arrive at the theaters with unimpaired aural sensitivity. Three hours of heavy traffic later, I arrived

at the Avco Cinema in Westwood. Of the 72 theaters showingfurassic Park in the LA area, 21 were showing it with DTS. Of these, the Avco was one of only six with a THX-certified sound system. It's a large theater, and the sound of the THX trailer demonstrated that its audio system is well-balanced, with-out the excess brightness that mars some theaters.

In many ways, the full version of DTS is similar to Dolby Digital. Both employ the same arrangement of 5.1 channels (left/cen-ter/right behind the screen, discrete left and right surrounds, and a deep-bass track). In both systems the subwoofer channel is designed to deliver low frequencies at max-imum sound levels 10-20dB higher than

the midrange so that all frequencies can be reproduced at the same subjective loudness. What I heard from DTS was similar to the

Dolby Digital sound that I've heard in a dozen other theaters. In every important respect—the overall clarity and crisp defi-nition of the sound, the precise localization of on-screen and off-screen sound effects, the shuddering impact of the low bass, and the tendency toward excess brightness—DTS resembled SR-D.

In other words, DTS seems to be a real competitor, costing the theater owner more than $10,000 less per screen than an SR-D system. (Of coursejurassic Park is generating such huge profits for Universal that the stu-dio could afford to give DTS to theaters for nothing.) I'd like DTS better if it had more low-midrange gutsiness and less upper-midrange brightness, but Hollywood engi-neers prefer to err on the side of a bright bal-ance in order to enhance the clarity of the dialogue. By Hollywood standards, DTS must be

counted a success. Of course, I had the advantage of hearing it in a good THX the-ater. In non-THX theaters, the sound of DTS. like that of Dolby Digital, is likely to be limited by the usual variables: the electronics, the speakers, and the skill of the installer.

Since the sound is similar, the important differences between DTS and SR-D are that Drs is a lot cheaper for theater owners (good) and uses a potentially awkward dual-carrier method of distribution (bad). The movie is on large flat pancakes of film, but the sound is on a CD-ROM. With SR-D, the digital code, produced by Dolby AC-3 com-pressed-digital coding, is printed between the sprocket holes of the film itself in dot-dash data blocks. With DTS, the film con-tains the normal analog stereo soundtrack beside the picture, plus time-code pulses that are squeezed into the narrow space between the analog soundtrack and the edge of the picture frame. The time code contains many fewer bits per second than the digital audio code, so it fits into the available space. Each time code is offset a standard distance ahead of the corresponding picture frame. The DTS processor accepts the time code.

finds and plays the corresponding data blocks from the CD-ROM disc, and loads the audio data into a memory buffer. From there, the digital codes are smoothly clocked out to a

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DIA converter so that the decoded sound is heard in sync with the on-screen image. Thanks to this buffering, the sound plays without a blip during reel changes (when one projector stops and another starts up). Simi-larly, if the film breaks or another accident requires the projection to be stopped and restarted, the microprocessor immediately re-syncs the sound to the picture by using the time code. If a mistake occurs, or a film is run that has no DTS time code, the system automatically reverts to playing the analog Dolby Stereo soundtrack. From the Avco in Westwood, a five-

minute drive took me to the AMC 14 cine-plex in the Century City section of LA, where In the Line of Fire was being played with an SDDS soundtrack. SDDS, like SR-D, records the digital code directly on the film. But instead of the industry-standard 5.1 channels, SDDS uses eight channels. The usual left/center/right speakers behind the screen are augmented by left-center and right-center channels. The eighth track is a full-range channel that carries the subwoofer signal and may also contain another signal (perhaps a third surround channel).

In trying to detect any advantage for the eight-channel array, I heard vivid surround sounds and excellent localintion of on-screen sound effects. But I've heard equally accurate directional effects in the past with Dolby Digital. In most other respects (clarity, dy-namic range, bass power, spatial realism), the sound of SDDS was similar to Dolby Digital, but not better. I particularly wanted to hear SDDS be-

cause it uses the same ATRAC compressed-digital coding system that is the heart of the MiniDisc. I noticed two specific problems with the sound of the movie, but they prob-ably are not associated with SDDS. On sev-eral occasions, shouting voices at center-screen were severely distorted, though still louder sounds at screen-left and screen-right were not. The distortion occurred only at midrange frequencies, and was not accom-panied by high-frequency raspiness. I there-fore suspect that the center-midrange amplifier may have been clipping, or the center-mid-range driver may have been driven into excursion-limiting. The second problem was clearly in the

original recording: Actress Rene Russo's voice was accompanied by excessive chest reso-

nance. While this could be due to a badly placed body mike, it probably arose in the "looping" studio where the principal actors rerecorded their dialogue after the film was photographed. As a recording engineer, I've always hated cardioid microphones because their frequency response varies with source distance. When the mike is far away from the source, its bass is rolled off and the sound is thin. But when the mike is close to the source, its response rises at frequencies below 200Hz. So when a person with a naturally quiet voice tries to compensate by approaching the mike, this "proximity" effect exaggerates the mid-bass chest resonance. I became unusually conscious of these

flaws because, in other respects, the sound was superb—some of the best I've ever heard in a movie theater. Every other digital film soundtrack that I've heard (CDS, SR-D, and DTS) has had too much upper-midrange brightness to sound natural. Whether this is an artifact of the digital coding or merely a reflection of recent Hollywood equalization preferences, I can't say. But this SDDS soundtrack, in the only theater in Southern California that was equipped to play it, had a far more natural tonal balance than any of the other digital soundtracks I've heard. For example, in a scene at an embassy

reception early in In the Line ofFire, the music was a Strauss waltz played by a small cham-ber orchestra. The string sound was remark-ably uncolored and realistic—authentically gutsy, yet smooth, spacious, and airy without false "bite" or wiriness. It resembled what I hear at home from a well-recorded Com-pact Disc.

Final conclusions will have to wait until more SDDS soundtracks can be heard in other theaters. But three tentative conclusions are obvious:

1) Except for its center-midrange clipping, the sound system in the AMC Century 14 theater is capable of fine performance.

2) Sony's professional ATRAC compressed-digital coding can reproduce the sound of music.

3) SDDS is not marred by the excess bright-ness that seems to afflict SR-D and DTS. Since SDDS evidently equals the perfor-mance of its competitors in other respects, its smooth midrange makes it the best-sounding of the current digital surround-sound formats.


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UK: Ken Kessler Far be it from me to portray Philips as com-petent, but it looks like Europe's last major electronics firm has—finally—entered the real world. The tendency to apologize or feel pity for this clumsy giant is rife among Euro-pean taxpayers like myself, because anyone even remotely aware of the realities of the mass-market home-entertainment business knows that Philips is the only company in the world able to stand up to the Japanese. No, I haven't just seen Crichton's Japara-

noia movie, Rising Sun. But I do worry about the utter destruction of Western electronics manufacturing. Since the UK's entire hi-fi industry is risibly small—nay, insignificant— and the US only really matters in the High End, all that's left for affordable (read: cheap) audio, TVs, VCRs, and portables are the Jap-anese and Philips. The company's standing in the UK is

pretty solid, the average xenophobic, unso-phisticated man on the street even thinking that Philips (like Ford, Sony, and Panasonic) is British. But climb up the ladder of con-sumer awareness and you will find those who fear for the safety of Europe's last sizable maker.t° Yet there are many who would point out that Philips has shot itself in the feet.

Year in and year out, Philips commits gaffes so grand that you can only laugh. Video 2000, CD-V, the "perfection" of CD —hell, I can't even be bothered to list all the turkeys. But what's always been so irritat-ing is the company's arrogance. So why, all of a sudden, has Philips allowed its UK public-relations company to be, well, honest? A month after the Summer CES, Philips

staged the UK launch of CD-Interactive (CD-I), DCC portables, and in-car hi-fi. The company found a charming hotel in London with a great courtyard, where visitors heard the in-car DCC player in a Porsche and one of the brand-new MG-V8s—real showstop-per stuff to warm up the gearheads. Inside, it was a slick presentation of all the new prod-ucts. So far, so normal. But all—and I do mean all—questions

10 The irony is that Philips is to close its Belgian CD-player factory and move all of its domestic audio manufacturing. other than in-car, to Singapore. —JA

were answered without dithering, BS, or bluff. Philips personnel were fully informed about Sega, Nintendo, CD-ROM, and 3DO, the real rivals to CD-I. They knew about consoles and joysticks and soundcards. And they did not, when discussing DCC, bad-mouth MiniDisc. They no longer made fatu-ous noises about how the compression in DCC is inaudible. And—surprise, surprise— I even heard one spokesperson admit that, yes, DCC is better as a portableformat than as a primary one. I also heard a plausible reason for DCC's mere existence, something I couldn't fathom this far into the age of optical playback and retrieval. (The reason? Not just backward compatibility, but familiarity, cost-effec-tiveness, and a response to man's need to rip off—oops, I mean, man's need to record. CD-R just isn't ready yet, y'unnerstan?) Came the day in late July when I received

a DCC130 portable for review and swal-lowed audibly when told that this playback-only machine cost £399 ($600). What do I hear on the other end of the line? Sanity: "That's okay, Ken. We know that this machine is just there to test the waters." And, no kid-ding, it was admitted with full approval from the higher-ups that DCC prices will halve within 18 months.

UK: Thomas J. Norton Six years after his 1982 founding of Creek Audio Systems in the UK, owner Mike Creek sold it to TGI. (He remained with the com-pany until 1991, leaving to found the UK's EMF Audio.) But TGI, with its emphasis on loudspeakers (Tannoy, Goodmans, Epos), apparently didn't direct its primary attention to its 1988 acquisition. New products, and upgraded versions of earlier ones, were slow in coming.

In the summer of '93, a consortium con-sisting of the German, Swiss, and US distri-butors of Creek and Mike Creek himself bought the company back from TGI with the aim of restoring some of the product line's missing growth. By the time you read this, the 6060 integrated amplifier will likely have been discontinued and the 4140 S2 integrated amplifier replaced by the 4240. The CD60 CD player will remain unchanged. Though there was a brief interruption in the produc-tion of the CD60 just prior to the consor-tium's purchase of Creek, dealer supplies should be restored shortly.


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74 STE REOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

As EASY AS

STEW GLICK OFFERS SOME TWEAKING TIPS

So you've spent thousands (hours, that is . . . in terms of dollars, don't ask!) trying to improve the sound of your stereo, and you're still dis-satisfied. Here's a list of sure-fire steps which, if followed precisely,

will without a doubt have you happy as a lark for days afterward. (What? You expected to be happy with these improvements for months or even years? Get with it! This is high-end audio we're talking about. When was the last time you were satisfied more than a few hours with your costly upgrades?!)

HERE'S A LIST OF SURE-FIRE STEPS WHICH WILL HAVE YOU HAPPY AS A LARK FOR DAYS!

My first recommendation is probably the least expensive and simplest to follow: Do not under any circumstances listen to any music whatsoever for one whole week, period. Nothing. Nada. This goes for the radio, tele-vision, and live concerts. After the week is over, put on one of your favorite pieces of music. There, doesn't your system sound worulerful?! What? It still sucks? If that's the case, then skip to the last tip in this article. The next step in improving the sound of your system involves a bit of

tinkering on your part, but it still won't cost you anything. Simply take the leads to one of your speakers and wire them out-of-phase with the other speaker. Now sit back and listen for at least several hours. Okay, I know— something doesn't sound right at all, and you're ready to pack it all in. That's when you go back and rewire that speaker correctly. Ah, that's more like it! I knew it wasn't my system that sounded so bad!


Sixth in a series

THE COMPONENTS OF EXCELLENCE: BUILD QUALITY

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WorldRadioHistory

The next bit of advice is—I'm sorry to say—aimed only at those who use tube amplifiers. But if that doesn't include you now, it may be best to read on anyway. This info might come in handy one day after you also decide to join that real lunatic fringe of high-end audio, the tubeaholics.

If you've spent any more than several hours with your piece of tube gear, I'm sure you've started wondering just what those new KT999.9 output tubes really sound like. Well, rather than going to the trouble of buying those new tubes, taking the time to install them, and then rebiasing the amp, here's a tip that will have you enjoying your amp like never before. Just turn the bias up as high as it will go. Yes, you guessed it. KABLOOM! You've just detonated your output tubes, and with any luck at all, maybe you've taken out a few resistors to boot. You see, now you'll need to take your amp in for servicing, or, better yet,

send it back to the company that made it. That would probably take the longest, which, in either case, means no amp for some time. Boy, when you get that thing back, even with the original kind of tubes in it, you'll be so appreciative of having music again that you won't even think about making another tube change for at least . . . oh, several days!

For all of you who've tried the various computer programs for proper speaker positioning (such as "Wanna Buy A Duck?" software, or any of the special room treatments such as the LooneyTunes products), I have a tip that is sure to save you much time, effort, and money. Now, I must admit that the idea for the LIAR test did originate with Robert Deutsch, who men-tioned it in last February's Stereophile. (What an appropriate name for a test by an equipment reviewer, eh, all you people who've gotten burned by the latest rave. . .?) LIAR stands for Listen In Another Room—fe, you step out-side of your listening room and see if the music sounds as if it could be "real musicians playing in real spacer

YOU JUST MAY FIND YOUR HI-FI TROUBLES A THING OF THE PAST. That's really a test to see just how truly excellent your system sounds.

But what if the highs are shrieky, the midrange recessed or too forward, etc., etc.? You need to follow my GAFAAP program (Go As Far Away As Possible). Yes, not only do you listen from outside the room, you may need to leave the house altogether! And won't your spouse be delighted when you throw on some music and, instead of hibernating for the next several hours, actually ask her' to go for a walk! Now let's just say you follow through on GAFAAP, letting the music

blast away while you go for a walk. If you should happen to leave your door unlocked (cracked open a little would even be better), then you'll have stumbled upon my last-resort tip for better sound: making your system available to someone less fortunate than yourself, someone who has more important things to spend his or her money on—like food, rent, clothing. By making your system vulnerable as described above, you just may return home to find your hi-fi troubles a thing of the past. (Of course, so is your stereo!) Now you can visit your neighbor's house and listen to how really fine your system sounds in its new abode. (You always knew how much better someone else's rig sounded than your own anyway, right?) S

1 I don't really mean to leave people of the female persuasion out in the cold, but are there really any women out there who are into the equipment end of this hobby? I'm not talking about an interest in music per se, or even good sound, but all this upgrading, equipment swapping, etc.


We've changed the way you'll listen to headphones.

We though you might like an excerpt from our White Paper. You can think of it like an audiophile infomertial.

The acoustic image produced by a stereo system is a sound painting. It exists in you mind because you can localize the sound in space. Headphone listening is unable to present a normal audio image because much of the spacial localizing information missing. in order rti under-stand what HeadRoom does and how it corrects localiza-tion, you must first understand the psychoacoustic cues your mind uses to localize sound.

Imagine you are listening to a pair of speakers and you turn off the left speaker. Both ears continue to hear the right speaker. But the right ear isa little closer to the speaker. so it hears the sound slightly before the left ear. This time difference between ears is called the Inter-Aural Time Difference (LTD). ITD is the primary cue your mind uses to localize sound left-to-right (lateralization). The near ear also hears the sound slightly

louder. This is because the far ear is in the acoustic shadow of the head. The loud-ness difference between ears is called the Inter-Aural Amplitude Difference (IAD). ITD overwhelms the impor-

tance of IAD as a lateralizing cue significantly. (Phew).

The Pinna is the outside part of your ear. The part you can see. The folds and ridges of the pinna create complex interactions with the high frequency components of incoming sound. The exact nature of the relationship between Pinna effects and auditory localization is not completely understood. How-ever, it is generally agreed that the Pinnae create high t requency reflections around your ear heard and decoded by your mind as up-down localizing clues.

There are a variety of other localizing cues your mind uses. Your visual perception of physical surroundings is compared to what you hear. Walls, ceiling, floor, your clothes, your posture, etc. are all used to evaluate sound timbre and location.

But the most important cue of all is the acoustic changes heard with head movement: Your acoustic memory is very short, so to evaluate

sound accurately you need to switch between a reference sound and an unknown sound quickly. Your mind accu-

rately senses acoustic differences only in that brief mo-ment of transition. This is why it is better to A-B switch between audio equipment when performing quantitative objective comparisons without test equipment. (Please do not missread this as an endorsment of A-B-X audio re-viewing. I firmly believe in the validity and importance of the subjective musical experience)'. To overcome short term audio memory problems during sound localization. your mind continuously compares head movements with changes in the IAD. ITD. and Pinna cues. The changing

head position is the reference against which all local-izing cues are measured and under-stood.

Hardware to duplicate all the above cues in headphones suffi-ciently to recreate normal listening would be extraordinarily compli-cated. h would have to be adjustable for each individual, it would have to take into account your head move-ments while listening, and it would have to be calibrated for each indi-viduals ear shape.

Such solutions exist however. NASA has a system that duplicates virtually all psychoacoustic cues for pilots and astronauts: termed a convolvatron. The system syntesyses the out-of-head audio experience sufficiently for pilots to

hear sound from their coordinate directions. For example. if an enemy plane is behind, him the threat warning signal sounds like it comes from that direction. If the pilot turns his head, a sensor in the helmet measures the head move-ment, and the warning signal continues to come from the correct direction. This gives pilots a more natural cogni-tive environment in which to work. This experimental system requires that the pilot go through an ear calibration session in an anechoic chamber. The HeadRoom solution is not quit as complex, it

strives to recreate only ITD and LAD information. Head-Room, however, is much less expensive. When first considering this project, there was a ten-

dency to try to model other localization cues (like reverberance ). We have resisted this temptation. We designed HeadRoom to process the audio signal only the amount required to recreate the natural delays and equal-ization you hear with a pair of speakers. So . . . let's go back to turning off one speaker. In

headphones if you turn off the left channel, only the right ear hears the remaining audio. Consider that this means that any audio information that is only on one channel, is only heard in one ear. Your mind doesn't like this, your brain wants to hear the audio in both ears with a time delay Cmhng set another sole for rho liendm on He-Man oui-01 hod, expernake gamete method of mea,unng eargmm onen,a,

Prproa

WorldRadioHistory

between ears. This is exactly what HeadRoom does. It provides a cross-feed delay and EQ signal path between channels. In other words, the right channel goes directly to the right ear, but it also gets mixed into the left channel via the electronic delay and equalization circuit. We call this circuit an "Audio Image Processor."

I k•.1,11:,,

-•••1•11r

The interaural time difference for 30 degree off center sound is about 300 uSec. But different frequencies travel around to the farear at different rates. Low frequencies set up a standing wave at the surface of the head and take longer to get around to the far ear than the high frequen-cies. You can visualize this like a rock in a river: water rushing up to the rock feels the back pressure of the water next to the rock. To get around the rock, the water has to travel farther than the actual diameter of the rock. The delay generated by the Audio Image Processor, therefore. is not a fixed time delay. It delays low frequencies for longer than the high frequencies.

It is intuitively obvious that the ear farthest away from the speaker does not hear sound as loud as the ear closest to the speaker. What is not quit so obvious is the frequency dependence of this phenomena. Low frequencies wrap themselves around your head as they go by. so they experience only modest attenuation as they travel to the far ear. As you get higher in frequency (— I KHz), the acoustic wave has a more difficult time wrapping around your head. Soon the sound just travels right past your head and the far ear is literally in the shadow of the head. As frequencies get very high (-5KHZ) acoustic energy begins to act like packets and wants to travel along surfaces (Literally: The Skin Effect). When these high frequency sounds reach your head, they follow your skin surface around to the far ear and restore frequency response. The result is the 1AD response curve has a dip centered around 2 KHz.

The HeadRoom crossfeed circuit does not exactly match the typical IAD curve. It would be difficult to build an analog filter with a dip at 2 KHz, and retain the correct ITD re-sponse of the filter. But nature has been kind to us.

1111111111,1

When you delay an 200aI KHz 20K Hz

audio signal, and mix it back with itself you cre-ate a notch filter. The center frequency of the notch will be that fre-quency which has a half cycle time equal to the delay. (You may have to think about that fora sec).

Inter Aural Time Dill in uSec at 30 Degrees

400uS -

300uS -

20OuS -

100uS -

20db -

_

Odb

-20db -

I AD Frequency Reponce

- - - - Near Ear Far Ear

20Hz

11111111

I KHz 20KFlz

A significant amount of audio is the same on both the left and right channel, so we create a notch filter in the mono part of the audio. But the resulting frequency response is very close to the response required by the natural 1AD.

Either we were lucky. or nature is beautiful. Well. actually, we knew what we were doing, but the numbers did have to be close enough for the right tweak. An additional contributor to LAD is the slightly better

high frequency response of the ear closest to the speaker. As a sound source moves toward the side, the high frequency response of the ear on that side improves. The Premium and Supreme HeadRoom include a Near-Ear Emphasis Filter.

Headphones deliver audio that seems to come from inside the head. HeadRoom does not solve "In-Head-Localization." To do this you must recreate e localiza-tion cues. But HeadRoom does correctly "Lateralize" the audio image. Typically, when listening to headphones. there is a strong central image with two sound blobs to the left and right. This happens because the difference signal audio tends to snap all the way over to the ears. And the mono signal is heard to form a strong center image. These lateral izing problems are almost totally corrected by HeadRoom because the difference signal informa-tion arrives at both ears with correct timing and amplitude differences.

It is worthy to note that the very best recordings Chesky, Dorian, Delos, Audio Quest, MA, Mapleshade. Three Blind Mice. etc.) are made with very few and very expensive microphones, and do contain some timing information. But, these recordings remain engineered for speaker re-production. not headphones. HeadRoom does a surpris-ingly good job imaging these recordings on headphones. The image when listening to HeadRoom fills the left-

right space smoothly. Instruments tend to be more clearly. localized at one point in space. Reverberance seems to be more natural and behind the instruments. A depth dimen-sion becomes apparent. Your head seems to become a coherent listening space, a more natural audio environ-ment. The sound has dimension within your head. You get .. HeadRoom. If you'd like to receive the complete 13 page White

Paper and 24 page HeadRoom Manual (in a nice readable type size), give us a call. It's free:

14, IleittIRrootu

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WorldRadioHistory

JITTER & THE DIGITAL INTERFACE

friL

RÉMY FOURRÉ1 OFFERS A PRIMER ON JITTER IN DIGITAL AUDIO

1 Rémy Fourré is Vice President of Engineering at UltraAnalog. Born and educated in France, Dr. Fourré earned the US equivalent of a Bachelor's degree in computer design, a Master's degree in electronics, a Ph.D. in mathematics and mechanics, and a Ph.D. in applied mechanics. Dr. Fourré joined the fledgling UltraAnalog in 1988, developing the company's high-resolution 20-bit AID and D/A converters. He also designed the test and calibration instrumentation used in producing UltraAnalog DACs (see Sw-reophile, June '93, p.57). Before working in digital audio, Dr. Fourré helped design a failsafc computer architecture that is the basis for automatic pilot control of French passenger trains. He was awarded three patents for these efforts. His most recent work was designing UltraAnalog's AES 20 digital input receiver module, and instrumentation to measure jitter in the digital interface. —RH


Until recently, all problems in digital audio systems were blamed on either the analog/digital converters (ADCs) used in mastering or the digital/analog converters (DACs) needed for playback. As

the performance of both ADCs and DACs improved, however, a previ-ously unrecognized mechanism for distortion was unmasked: jitter. As we shall see, jitter—or, more correctly, word-clock jitter—can be a significant limitation in the technical and sonic performance of digital audio systems?

This article is a primer on jitter in digital audio. We will look at what jitter is, its causes, effects, and how jitter can be reduced. The article is divided into four main sections: 1) jitter is defined and its properties examined; 2) jitter's impact on sonic performance is theoretically derived, both for multi-bit converters and so-called "1-bit" or "noise-shaping" converters; 3) the AES/EBU and S/PDIF interface is analyzed, revealing that the interface is the primary jitter source when not properly implemented; and 4) a method of measuring jitter is presented, along with test results on CD transports that show large differences in their jitter performances.

WHAT IS JITTER? Jitter can be loosely defined as timing variations in the various sampling clocks used throughout a digital audio system. These timing variations affect the sampling clocks in professional A/D converters used to make CD master tapes, and the DAC clocks found in consumer digital processors and CD players. Although a Compact Disc or digital audio tape doesn't have jit-ter per se, the recorded digital data carries the effects ofjitter produced by the ADC. The samples were taken at nonuniform time increments; when those samples are fed to a DAC with a uniform (jitter-free) clock, the sampled original analog signal is not accurately reconstructed. In a DAC fed samples taken at uniform time increments, jitter produces a similar skewing of the samples in time. Again, the reconstructed analog signal doesn't accurately represent the original audio signal. Although jitter occurs in both AID and D/A converters, this article will

focus on D/A-converter clock jitter, particularly jitter generated by digi-tal sources such as CD transports and the digital interface.

Let's take a closer look at these clocks and how jitter affects the quality of digital audio. Fig.1 shows a jitter-free clock (dashed line) and the same clock with jitter (solid line). The rising and falling edges are expected to occur at perfectly spaced intervals. But because of system imperfections, the edges are slightly displaced in time. This timing error is clock jitter?

2 See "Theiitter Game- in Vol.16 No.1 for a basic explanation of clock jitter. —RH

3 In its original form, this article presented the mathematical basis for the jitter calculations. Readers who want to delve into the math can call UltraAnalog at (510)657-2227 for a copy of the white paper. "Jitter, Jitterjiner . ." —RH

ACTUAL IDEAL

O T 21 3T 41

CLOCK

P (0) T+p (T) 2T+P (2T) 3T+P (31) 4T+p (41)

Fig.I Jitter-free clock signal (solid) and with jitter (dashed).

STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 s I WorldRadioHistory

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Some systems look at only the rising edges, others the trailing edges of the data waveform. It is therefore necessary to examine clock jitter in terms of the relevant edges that affect system performance.

TE JITTER SPECTRUM IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE. Jitter is very similar to a sampled voltage signal; both are a function of

discrete time. Consequently, jitter can be expressed as a root-mean-square (RIvIS) value for the entire bandwidth, from 0Hz to the Nyquist frequency. This gives us an overall number to characterize the amount ofjitter present.

It can be also defined for a given frequency band. It is more instructive, therefore, to express jitter in terms ofits spectral distribution, either as pico-seconds per square-root-Hertz, or as picoseconds per third-octave ofband-width. Just as a sampled voltage spectrum can be manipulated and examined in a variety of ways, so too can a jitter spectrum be analyzed. Indeed, we will see that the jitter spectrum is of paramount importance, and that the overall FtNIS jitter figure conveys very little information.

How JITTER AFFECTS CONVERTER PERFORMANCE Jitter degrades digital audio system performance at the converters themselves, whether they are ADCs or DACs. Ifjitter is present in the sampling clock

Fig.2 A D conversion of a waveform with samples taken using a perfect samp ing clock.

Fig .3 D A reconstruction of the same waveform but using a jittered word clock.


oían AID converter, the sample values are taken either a little too early or a little too late. Similarly, clock jitter at a D/A converter causes the sample values to be converted to analog at the wrong times (figs.2 & 3). The result is distortion of the waveform and the creation of spurious components related to the jitter frequency. A distinction must be made between conventional multi-bit DACs

("Ft/2R" or "ladder" converters) and the so-called "1-bit" DACs that feature very high oversampling rates and noise shaping. 4 Jitter affects these two converter types very differently. A multi-bit DAC's analog output is a linear function of the input code;

the larger the binary value input, the higher the analog output voltage (or current). A 1-bit DAC, however, outputs only a few discrete values (usually two), but changes state fast enough so that signal reconstruction can be real-ized with subsequent analog filtering. Examples of multi-bit DACs arc the UltraAnalog D20400 and Burr-Brown PCM63. Common 1-bit DACs are the Crystal CS4328 and Philips SAA7350. Because they are simpler, multi-bit converters are examined first. We'll

assume the DAC is the conventional oversampling type, running at a clock frequency some multiple of the sampling rate (usually 352.8kHz, 8x the CD's 44.1kHz rate).

If the clock's edge occurs at the wrong time, the DAC's output will change at the same (wrong) time. If the clock edge occurs later than it should, the DAC's output changes level too late. Similarly, if the clock edge occurs early, the DAC's output changes level too soon. Both conditions cause an error in the analog signal output by the DAC. Because the time error is very small compared to the clock frequency, the error is a voltage pulse with an area equal to the time variation between when the edge should have occurred and when it actually occurred (the difference between a perfect clóck and a jittered clock). This relationship between clock jitter, the DAC's output, and the resultant error is shown in fig.4. These voltage pulses are filtered by the digital processor's analog filter,

the playback electronics, loudspeakers, and the ear, resulting in unpleasant artifacts added to the music.5 Specifically, jitter with a frequency of lkHz affecting a DAC reproducing a 7kHz sinewave will create spurious out-put tones at 6kHz and 8kHz. If the jitter has a frequency of 2kHz, the jitter-created artifacts will appear at 5kHz and 9kHz. These sidebands around the signal being decoded aren't harmonically related to the signal, mak-

4 The same distinction applies to ADCs. Most audio ADCs today are noise-shaping (eg. the UltraAnalog ADC 20048, Crystal CS 5328, etc.).

ACTUAL IDEAL

HCLC SIGNAL

CAC OUTPUT

ERROR L! Fig.4 Error due to jitter at the output of a conventional, multi-bit DAC.


WHEN THE DAC IS REPRODUCING MUSIC AND CONTROLLED BY A JITTERED CLOCK, THE POTENTIAL FOR GENERATING A HIGHLY COMPLEX SPECTRUM OF JITTER-INDUCED SPURIAE IS OBVIOUS. ing them particularly unpleasant. When the DAC is reproducing music (which has a constantly changing spectral content) and is controlled by a jittered clock (that may be jittered at several frequencies), the potential for generating a highly complex spectrum ofjitter-induced spuriae is obvi-ous. If the jitter is "white" (having a random spectral distribution rather than discrete frequency components), analog white noise will be added to the DAC's output signal.

Analysis reveals that the larger the signal and the higher its frequency, the more it is corrupted by clock jitter. Further, it is shown that in multi-bit converters,fitter above 40kHz cannot intermodulate with DC-20kHz input signals to produce DC-20kHz artifacts. In other words, only jitter with a frequency below 40kHz can degrade the audio signal. This is a very important point, and one on which this discussion is based. To give a sense of the magnitude of the variables involved here, let's con-

sider a multi-bit converter reproducing a 20kHz sinewave, and a clock with 200ps RMS of white jitter measured in the DC-40kHz bandwidth. In this case, the converter would produce white noise at an amplitude of -95dB relative to the input signal amplitude in the DC-20kHz band, plus a -95dB white-noise product in the 20-60kHz band. A clock jittered with 200ps RMS at a frequency of lkHz applied to a DAC reconstructing a 10kHz sine-wave will produce spurious tones at 9kHz and 11kHz, each with a rela-tive amplitude of -101dB.

If we apply this analysis to 1-bit converters, we see the same type of errors, but of much larger magnitude The term jitter here refers to the oversampling clock, which triggers output state changes from high to low or vice versa. Fig.5 shows that clock jitter causes the DAC's output to change state either early or late, just as with multi-bit DACs. The error signal is also pulse-shaped, with a width equal to the timing error, and an amplitude equal to

5 Mathematically adept readers should note that the spectral distribution of these pulses after filter-ing is proportional to the convolution product of the input signal derivative spectrum by the jitter spec-trum. This means that jitter of bHz affecting the clock of a DAC reproducing an aHz sinewave, for exam-ple, will cause output tones to appear at a+bHz and a-bHz. It also means that the larger the signal and the higher its frequency, the more it is affected by clock jitter.

Fig.5 Error due to jitter at the output of a noise-shaping (I-bit) DAC.

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the converter's fill-scale output range As with a multi-bit DAC, these pulses are filtered by the analog reproduction chain and the residue is an audible artifact.

Spectrum calculations, however, reveal that 1-bit converters are vastly more sensitive to jitter than are multi-bit converters. The spectral distri-bution of these pulses after filtering is the convolution product of the (unfiltered) converter output state and jitter spectra. Because the output state of 1-bit converters has a very high noise level just above the audio-band (due to noise shaping), the jitter spectrum intermodulates with the converter's noisy output to create audible tones. Because of the large swings in converter output voltage, and because the oversampling multiplier is usually much larger than for conventional converters (64x or 128x vs 8x), noise-shaping converters are much more sensitive to jitter than the con-ventional ones. In addition, the artifacts are there whether the input sig-nal is large or small, and the 40kHz jitter bandwidth limit no longer applies. To show how much more sensitive a 1-bit converter is compared to a

multi-bit converter, let's take the case of white jitter with a 200psRMS ampli-tude applied to the clock of both a 1-bit and a multi-bit converter. In the 1-bit converter, the jitter leads to white noise at the converter output with an approximate amplitude of -75dB in the audio range, regardless of signal amplitude and spectrum. By contrast, the same jitter applied to a clock driv-ing a multi-bit converter creates white noise at -95c1B.

JITTER IN THE DIGITAL INTERFACE A logical question to ask is: Where does this clock jitter originate? The main source ofjitter is the digital interface between a digital source such as a CD transport and the D/A converter. This interface is either the AES/EBU (Audio Engineering Society/European Broadcast Union) or S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format) format. With the exception of voltage levels and line impedances, the two formats are very similar. Both carry two chan-nels of digital audio data (up to 24 bits per sample per channel, though only 16 are currently used in consumer applications), control bits, parity bits, and checksum bits. The bit rate is 64 times the sampling frequency (64Fs), and the baud rate (the rate at which the line may change state) is 128Fs. For the CD's 44.1kHz sampling rate, the S/PDIF or AES/EBU interface has a bit rate of 2,822,400 bits per second and a baud rate of 5.6448MHz. Two optical-fiber interfaces are also in use: TosLink and ST-type, both

of which carry information optically instead of electrically. The TosLink interface, more properly called "EIAJ optical," uses a plastic optical fiber. AT&T ST-type optical uses a glass optical fiber. These two optical formats are merely transmission methods; they both use the AES/EBU or S/PDIF data formats. The digital interface has two major functions: It carries the digital data

and it carries the sampling clock. Both data and clock are transmitted on the same physical electrical conductors or optical fiber link: data are encoded using a pulse-modulation scheme, and the clock is embedded in the pulse edges. This system requires that the clock and data be separated in the digital processor, a function performed by the digital processor's input receiver. The "recovered" clock then serves as the processor's master clock. Con-sequently, jitter in the interface data stream produces clock jitter at the DAC. This is the mechanism by which transports affect a digital system's sonic performance. Moreover, the quality of the digital interface implementa-tion greatly affects the amount ofjitter in the recovered clock.

Interface jitter is similar to the periodic clock jitter described earlier. Because current input receiver implementations detect signal edges by comparing


the input voltage to zero, jitter in the digital interface signal is defined as the sequence of the timing errors on the voltage zero crossings. As with noise, jitter has multiple causes. One of them is electrical noise

picked up on the interface cable. Noise causes the zero crossing points to shift slightly—which is, by definition, interface jitter. If the digital interface signal has an average slope of 20V/gs (a typical value in many S/PDIF implementations), just 10mV R/vIS of noise, for example, will introduce 500ps R/vIS ofjitter. Although noise is a potentially serious cause ofinterface jitter, bandwidth

limitations in the interface are a far greater source. This issue has been described in several articles and papers,6 but the discussion has been confined to low-pass bandwidth limitations. This article presents the effects of low-pass limitations (that exist in all transmission systems) as well as the effècts of high-pass limitations (that occur with all isolation transformers). It is shown that the combined effect of both high-pass and low-pass bandwidth limiting is considerably greater than the effect of either alone.

Let's take the case of two digital signals, A and B, that toggle between a low and a high state. These are shown at the top of fig.6. If these signals are high-pass filtered (as they would be by an isolation transformer), they appear as the waveforms in the center of fig.6. If these signals are also low-pass filtered (as they would be by a digital interface), the waveform assumes the shape at the bottom of fig.6. Note that, at the third transition (marked "3T"), the bandpass filtering causes the edges to have a slope at the zero crossing transition. This slope, combined with the voltage difference, causes a time difference between the zero crossing points of signals A and B. A low-pass filter at 8MHz and a high-pass filter at 50kHz produces a time difference between A and B of 1106ps (1.106ns). By contrast, the low-pass

6 These indude the excellent AES paper, "Is the AES/EBU-S/PDIF Digital Interface Flawed?:' by Chris Dunn and Malcolm Omar Hawksford, and the UltraAnalog application note AP-03, "Jitter, jitter, jitter"

Fig .6 Two perfect digital data signals, A & B (top); waveforms of A & B after passing through typical high-pass filter (middle); waveforms of A & B after passing through typical low-pass and high-pass filter combination (bottom).


filter alone would produce a timing difference of 2.7ps. While these values apply to a particular segment of the digital interface

signal and do not represent the jitter itself, they clearly show the considerable damage caused by a high-pass filter in the data transmission path. Moreover, while increasing the low-pass filter cutoff frequency to 20MHz brings the timing difference caused by the low-pass filter alone to infinitesimal amounts, it only reduces the timing difference caused by the filter combination to

AWIDE—BANDWIDTH INTERFACE IS ESSENTIAL FOR

LOW—JITTER TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL AUDIO.

442ps. Clearly, a wide-bandwidth interface is essential for low-jitter trans-mission of digital audio. A word about optical links. Still using the example above with digital

signals A and B, a low-pass filter at 5MHz—typical of TosLink—causes a time difference of 121ps. A 6MHz low-pass filter causes a time differ-ence of 33ps. For adequate performance, optical links must have a band-width of 9MHz minimum. To operate at 48kHz and have a 15% margin for speed adjustments, the interface bandwidth must be at least 11MHz.

Moreover, calculations show that jitter caused by interface band-limiting is correlated with the signal. In fact, frequency analysis, both theoretical and measured on equipment, shows the jitter spectrum to exhibit lines cor-responding to the signal frequency and to interference or beating between the signal and the sampling frequency. These beat frequencies themselves modulate the signal frequency inside the converter to produce artifacts. For example, a 4kHz signal causes a jitter spectral line at 100Hz by beating with the 44.1kHz sampling frequency. The 100Hz component in turn causes jitter at 3.9kHz and 4.1kHz to appear on the reconstructed signal's spectrum?

This somewhat simplistic demonstration of the generation ofjitter by bandwidth limitations is intended more to give a physical understanding of the problem than to yield an exact numerical value. For a more refined computation, one must know which digital interface signal edges actually contribute to the jitter, and which do not. The Crystal CS8412 and the UltraAnalog AES 20 receivers, for instance, use only half of the edges to regenerate the master clock. The Yamaha YM3623B receiver uses only the edges located in that portion of the signal called the preamble. The defi-nition of digital interface jitter must then be modified to exclude the edges ignored by the receiver.

Another great contributor to interface jitter is the mismatch between trans-mission cable and receiver impedance. A 10' cable represents a round-trip delay of about 3Ons (30,000ps), and any impedance mismatch adds an attenu-ated echo signal with the same 3Ons delay. It doesn't take three pages of math to realize that this causes quite a mess. In that respect, one may regret the loose impedance (110 ohms ± 20%) specification recommended by the AES/EBU standard. Equipment manufacturers should attempt to be as close to 110 ohms impedance as possible for their transports, processors, cables, etc. A tolerance of 5% is a good starting point; 3% would be better. The consumer S/PDIF interface, with a 75-ohm ±5% impedance spec, is prob-ably acceptable. Once the transmitter/transport and the receiver have the proper impedance,

7 The way in which a 4kHz signal can produce a 100Hz line by beating with 44.1kHz can be explained by the fact that the data-to-jitter crosstalk is highly nonlinear, and that all harmonics of the 4kHz fre-quency, including 44.0kHz, are present and beat with 44.1kHz.


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the cable needs to be impedance-matched. While several companies have recently introduced mechanically superb and financially extravagant cables, impedance matching in itself does not need to be expensive. The television industry has been producing impedance-matched cables and connectors for use up to 900MHz; even good-quality cables are reasonably priced. While shielding of AES transmission pairs is a good idea, the isolation require-ments are well below that of analog cables. Hence, two digital transmis-sion cables with the same characteristic impedance will have the same effect on the jitter, whether they cost $3 or $300.

BAD CABLES AND TRANSMITTERS/TRANSPORTS ABOUND IN THE REAL WORLD. It's clear that jitter performance of an AES/EBU or S/PDIF transmis-

sion link is highly dependent on hardware implementation. This includes the transmitter (a CD transport), the interface cable, and the input receiver in the digital processor. Of the three, the receiver is, at least conceptually, clearly the most difficult one to design and manufacture. Although a low-jitter transmitter and interface is not, in theory, that difficult to design, bad cables and transmitters/transports abound in the real world.

MEASURING TRANSPORT & INTERFACE JITTER The designer of low-jitter circuits faces a great obstacle: the lack of com-mercially available instruments for measuring jitter. Without a way of mea-suring jitter, how can he know how his transmitters, interfaces, and input receivers are performing? The solution is to design and build your own jitter analyzer. This is, however, no small task; many pitfalls await the courageous adventurer. Clock jitter can be measured in three ways, each with its advantages and

disadvantages. First, we can measure jitter using a reference clock running at a different frequency from the clock we want to measure. This is the method used in reciprocal counters. The reference clock is compared to the measured clock. To be of any use, the counter must resolve time within a reference clock period. The instrument's quality is based on the accuracy of this time resolution. Moreover, crosstalk between the reference and mea-sured clocks must be avoided. This method will work with non-periodic signals such as those carried by the AES/EBU or S/PDIF interface signal. Another method uses a reference clock running at the same frequency

as the measured clock. This technique can measure the jitter degradation caused by a circuit, or measure the intrinsic jitter and jitter attenuation charac-teristics of a phase-locked loop (PLL) such as is found in input receiver cir-cuits. The recovered dock is compared to the reference dock with a relatively simple circuit. The reference clock must be of extraordinary accuracy. UltraAnalog uses this technique to measure the performance of its low-jitter AES 20 input receiver.

Finally, clock jitter can be measured with a low-jitter PLL. The incoming clock is sent to a PLL with very low intrinsic jitter and a very low jitter attenuation cutoff frequency. The low-jitter clock is compared with the incoming clock; a simple circuit separates the jitter component in the incom-ing clock and outputs the jitter in analog form. The PLUs jitter attenuation cutoff frequency must be very low. Below

the attenuation cutoff frequency, the PLL follows the incoming clock and its jitter, passing the incoming jitter to the recovered clock. The recovered


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devices receive an AES/EBU or S/PDIF input signal, recover the clock from this signal, and reclock the output signal with this improved clock. Just as with an input receiver, we want to know the device's intrinsic jitter and its jitter attenuation cutoff frequency. A reclocker can only be as good as the input receiver it uses.

Redockers have two major limitations. First, if the CD transport's intrinsic jitter is less than the reclocker's intrinsic jitter (in the DC-40kHz band), the reclocker can only add jitter. A reclocker can improve high-jitter trans-

ARECLOCKER CAN IMPROVE HIGH—JITTER TRANSPORTS,

BUT IT DEGRADES LOW—JITTER TRANSPORTS.

ports, but it degrades low-jitter transports .8 Although the output clock may appear much cleaner on an oscilloscope when high-frequency jitter is attenu-ated, it doesn't mean there is less jitter in the DC-40kHz band. Remem-ber, only jitter in this band can affect a multi-bit converter's sonic perfor-mance. Only a spectral analysis of the jitter can reveal whether these devices improve or degrade the signal. The second limitation of reclocking devices is the reclocker's jitter attenu-

ation cutoff frequency. If it is not lower than that of the digital processor's input receiver, the reclocker would simply block incoming jitter at frequen-cies which will be rejected anyway by the digital processor's input receiver. Using the UltraAnalog-designed and -built jitter analyzer described

earlier, we measured the jitter present on the AES/EBU and S/PDIF outputs of several CD transports. Large differences were found in these products' jitter performance. Fig.10 is the jitter spectrum and level ofa low-jitter trans-port; fig.11 is the jitter spectrum and level of a high-jitter transport. Because the jitter is correlated with the digital input signal, the jitter

amount and spectrum vary with the test signal. Consequently, jitter is plotted with different input signals, specified in the captions. The peak at lkHz in both plots is signal-correlated jitter. The peak at 7.35kHz is a result of the 7.35kHz subcode data rate within the S/PDIF signal, and the peaks at 44.1kHz and 88.2kHz result from the frame and preamble structure of the S/PDIF interface signal. Because these last two components are above 401diz, they do not produce sonic degradation. The good transport's measured performance is very close to the analyzer's

noise floor, emphasizing that it is easier to build a low-jitter transmitter than a low-jitter receiver. There is no excuse for designing a jittery transport. Although not apparent on the plots, the poor transport is plagued by repeti-tive jitter pulses of 3000ps amplitude. The pulses are about 20µs wide, with a repetition rate of 229.6875Hz, the block rate of the S/PDIF signal. The poor transport's jitter also varies with temperature, line-input voltage, and other factors. The analyzer output can be plotted as a function of frequency (as shown

in figs.10 and 11), looked at on an oscilloscope, input to an FFT machine, or listened to through a playback system. This last option allows us to hear the jitter from different transports and digital sources. The correlation between the audio signal and the jitter is so high that the music is easily recog-nized just by listening to the jitter. When playing a swept sinewave, beat patterns between the signal and the 44.1kHz sampling frequency are easily

8 I found that the Audio Alchemy Digital Transmission Interface (DTI) did indeed improve or degrade the sound, depending on which combination of transport and processor it was used with. See my review in Vol.16 No.5. —RH


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audible. Clearly, the jitter analyzer is a powerful tool for investigating the jitter performance of digital sources and input receiver circuits.

CONCLUSION Thanks to papers presented at AES conventions and articles in Stereophile, consumers are becoming increasingly aware ofjitter and how it degrades digitally reproduced music. The vast range ofjitter performance among commercially available transports suggests that manufacturers need to address this problem. Transports should be specified by the amount ofjitter in their outputs in the DC-40kHz range. Similarly, input receivers used in digital processors should be specified for intrinsic jitter and their jitter attenuation cutoff frequency. By combining a theoretical understanding ofjitter with a practical mea-

surement instrument and new circuit designs, jitter need no longer be the hidden source of degradation in digitally reproduced music.

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omponents listed here are ones which we have found to be among the best available in each of four quality el2ccPc, and

whose purchase we highly recommend. Fol-lowing each listing is a brief description of the product's sonic characteristics and a code indicating the Stereophile Volume and Issue in which that product's report appeared. Some products listed have not yet been reported on; these are marked (NR). We recommend that any product's entire review be read before purchase is seriously contemplated (prod-ucts without reviews should therefore be treated with more caution); many salient char-acteristics, peculiarities, and caveats appear in reviews, but not here. To obtain back issues

STERLOPHILL, OCrOlikli 1991 WorldRadioHistory

of the magazine, see the advertisement in this issue. (We regret that we cannot supply pho-tocopies of individual reviews.)

In general, discontinuation of a model pre-cludes its appearance here. In addition, though professional components—recorders, ampli-fiers, monitor speaker systems—can be ob-tained secondhand and can sometimes offer performance which would otherwise guar-antee inclusion, we do not generally include such components. Apart from that exception, Stereophde's "Recommended Components" listing is almost exclusively concerned with products currently available in the US through the usual hi-fi retail outlets.

How RECOMMENDATIONS ARE DETERMINED

The ratings given components included in this listing are predicated entirely on per-formance—le, accuracy of reproduction— and are biased to an extent by our feeling that things added to reproduced sound (flutter, dis-tortion, colorations of various kinds) are of more concern to the musically oriented lis-tener than things subtracted from the sound, such as deep bass or extreme treble. On the other hand, components markedly deficient in one or more respects are downrated to the extent that their deficiencies interfere with the full realization of the program material. We try to include in "Recommended Com-

ponents" every product which we have found to be truly excellent or which we feel repre-

sents good value for money. Bear in mind that many different tastes are represented. The listing is compiled after extensive consulta-tion among Stereophile's reviewing staff, edi-tors, and publisher, and takes into account continued experiencing ola product after the formal review has been published. In par-ticular, we take account of unreliability and defects that show up after extended audition-ing. The fact that a product received a favora-ble review cannot therefore be regarded as a guarantee that it will continue to appear in this listing. The prices indicated are those current at

the time the listing was compiled (August 1993). We make no guarantee that any of these prices will not have changed by the time this issue of Stereophile appears in print. Where we have found a product to per-

form much better than might be expected from its price, we have drawn attention to it with a special symbol next to its listing: $$$. We also indicate products that have been on this list in one incarnation or another since the "Recommended Components" listing in Vol.13 No.10 (October 1990) with another symbol: *. Longevity in a hi-fi component is rare enough that we felt it worth indicating (although it can indicate that the attention of design engineers has moved elsewhere). We are not sympathetic toward letters

complaining that the Symphonic Bombast A-123 MkVla, which we recommended heartily two years ago, no longer makes it

Class A Best attainable sound, without any practical consider-ations; "the least musical compromise." A Class A system is one for which you don't have to make a leap of faith to believe that you're hearing the real thing.

Class B The next best thing to the very best sound reproduc-tion; Class B components generally cost less than Class A ones, but most Class B components are still quite expensive.

Class C Somewhat lower-fi sound, but far more musically natural than average home-component high fidel-ity; products in this class are of high quality but still affordable.

Class D Satisfying musical sound, but there are either signifi-cantly lower fidelity than the best available, or major compromises in performance—limited dynamic range, for example. Bear in mind that appearance in

Class D still means that we recommend this product— it's possible to put together a musically satisfying sys-tem exclusively from Class D components.

Class E Applying to loudspeakers and phono cartridges only, this "Entry Level" classification includes products that may have obvious defects but are both inexpen-sive and much better than most products in their price category.

Class K "Keep your eye on this product:' Class K is for com-ponents which we have not tested (or have not fin-ished testing), but which we have reason to believe may be excellent performers. We are not actually recommending these components, only suggesting you take a listen. Though the report has yet to be pub-lished in certain cases, the reviewer and editor some-times feel confident enough that the review opinion is sufficiently well-formed to include what other-wise would be a Class K entry in one of the other classes, marked (NR).


into "Recommended Components" at all. Where deletions are made, we endeavor to give reasons (there always are reasons). But remember, deletion of a component from this list does not invalidate a buying decision you have made.

Individual reviewers mentioned by their initials are: Larry Archibald, John Atkinson, Amis Balgalvis, Martin Colloms, Anthony H. Cordesman, Robert Deutsch, Jack En-glish, Gary A. Galo, Corey Greenberg, Larry Greenhill, Robert Harley, J. Gordon Holt, Ken Kessler, Guy Lemcoe, Lewis Lipnick, Peter W. Mitchell, Thomas J. Norton, Dick Olsher, Markus Sauer, Donald A. Scott, Bill Sommerwerck, Steven Stone, Sam Tellig, Stephen W. Watkinson, and Peter van Wil-lenswaard.

HOW TO MAKE USE OF THE LISTINGS Read carefully our descriptions here, the original reviews, and (heaven forbid) reviews in other magazines to put together a shortlist of components to choose from. Carefully evaluate your room, your source material and front-end(s), your speakers, and your tastes. With luck, you may come up with a selection to audition at your favorite dealer(s). "Recom-mended Components" will not tell you just what to buy any more than Consumer Reports would presume to tell you whom to marry!

TURNTABLE S Editor's Note: Any audiophile worth his or her salt should (unless exclusively committed to CD) consider at least one of our Class D recommendations—or prefer-ably one of the Class C turntables and their variants—as the essential basis of a musically satisfying system. An in-depth audition as part of a preferred turntable/arm/car-tridge combination before purchase is mandatory. The point should also be made that these are lean times for turntable manufacturers—"Buy while you can" is Larry Archibald's advice. If an inexpensive turntable has not made its way into Class D or is not listed in Class K, do not assume that it is recommended by default. Under-achievers are more common in the world of turntables than in any other area of hi-fi.

A Basis Debut Gold Standard: $6900 "A natural for a Class A recommendation!' said AB of this thoroughly worked out, beautiful-looking, suspended-subchassis design. Interchangeable armboard has been designed in an ingenious manner that doesn't compromise structural rigidity. A vacuum hold-down upgrade is avail-able for $2600; the Basis supplied with hold-down is $8900. (Vol.13 No.12) Versa Dynamics 2.0/2.3 C. Ingenious vacuum hold-down, air-bearing, suspended-

subchassis turntable with integral air-bearing tonearm. JGH felt the complete player to give the "best sound from analog disc" that he had heard, particularly in its presen-tation of silent backgrounds and tight low-bass response Needs a very massive support (designer John Bicht uses a thick slab of granite). Though the 2.0 is no longer made, it is retained in this listing due to Versa's making a "23" update kit available in 1992. A similar (user-installable) 1.2 upgrade is available for the Versa 1.0 turntable for $900. (Vol.10 No.8, Veil Nos.1 & 4, Model 2.0; Vol.16 No.2, Model 1.2; see also JE's report from the 1992 WCES in Vol.15 No.4.)

Basis Ovation: $4395 This well-engineered turntable combines a high-mass platter with a superb suspension and a precision drive sys-tem. According to DO, the Ovation offers awesome bass definition, incisive spatial resolution, and an exceptional feel for recorded hall ambience It's DO's reference. Works nicely with the Graham 15t tonearm, but requires a shim (available from Basis) for proper VTA range Just fails to reach Class A. due to its lack of a vacuum hold-down sys-tem. (Vol.16 No.7) Linn Sondek LP12 with Lingo power supply: $2645-$2745 (depending on finish) $$$ Compared with the Valhalla model, the Lingo-equipped version minimizes the LP12's propensity for a slightly fat midbass, subjectively extending the low frequencies by another octave and resulting in a Class B rating overall. The Lingo upgrade alone costs $1295. New Trampolin suspension minimizes effect of support. New Cirkus bear-ing/subchassis, now fitted as standard, costs $495 inc. labor as upgrade kit, and further extends and tightens the turn-table's bass. (Vol.14 No.1) SOTA Cosmos: $4400 "Does it boogie?" asks MC, adding that "Very few of the big turntables do!' TJN thought very highly of the Cosmos, however, feeling that it offers a more contrasty sound than the SOTA Star, and with greater inter-transient silence The subjective result was that small details were better resolved with the more expensive turntable. The low end, too, betters the Star in detail and clarity. TJN did feel, however, that purchasers might want to exper-iment using the Cosmos without SOTA's supplied "Groove Damper" mat. In systems which lean toward warmth, the mat led to "a slightly more closed-in sound that tempered the feeling of the unrestricted top end that is one of the Cosmos's principal strengths?' In leaner-sounding systems, however, the overall balance with the mat might be preferred. A high-gloss black finish adds $600 to the price, and a dustcover adds $250. (Vol.13 No.7, Vol.15 No3; see also TJN's SOTA Jewel review in Vol.15 No.4.) Aura: $3950 er The only recommended turntable to conform to the Oriental high-end norm of coupling a high-mass platter on a sprung subchassis with a separate, unsprung motor tower, the beautifully finished Australian Aura impressed DO with its ability to enable the arm and cartridge to throw a deep soundstage. "Borderline Class Al" quoth he, though the Aura didn't quite match the Versa 2.0. Dynamics, too, were effortless, he felt, musical peaks con-trasted with an astonishingly quiet, velvet-black back-ground. Works well with both the SME V and the Gra-ham tonearm. (Vol.13 No.4) VPI TIVE $3500 er Sophisticated belt-drive turntable with two idler pulleys


in addition to the motor pulley to give a more even belt tension. "Soul" was an ingredient that TJN felt impelled to mention as being part of the big VPI's sound, as was "midrange liquidity, with a self-effacing high-frequency sweetness:' The sounds of the cartridges and arms he used became a little richer on the VPI when compared with their sounds on the SOTA Cosmos and Star. Compared with the sound of the standard VPI HV/-19, the TNT fea-tures a greater degree of palpability. It's LA's reference LP source. West Coast price is $3600. A dustcover and dedicated stand add $1150 to the price. (Vol.13 No.7)

Linn Sondek LP12 Valhalla: $1745-$1845 (depending on finish) * The standard against which newer turntable designs have been measured for 17 years now, the Linn is felt by some to be more colored than the other Class C 'tables, par-ticularly in the upper bass. Latest version has a laminated armboard and Cirkus bearing,/subchassis ($495 inc. labor as upgrade kit) which results in a considerably more neu-tral sound. Certainly it is harder to set up and more likely to go out of adjustment, though with the latest springs, Trampolin suspension, and glued subchassis, it is now much better in this respect (low-bass extension suffers when the LP12 is not set up correctly). Superbly low mea-sured rumble and excellent speed stability reinforce the feeling of musical involvement offered by this dassic turn-table. Good isolation from shock and vibration—essential in view of the fact that JA's cats like to use his LP12 (with the lid down) as a springboard tojump onto the equipment cabinets! While the felt mat doesn't offer the greatest degree of vibration suppression within the vinyl disc, what absorption it does offer is uniform with frequency. Despite flirtations with other decks, JA remains true to the basic design he has used now for over 15 years. A version with a Basik power supply is available for $1395-$1495, depending on finish. (Vol.7 No.2, Vol.13 No3) Oracle Delphi Mk.IV: $1995 Latest version of this elegant Canadian turntable offers greater subchassis stability, a hard polymer mat, a new bearing and bearing mounting, and a revised platter that concentrates its mass at the rim. Its basic sound is ana-lytical rather than romantic, being "detailed, tight, quick" with "excellent clarity," according to TJN, who did note that it lacks warmth. Turbo power supply adds $450 to the price, though TJN found the improvement offered to be relatively small. Owners of earlier Delphis can have their turntables upgraded for $795. (Vol.14 No.8) Roksan Xerxes: $226042750 * Unusual but well-made British design that eschews a con-ventional sprung suspension for a semi-rigid construction. Easy to set up and align, therefore, but stable support is essential. Excellent pitch stability, though the bass is a little lightweight. Provides a.firm musical foundation for the SME V. Rega RB300, and Eminent Technology ET 2 tonearms. (Vol.13 No3) SOTA Deluxe Star Series IV turntable: $2195 * A synergistic match with the SME Series V tonearm, the Series IV Star, complete with the acrylic Superniat, is sig-nificantly better than earlier versions, due to its use of an aluminum armboard, new motor drive pulley, new sus-pension springs, and ribbed platter construction. Com-pared with the standard SOTA Sapphire, the vacuum hold-down significantly improves bass range and detail, as well as resolution across the audio range. The basic SOTA Sap-phire at $1595 lacks vacuum disc clamping—the Series II Reflex clamp (separate price $150) is supplied as

standard—but is attractive, easy to set up and use, ingen-ious in design, and sonically excellent. (Vacuum clamping is available as a $600 upgrade.) If you find the cost-no-object "superdecks" tantalizingly out of reach, JGH recommends that you set your sights on the SOTA Deluxe Star: "The best turntable performance you can buy for anywhere near its cost!" It must be noted, however, that LA and JA find its sound a little uninvolving compared with the Linn, Well-Tempered 'table, or VPI. (Vol.9 No.2, Vol.10 No.5, Vol.11 No.1) VPI FIW-19 IV: $1800 * The Mk.III version of the VPI 'table (still available for $1200) was cosmetically more elegant than the original and achieved a standard of sonic neutrality that put it dose to the SOTA Star Sapphire, and at a significantly lower price. Borderline Class B. The Mk.IV version is better still, the music arising from a velvet-black background, thought GL, with significant improvements in sound-staging and resolution. An upgrade with a standard MILIV platter from older HW-19s costs $750; with a TNT Series 2 platter, the upgrade costs $850; an acrylic armboard for the ET 2 costs $50, while the special 1"-thick armboard for the ET 2 when the TNT platter is used costs $100. The HW-19 readily accommodates a wide range of tonearms —the ET 2 air-bearing design in particular—and is very stable. The $400 Power Line Conditioner (see Vol.12 No.2) is an essential accessory. The '19 can be upgraded to TNT status. (Vol.8 No.4, Vol.9 Nos.4 & 9, Vol.12 No.11, Vol.15 No.8; see also Vol.13 No.7, p.112, and GI% ET 2 report in Vol.14 No.10.)

Well-Tempered Classic Thrntable: $2225 (inc. arm)

An integrated belt-drive tumtable/tonearm combination featuring an acrylic platter and a unique four-point wobble-free bearing. Lacks a suspension, but is designed with attention to detail, particularly concerning the max-imizing of speed stability and the rejection of motor noise. Most obvious sonic characteristic is stability, both in speed and harmonic structure, coupled with cleaned-up sound quality: "The quiet between the notes is suddenly more silent:' said AB in his review. In addition, dynamics seem to be enhanced, though the sound is more lightweight than that of, say, the VPI. A Black Damped Platter adds $250 to price, and is also available for $300-$400, depend-ing on vintage of turntable. GL feels that the new plat-ter will go a long way toward alleviating the WTT's light-weight balance. "It should bring pleasure to a lot of record collectors—borderline Class B," was his conclusion, though he finds the WTA's cartridge clips rather fragile. RH recommends the various Mango Audio Labs modi-fications—Well-Damped Arm Clamp ($299), Micro Sus-pension System 8c Motor Terminator Kit ($239, now height-adjustable), and, for those with the old platter, the Platter Interface System ($179)—see RH's review in Vol.16 No.4. (Vol.11 No3, Vol.16 No.4)

D Linn Axis: $1195 (inc. arm) * Versatile, "turnkey operation," two-speed belt-drive deck with electronic speed control and ingenious suspension. Latest version fitted with the new Akito tonearm, which is much improved compared with the original arm. "Smaller" sound than the Sondek, which offers both a greater sense of ease and better low-frequency extension. Tight rnidbass, but a slightly "fat" upper bass coupled with a forward HF balance don't detract from this inex-pensive player's ability to allow its owner to enjoy the music. CG preferred the sound with the Linn cables


replaced by AudioQuest Emerald. Version without arm costs $895. (Vol.10 No.1, original version; Vol.14 No.7.) Rega Planar 3: $775 (inc. arm) * Synergistic mix of no-nonsense deck with superb arm (included). Lack of environmental isolation may be problematic (see "Letters" in this issue), limited cartridge compatibility, but a safe Class D recommendation nevertheless. Can be obtained in a dedicated version for playing 78s. (Vol.7 No.1, Vol.8 No.6) Roksan Radius: $1495 (inc. arm) Well-made and stylish belt-drive turntable with quartz-referenced motor supply and integral Tabriz tonearm. Minimal suspension consists of three rubber spheres that separate the two halves of the plinth. While not as coloration-free as the WTRP, the Radius has a better-defined bass register, with a good sense of rhythmic vital-ity. Tonearm lacks midband transparency, though CG found that damping the armtube with Sumiko's Arm Wrap helped enormously in this regard. Works best with Roksan's own Corus Black cartridge. Borderline Class C. says KK. (Vol.16 No.8)

SOTA Jewel: from $1195 Basically a bare-bones SOTA Sapphire without the sus-pension or vacuum hold-down, the Jewel features the same "Constrained-Mode" damped platter and inverted bearing as the more expensive model. Using both AudioQuest PT-8 and Graham tonearms, TJN was impressed with the Jewel, finding its sound taut, clean, and dynamic, with a well-controlled bass. Balance is a little forward, more contrasty, compared with the Cosmos, and sound tends to smear at climaxes by comparison, but overall "very high Class D," according to TJN. The Jewel can be upgraded all the way to Star Sapphire level; fundamental upgrade prices include wooden armboard ($30, $50 pre-cut), com-posite armboard ($100 blank, $135 pre-cut), acrylic dust-cover ($100), and Reflex Clamp ($150). (Vol.15 No.4) SOTA Comet: $500 (inc. arm) $$$ Bare-bones, belt-drive turntable relies on high-mass plinth for environmental isolation, but captures what GL defined as the "soul" of the music, with an uncolored midrange, evaglent detail (except at high playback levels), good depth, but only fair stereo imaging, using the Blue Point Spe-cial cartridge. Price includes LMT-II tonearm. Reflex Clamp ($150) an essential accessory. (Vol.16 No.8) VP! HW-19 Jr: $600 * Well-constructed belt-drive turntable featuring an excel-lent disc-damping system. No suspension, due to upgrade path to fully fledged HW-19 being incorporated into design. GAG therefore recommends a wall-mounted iso-lation shelf (such as the Target) to get the best performance from the Jr. Available for $950 ready-fitted with Audio-Quest PT-6 tonearm. West Coast price is $25 higher. (Vol.12 No.10) Well-lbmpered Record Player: $1195 Somewhat fussy to set up, but when done right the WTRP 'table/arm combination produces coloration-free sound with a clarity and resolution that belie its price. Possesses a more laid-back, more musically natural balance than the Linn Axis, but does not achieve this by suppressing recorded detail. Low-bass performance is intrinsically a little soft, but can be fine-tuned by playing with the damping arrangement. Borderline Class C performance with the latest platter, according to CG. (Vol.14 No.7, Vol.16 Nos.2 8c 10)

TONEARMS

A Eminent lkchnology Two: $1250 with standard air pump * The ET 2 corrects its predecessor's cueing difficulties and comes up with a host of ingenious extras, including VTA adjustable during play. More important, it has "an extraor-dinarily live and open soundstage," according to AHC, and gets the best results from a wide range of cartridges. Very fussy to set up and use, and needs a very stable sub-chassis tumtable-VPI, for example-to give of its best. MC also reports excellent performance with the ET 2 mounted on the Roksan Xerxes. Surpassed overall by the SME V, which has as neutral a midrange and significantly better bass definition and extension, and by the Airtangent. At less than half the fixed-pivot SME's price, however, the ET 2 is an excellent value. Latest version incorporates a viscous damping trough ($95) and a revised, high-pressure manifold ($100 with return of original pump and manifold) to take advantage of the higher pressure offered by the Airtech Wisa air pump ($375) and surge tank ($200). (The Airtech pump and tank cost $500 if bought together.) GL reports excellent results from this combi-nation on the VPI HW-19, and also recommends the Teclock AI-911 VTA dial indicator ($34.95), for which ET provides a mounting bracket ($25). Price without stan-dard pump is $950. (Vol.8 Na7, VoL13 No3, Vol.14 No.10)

Graham Model 1.5: $2200 The "t2" version costs $2650 and includes tungsten side-weights ($250 as upgrade) and AZ-1 Azimuth Alignment Box ($200 as upgrade). Both versions incorporate new SW-2 arm wand ($500 as upgrade) and a refined coun-terweight decoupling mechanism; otherwise, the arm is the same as reviewed. Beautifully engineered unipivot design using an SME-type armboard cutout that offer interchangeable armwands and easy adjustment of VTA, azimuth, and geometry. Superb bass definition, though not as much ultimate weight as the SME, but astonishingly good retrieval of midband information due to a very low resonant signature, exceeding even the performance of the SME in this area. Standard finish is gold matte; chrome matte is available on special order. (Vol.14 Nos3 & 8; see also TJN's SOTA Jewel review in Vol.15 No.4.)

Linn Ekos: $2495 * Cleaner-sounding than the Wok, upon which it's loosely based, the Ekos rivals the SME in overall neutrality while offering a somewhat brighter, more energetic presentation of the music. The treble is nevertheless superbly trans-parent. The Ekos also provides a much better match with the Linn LP12 than the English arm, which loses control of the bass when mounted on the Scots turntable. MC also found the Ekos's bass to be more tuneful and "open" than that of the original hank. Azimuth adjustment is not possible. (Vol.12 Nos.3 & 4, Vol.13 No.3, Vol.16 No.6)

Naim ARO: $1695 $$$ "An inner balance and harmony consistent with the musi-cal message says MC of this unipivot design. MS found the ARO to offer superb timbral accuracy, soundstag-ing, dynamics, and rhythmic integrity. He also found it less bright than the Linn Ekos and better balanced in the bass than the SME V. Additional arm tops cost $895. (Vol.16 No.6)

Rockport Technologies, Immedia RPM-1, Forsell, SME Model 20, Verdier.

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SME Series V: $2550 er This beautifully constructed pivoted tonearm has an

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extraordinarily neutral midrange, with one of the lowest resonant signatures in this region (though DO feels the Graham offers slightly more midrange detail). Easy to set up. VTA and overhang are adjustable during play, but there's no azimuth adjustment, something that DO feels to be a significant drawback. "The best bass performance on the market," said SWW-LA concurs, having audi-tioned the V on a VP! TNT-but JGH, JA, DO, and LL feel that the whole bass range is somewhat exaggerated. Not recommended with the LP12. Some compatibility problems with cartridges having low height. A less ver-satile version, the IV.Vi (which uses Series V bearings and Magnan Vi wiring), appears to offer many of the V's sonic virtues at a lower cost ($1995), though LA felt the differ-ence between the V and the original IV to be well worth the extra outlay. (Vol.9 No.6, Vol.14 No.8, Vol.16 No.6)

Oracle SME 345: $1595 Made by SME for Oracle, this sports the detachable head-shell of the 309, the bearings of the IV, and the arm lead of the V. A less relaxed, less warm sound than the SME V, thought TJN, the more expensive arm also offering slight improvements in depth and overall high-frequency balance. Nevertheless, he found the combination of the Oracle Delphi IV and SME 345 arm to be very satisfying. (Vol.14 No.8) SME 309: $1195 * ST continues to use this detachable-headshell aren on the now discontinued AR turntable-"Beautifully engineered, easy to use, a great non-tweaker's arm:' says he. Lacks any damping mechanism. (NR, but see Vol.11 Na10, p.53, and Vol.12 No.12, p.63.) Well-Umpered Arm: $900 * One of the most neutral arms, according to JGH, this odd-looking arm is hard to fault on any count. Superb highs, stereo soundstaging, and midrange, plus excellent com-patibility with MC cartridges that put a lot of energy back into the arm. Some deficiency/softness in the low bass, and, according to some listeners, an undynamic sound, but virtually no other problems. Good value for money. The Black Classic version, which is currently being sup-plied with new Well-Tempered Turntables, is available as an upgrade for $300. Removing the armrest, which adds a thickening in the lower midrange when the arm is mounted on the Well-Tempered Turntable (see Volt] No.6), further improves the sound, as does replacing the standard counterweight with a more massy one nearer the pivot. RH recommends the LP Lab modification for the WTA (Vol.15 No 1), which costs $245 including UPS return shipping. LP Lab now offers a carbon-fiber armtube for $150 if purchased with mod, $200 as retro-fit. (Vol.8 Nos.4 & 7, Vol.9 Nos.3 & 5, Vol.16 No.4)

AudioQuest PT-8: $595 TJN got excellent results from the FT-8 fitted with Signet OC-9 and AudioQuest 404i-L phono cartridges on a scrrA jewel turntable Soundwise, the balance is a bit more forward in the midrange than the Graham arm, but with excellent dynamics. The armtube is dead, there's no play at the pivot point, and friction seems very low, he found, summing it up as "a gem:' Otherwise identical Audio-Quest PI'-7 ($495) and '6 ($395) differ from the '8 only in having less highly specified AudioQuest arm-to-preamp cables. (Vol.15 No.4) Ftega FtB300: $425 * $$$ The Rega offers very good detail, depth, midrange neu-

trality, ambience, and precision of imaging, almost creep-ing into Class B. Works well with the Regs and Roksan 'tables, but also recommended by ST as an ideal substitute for the arms that come with the AR and Sonographe 'tables The Audio Advisor also offers it as a package with the VPI HW-19 Mkill and Jr. and sarA Sapphire turn-tables. Lacks any form of height adjustment, however: VTA can only be adjusted by adding spacers under the base. (Vol.7 No.7, Vol.10 No.1)

Wheaton Triplanar IV, SME 4.5i.

PHONO CARTRIDGES

A Benz-Micro Reference: $2500 Gutsy reproduction of the lower mids and bass octaves. Non-resonant LF signature with remarkable bass punch and control; a true reference in this regard. Exemplary retrieval of low-level detail. DO noted a slight brazen or synthetic quality through the upper octaves that traded grain for smoothness in its portrayal of harmonic textures Price with a qualifying trade-in phono cartridge is $1750; retipping cost is $500. (Vol.16 No.2) Ikeda Kiwame: $2495 Difficult to set up and happier at a VIT of 23gm, when tradcability is still only adequate, the Kiwame still manages to light a fire under the soundstage. Remarkable trans-parency, spatial resolution, and palpability coupled with a disarmingly liquid textural voicing, says DO. (Vol.16 No.2) Koetsu Pro IV: $3995 Although DO ultimately couldn't recommmend it in his review-he found it "overly lush"-JE emphatically dis-agrees, feeling the big Koetsu to be one of the world's great cartridges with "a state-of-the-art midrange" and a big, wide soundstage, though its bass is less generous than some of the other Class A contenders. "Paints a marvelous picture of the music:' summed up JE in his "Follow-Up:' (Vol.14 No.12, Vol.15 No.11) Koetsu Rosewood Signature: $2150 * MC's reference pickup "matches the Linn Troika for bass definition and overall definition:' and offers a superb bal-ance between the ability to decode space and perspec-tive and to present a detailed retrieval of groove informa-tion. Allows its owner "to be swept away by the music:' (Vol.13 No3) Symphonic-Line RG-8 Gold: $5000 What is so endearing about the handmade RG-8, accord-ing to DO, is its rare mastery over music's finesse and brawn: the effortless detailing, the smoothness of expres-sion, and the purity of texture are combined with the bass impact and dynamic power of a steam locomotive. Works best into high impedance loads. It's DO's current reference (Vol.16 No.2)

AudioQuest AQ 700ONSX: $1595 RH's auditioning, confirmed by RD, DAS, JE, LA, and AB, suggests a highly musical performance for this sophisticated low-output MC manufactured for Audio-Quest by Scan-Tech in Japan. Superb rendering of depth, astonishing retrieval of recorded detail, and "razor-sharp" transient leading edges are coupled with a slightly empha-sized top octave (that becomes sweeter after significant


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run-in) and a somewhat lean overall balance. DAS adds that "its detail credibility, staging, and natural warmth make you want to smash your CD player against the wall!" Auditioning by RH of the latest NSX version suggests borderline Class A performance, RD adding that the NSX has a more neutral treble than the earlier version. (Vol.14 No.6, Vol.15 No.1)

Audio-Uchnica ART1: $1300 Eminently musical sound with a lyrical upper midrange that DO found to sing on female voice. Excellent grip on treble transients, but less control at the bass end of the spec-trum. Not as tonally convincing or as well-integrated top-to-bottom as the Lyra Clavis. (Vol.16 No.2) Ikeda 9R: $1895 The cantilever-less Ikeda offers superb transparency. Music has a fast, tight "U-R-there" quality, felt AB: "vividly focused, delineated, and dynamic: Less refined treble than the Clavis and AQ 7000, however, with some sibilance emphasis. (Vol.15 No.1) Lyra Clavis: $1695 Like the AQ 7000, the Clavis is made in Japan by Scan-Tech. AB felt the Clavis traded "some of [the former's] lower-midrange richness for an improved ability to handle the upper frequencies." He also noted "an outstanding absence of colorations," and rejoiced in the way the Clavis was able to retrieve inner detail during loud, complex musical passages. A winner at the price! Exchange for a new cartridge costs $995, not $1115 as stated by DO in Vol.16 No.2. (Vol.15 No.1, Vol.16 No.2)

AudioQuest 404i-L: $695 * A slightly forward treble and a minor lack of image depth didn't prevent TJN from enthusiastically recommend-ing this MC, the sound being naturally detailed without any HF exaggeration. Current production has FPC-6 "Functionally Perfect Copper" coil windings, said to improve the sound of the low-output version slightly-but that of the "H" high-output version to a significant extent. (Vol.12 No3) Grado Signature TLZ II: $500 * The only MM model in this rarefied performance region, the TLZ features slightly more open highs than the Audio-Quest 404i-L, an open, lively midrange, a taut midbass, and expansive low frequencies, according to TJN. Latest version is said to be a little flatter in response than the review sample. "A sweetheart," said GL. (Vol.12 No.7) Kiseki Blue Goldspot: $700 This well-made MC offers good trackability, good if not outstanding image delineation, and, said DO, "outstand-ing bass control and definition." (Vol.15 No3) Audio Advisor/Monster Cable Sigma Genesis 2000: $600 er Early samples seemed to be very arm-sensitive, but when mounted in an optimal tonearrn-the ET 2, for example -the Sigma Genesis offers an airy and open sound with superb dynamics but a rather soft bass. Rather a forward if detailed presentation of soundstage information, as though the 2000 "seemed to turn up the contrast ratio a notch," thought MC, implying that it would not be the best choice for systems that are already a little larger than life. Now available only from the Audio Advisor, but a bargain at the new price. (Vol.13 No.3) Signet AT-0C9: $400 it? "The best ever from Audio-Technica," said TJN. Neu-tral through the midrange, the 0C9 is less sweet and three-dimensional than, for example, the vdH MC One, but not by much. Highly recommended (and an rxcellent tracker).

The 0C9 has very high output for a low-output MC, minimizing phono-stage noise. (Vol.12 No.2) Sumiko Blue Point Special: $295 $$$ CG enthused about this nude, P-Mount-less version of the standard Blue Point, pointing to its lack of bass bloat, tonal honesty, and cleaner, moire extended highs. It also offers excellent detail and focus. A touch of Stylast applied to the underside of the cantilever optimizes the bass. High output. (Vol.16 No.4)

D AudioQuest MC-5: $395 Borderline Class C for this high-output cartridge, thought CG, who said, "Clean, crisp, and dynamic. ..with a little sparkle on top:' But he thought it had less-focused sound-staging than the Blue Point Special. (Vol.16 No.5) Benz-Micro MC-20E II: $125 A master in the bass, with excellent soundstaging, but less smooth than the standard Blue Point, with somewhat wiry highs. (Vol.16 No.4) Grado Signature MCZ II: $300 * Basically similar to the more expensive TLZ, the MCZ sounds less "fast," with less well-extended highs and a less focused sound. A "steady shortstop" rather than a "home-run hitter," said TJN. (Vol.12 No.7) Roksan Corus Black: $325 The best moving-magnet design CG has heard, the Black is more forward-balanced and less refined overall than the Blue Point Special, but has tighter bass and better-focused soundstaging than the standard Blue Point. Fussy about VTA. Less expensive Corns Blue ($200) shares the same body but has a Gyger II-profile stylus rather than the Gyger III and sounds more nasal. (Vol.16 No.5) Shure V15 Tjpe V-MR: $175 * $5$ Very neutral midrange and bass, slightly soft high end. High compliance makes it unsuitable for use in high-mass arms. You sacrifice a bit of detail compared with good MCs. A "budget reference," according to ST, who, given his druthers, would place it in Class C, though he notes that its sound "doesn't open up like a good ay Recom-mended for its unsurpassed tracking ability, excaent relia-bility, and listenability. Excellent value. (Vol.7 Nos.5 & 8, Vol.10 No.5, Vol.12 No.11) Sumiko Blue Point: $125 Rather a woolly bass, due to the P-Mount/adaptor con-figuration, but a sweet balance, lacking any nasality, thought CG of this high-output MC. (Vol.16 No.4)

E Grado ZTE+1: $30 * The best buy in a really cheap cartridge, this MM has excellent trackability and sounds rather like a good MC. Readers oídas magazine should consider spending more than $30 on a cartridge, but when asked by friends what they would recommend for an old Dual or Garrard, this "system saver" is the one to mention. Will hum if used with older AR decks (an "AR" version is available); lack of suspension damping can lead to woofer pumping, even flutter, with high- or even medium-mass arms. (Vol.7 No.8; actual review was of the earlier GTE+1.)

Roksan Shiraz, Linn Arkiv, Benz-Micro Ruby, Sumiko Transfiguration, Lyra Parnassus, AudioQuest MC-200. Deletions Benz-Micro MC-3i discontinued; Audio Advisor/ Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000 II not auditioned in too long a time.

STEREOPHILE, OCIOBER 1993 109 WorldRadioHistory

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CD PLAYERS Editor's Note: The class ratings are a little different in this and the following two sections. Whereas the phrase "state of the art" can be interpreted literally for other cat-egories, here it means the best CD sound available as of the time of writing. With every advance in digital replay, we realize that the goal still seems to be just as far away. As with computers, a CD replay system becomes effec-tively obsolete as you drive it home from the store. We urge caution to someone about to purchase an expensive "state-of-the-art" CD player. Perhaps the wisest strategy these days would be to buy separate transport and DAC units, eventual replacement of the latter being the best way to stay abreast of continuing development. (Note that the class rankings in CD players and D/A processors are not necessarily directly comparable.) However, deficiencies in the A/D converters used to master CDs may well be the limiting factor in CD sound—see RI-I's interview with Doug Sax in Vol.12 No.10 and compare the sound of the industry-standard Sony PCM-1630 with Chesky's 128x-oversampling ADC on the appropriate tracks on the first Stereophile Test CD.

A Linn Rank CD transport Si Linn Numerik D/A processor: $5790 Two-box system in which the DAC clocks the transport via a separate link. Excellent presentation of instrumental timbres other than a somewhat lightweight bass, thought RH, with an intimate rather than Technicolored sound-stage, and a fatigue-free, musically appealing balance JA also liked the Linn. MC, however, feels that the Linn has a reduced sense of pace and involvement. Current ver-sion of the ICarik transport ($3395 if bought separately) incorporates a D/A section to enable it to be used as a standalone CD player. (Vol.15 No.1) Micromega Tho: $8000 Very expensive three-box Bitstream player. "Superb in its ability to convey the fine dynamic structure of music," judged RH, who found that the Trio's soft, liquid pre-sentation made him forget about reviewing and just enjoy the music Less "punchy" presentation than the best multi-bit processors, however. Though RH ultimately prefers the Linn, MC notes that the Trio offers "superior digi-tal replay!' Now distributed by Golden String; includes both balanced and single-ended outputs. (Vol.15 No.5) Naitn NA CDS: $6295 The sound of this very expensive two-box player (unus-ually, it has a separate power supply rather than analog section) offers a superb sense of pace and rhythm without being overly incisive. Smooth and easy to listen to, thought RH, though ultimately he felt this didn't offset resolu-tion of low-level detail that was not to the same standard. He preferred the same-priced Theta Data and DS Pro Generation III combination. However, as some whose ears we trust prefer it to the Linn player, we advise you to listen for yourself to see whether the CDS's balance of virtues fits your tastes. (Vol.15 No.8)

Kinergetics KCD-40 Platinum: $2295 * The KCD-40 is a little fussy regarding choice of inter-connects, but in a sympathetic system it "combines a rich, rounded, glowing midrange with an open, detailed top end and a full, warm, but well-defined and punchy bass!' decided TJN. "The music never fails to communicate," was JA's conclusion. JGH found the bass to be a little lean,

however, compared with the Sony 'X779. High level from variable outputs optimizes its use straight into a power amplifier. Needs at least 100 hours to begin sounding toler-able, says SS. (Vol.13 No.1, Vol.16 Nos3 & 6) MSB Technology Silver: $2795 TJN declared the MSB a favorite of his, observing that this Philips-based player is "tube-like" in that it combines a slightly warm, but not loose, bottom end with an im-mediate, "alive" midrange and lower treble and a soft extreme top. No digital output, although one can be added at the expense of the player's analog section. Includes MSB's 32-lb "Electromagnetic and Acoustic Isolation Plate," which is attached to the bottom of the player. (Vol.16 No3) Proceed CD Library: $12,000 "Fveellent!" is how LL answered when JA asked him what he thought of this 100-disc changer combining Proceed Series 3 digital electronics with a professional jukebox mechanism, a high-quality Philips transport, a beauti-fully realized remote control, and a sophisticated com-puterized database for disc information. CG, too, was impressed, finding that it significantly enriched his life during the months he played with it. Main drawback (apart from the 100-CD capacity) is the necessity to key-in all the CD and track information with the supplied QwEirry keyboard before the programming options can be used, but, as CG points out, at this price level this is something the retailer should be prepared to do. Also makes an excellent CD transport. (Vol.15 No.8) Proceed PCD 3: $2995 A significant price increase carries with it an improve-ment in sound quality that is major, according to JGH, or minor but still important, according to TJN, who described the earlier, Mk.2 version of the PCD as being "drier, less liquidly sweet, less pristine-sounding!' The new Proceed's sound is tight, detailed, and open but a little "detached" (TJN) or "less involving" (PH). TJN also felt it to be a little cooler than the MSB, overall. JGH also found it a little "closed-in" compared with the Kinergetics '40 and Sony '779. (Upgrades from Series 1 and 2 players cost $1595 and $1295, respectively.) (Vol.16 Nos.3 & 6) Sony CDP-X707ES: $1900 US Actual model reviewed was the almost identical Sony CDP-X779ES, which JGH enthused about, feeling that it offered an excellent balance between the hi-fi virtues and the ability to involve the listener in the music "Detailed without being analytical, alive without being aggressive, sweet without being veiled," he concluded. (Vol.16 No.6)

California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II: $850 A full-featured American player with a powerful upper bass, with excellent soundstage depth and imaging, thought JE. Midrange a little grainier and leaner than the other Class C recommendations, but the Icon still manages to effectively communicate the music's message. 'Few players at or near its price offer as much!' summed up JE. (Vol.15 No.7) Creek CD-60: $1295 Expensive and not the highest resolution of detail, but a warm, musically involving sound, with a better pre-sentation of the music's rhythmic values than the other players in this class, decided CG. "Borderline Class B," quoth he. Little of the edginess found in most affordable digital gear. DAS found the Creek to sound very smooth, and preferred it to the Sonographe. MC describes the Creek as "ordinary!' however, while PWM feels careful


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system matching is essential. (Vol.16 No3) JVC XL-Z1050TN: $800 "Gets the midrange right:' noted CG, finding that the JVC also offered a transparent, sweet, grain-free treble, but a somewhat lightweight bass. ST recommends this player highly for its smoothness and low-level resolu-tion—he liked it so much, he bought it! (Vol.15 No.2) Pioneer PD-65: $800 Less lean-sounding and more forgiving than the same-priced JVC, but also less transparent, the Pioneer with its "Legato Link" D/A conversion and upside-down platter nevertheless impressed the heck out of ST "More dy-namic, dramatic, and atmospheric [than the JVC]," enthused he. (Vol.16 No.1) Sonographe SD22: $895 A little rolled-off in the highs but "sweet and laid-back," says MC of this bitstream player. The SD22's "got the warm romance of tubes in spade' thought CG, though he did note a somewhat reticent bottom octave in the bass, and restrained dynamics. But "definitely in the winners' circle," said DAS. (No coaxial data output.) (Vol.15 No.2)

D Rote! RCD-955AX: $449 * Rotel RCD-965BX: $549 A pair of otherwise identical Japanese players designed in England that differ only in their DACs. The '955 uses Philips's 16-bit, 4x-oversampling chip set; the '965 the 7323 Bitstream chip. The original multi-bit '855 so impressed LL that he recommended it to 20 other fellow members of the National Symphony Orchestra. "Great sound for a peanuts price," was the thrust of his review's conclusion. Very sensitive to the cables with which it is used, though in the right context LL felt the '855 to offer "a degree of transparency and harmonic neutrality usually found only with the expensive stuff?' RH agreed that the '855 offered a sound that is musically involving, adding the opinion that its sins are ones of omission rather than commission. Fitted with a digital output. The current ver-sion, the '955, differs from the '855 only in having better cosmetics and a higher price. Both CG and MC point out that the '955 sounds more musically natural than the Bit-stream RCD-965BX, due to a better-developed sense of dynamics and a more involving, if less detailed, sound. MC, however, feels that the 965 still deserves recommen-dation. (Vol.13 No.7, Vol.14 No.2, RCD-855; Vol.15 No3, RCD-955 & '965.)

Wadia 6, SOTA Vanguard. Deletions Pioneer CLD-V820 LaserdisdCD Karaoke player dis-continued.

DIGITAL PROCESSORS Editor's Note: The sound of any particular CD trans-port/digital processor combination will be dependent on the data link used.

A Mark Levinson No-30: $14,950 Very expensive but very well-made and very versatile pro-cessor whose ease and quality of sound, when driven via an ST optical cable from a Theta Data, blew RH's socks off Its dynamic contrasts, palpable soundstaging, and free-dom from "digital" artifacts set a new standard for CD

replay that might not be surpassed for years, he concluded. JA agrees, noting that the only CD sound he has expe-rienced that comes close in terms of musical accessibility is that of the Linn Karilc/Numerik (though that Scottish combination doesn't have the Levinson's lush, warm bal-ance) and the Meitner IDAT. "Excels in its filigree pre-sentation of recorded detail," enthuses he. "Rewrites the rules," notes KK. Stereophile's "Product of the Year" for 1992. Textbook measurements, too, that imply close to true 20-bit resolution. (Vol.15 No.2, Vol.16 No.6) Meitner IDAT: $14,950 A massive and very expensive processor with physically dual-mono analog sections and a separate power-supply module, the IDAT ("Intelligent Digital Audio Transla-tor-) incorporates Meitner's C-Lock data-jitter-reduction circuit. The word "Intelligent" refers to its digital filter, actually two filters, the processor switching between them according to the dictates of the signal. Implemented in a total of four Motorola 56001 DSP chips, a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter optimized for the best frequency-domain performance is used for slowly-changing sig-nals, while an Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter optimized for the best time-domain performance is used for transient-rich signals. The result, as RH said in his review, is an excellent presentation of the music's rhythmic values, incisive soundstaging, low frequencies that were "the antithesis of blurred, slow, or poorly defined" (if not quite as deep or as powerful as those of the Generation III Theta), and grain-free high frequencies that were "mid-way between the Gen.111's incisive presentation and the No30's laid-back ease." (Vol.16 No3)

California Audio Labs System 1: $2645-$3495 A complicated component whose mainframe chassis ($1995) can be fitted with two DAC modules, either multi-bit (Caelum, $350; Indus, $650) or PWM (MASH IV, $200; MASH V, $1500). The digital input is apparently converted to analog, then back to digital (a decidedly inele-gant kludge, says JA) before being fed to one of the DAC modules. While TJN can't recommend the MASH IV module, he found the Caelum to offer Class C sound, the Indus and MASH V Class B. Both of the latter modules were warm-balanced; the Indus DAC proved best at reproducing transient details, while the Super MASH DAC gave the better sense of spatial ambience. Overall, he preferred the Indus for its "sweet yet vibrant" sound and palpability, but the beauty of the System One is that its owner can benefit from the sonic advantages of both DACs. "A winner:' summed up TJN in his review. (Prices listed are for System 1 fitted with either the recommended Indus or MASH V DAC modules.) (Vol.15 No.8) Kinergetics KCD-55 Ultra: $3995 Well-finished, solid-state processor uses two UltraAnalog 20-bit DACs in a differential configuration to give "razor-sharp transient detail" and "crystal-dear soundstage trans-parency:' with a tight, solid bass. A more forward, leaner presentation than the ARC DAC l-20 which will work well in more laid-back systems. (Vol.15 No3; see also Vol.15 No.2, pp.143-145.) Proceed PDP 3: $2495 With better resolution than its predecessor, a much better sense of reproduced space and depth, and a smoother, more liquid overall presentation, the new version of the PDP is a significant step forward. Fuller LF than the Ultra-Link, but a little more hashy in the treble. (Upgrades from Series 1 and 2 cost $1495 and $1395, respectively.) (Vol.16 No..5)


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PS Audio Reference Link: $4795 (See FtH's review in this issue.) PS Audio UltraLink: $1995 $$$ With its digital heart, the same NPC filter chip as the Levinson No30, and one of the two-channel UltraAnalog 20-bit DACs, the UltraLink promises a lot for a relatively affordable price. RH found it to deliver on that promise, its somewhat midrange-forward sound featuring a vivid immediacy, razor-sharp transients, excellent resolution of fine detail, palpable soundstaging, crystal transparency, and clean, hash-free highs. "A great bargain!" he pro-claimed. GL, JA, and RD concur with RH's enthusiasm, RD adding that, for him, the UltraLink's most impor-tant attribute was "its ability to reduce the sense of strain and congestion while unraveling complex musical pas-sages involving orchestra, chorus, and soloists!' An ST optical input costs an additional $200. (Vol.15 Nos.6 & 9, Vol.16 Nos.1 & 10) Theta DS Pro Generation HI: $4000 Theta DS Pre Generation III D/A preamplifier: $5400

Beloved by LL, the latest Theta Pro is a digital champ with its powerful bass, excellent rhythm, and a superbly solid, deep, and wide soundstage presentation effectively com-municating the musical message. "For those watching their budgets, the [Theta] knocks on the No.30's door at a fraction of the price summed up RH, though JA felt that a fine treble grain keeps the Theta from joining the hallowed ranks of Class A. Balanced outputs add $1000, AT&T ST-type optical input adds $400; TosLink optical input adds $100; Single-Mode Laser Link, with which CG feels true Class A sound is produced when the Pro is driven by the similarly equipped Data, adds $800. The DS Pre is identical but adds preamplifier functions, indud-ing volume control and one additional set of line-level analog inputs. It sounds best from the tape-out jacks. Balanced outputs add $100 to the Pie's price. (Vol.12 No3, Pre; Vol.15 No.10, Pro) Theta DS Pro Basic II: $1995 * The Mk.I DS Pro Basic's resolution of fine detail and soundstage depth was excellent, said RH, describing its overall presentation as "vivid!' CG was similarly im-pressed by the Mk.II Basic, finding it less laid-back than the PS UltraLink, with a better sense of pace, "a huge [but] tightly focused soundscape," and very much better-sounding than good entry-level digital gear. He also raved about the Theta's presentation of recorded space. While MC feels that the Mk.II Basic sounds more "elegant" than the Mk.1, he questions whether this has been achieved at the expense of the ultimate sense of pace. JGH, however, felt it sounded "LP-like' Balanced outputs (which sig-nificantly improve the already excellent sound, says CG) add $400; AT&T ST-type optical input adds $400; TosLink optical input adds $75; Single-Mode Laser Link adds $800. (Vol.13 No.8, original version; Vol.16 Nos.1 8c 6.)

Vacuum Thbe Logic Reference: $7000 This tubed unit features the UltraAnalog 20-bit DAC, though this has its output level reduced to provide a better match for the tube output circuitry. "A complete free-dom from hash and grain:' said RH. Though he noted that the expensive Stax better defined image outlines, he found the VTL:s warm presentation ultimately to be more musically believable. Bass is a little soft, however, while the overall balance is more forward than that of the Wadia 2000 or of the Thetas. Works well with the Meridian 602 transport. Review sample had a large de-emphasis error, said to have been corrected in subsequent production. (Vol.13 No.12, Vol.14 No.6)

Audio Alchemy Digital 'Ikansmission Interface: $349 $$$ Not a D/A processor but a data redocking device that goes between the transport and D/A and reduces measured word-dock jitter. Uses same chassis and outboard power supply as the DDE. Whether the DTI will improve the sound of a system depends on whether the transport's jitter is lower or higher than that of the DTI. Pm-purchase audi-tioning with specific transport and converter is, there-fore, mandatory. Ideal for use with digital sources that have only TosLink optical outputs. (Vol.16 No.5; see also Vol.16 Nos.1, p.143, and 9, p.47, and Rémy Fourré's article on jitter elsewhere in this issue.) Bitwise Musik System Zero: $1495 Rather a polite, lightweight balance, noted RH, lacking dynamic contrast compared with the ICinergetics KCD-55p, but this minimalist design offers a smooth, unfatig-uing treble with air and delicacy and a complete lack of digital hash and metallic hardness. "There was just the right balance between presentation of detail and a sense of ease RH conduded. BNC coaxial and TosLink inputs only. (Vol.15 Nos.9 & 10) Kinergetics KCD-55p: $1895 Identical to the twice-the-price '55 Ultra—apart from substituting Analog Devices AD1862 DACs for the Ultra's UltraAnalog DACs—the '55p has a more etched treble quality which keeps it from Class B. Dynamics are excellent, however, the soundstaging superb, with con-siderable image depth, and the bass powerful, extended, and tuneful. ST-type optical input available for an addi-tional $250. (Vol.15 No.9) Meridian 263 DIS: $895 $$$ Unique double-PLL data input receiver circuit reduces word-clock jitter to very low levels. The sound of this delta-sigma DAC may not suit all listeners, points out RH. The 263's bass is less powerful and tightly defined than that of the Cobalt, and the overall presentation is less mans-parent and softer in the treble than the Sumo Theorem. Very musical overall balance, however, and its absence of treble hash lifts the 263 into Class C. AJA favorite, the Meridian is the under-S1000 processor that RH would buy. (Vol.16 No.6) Micromega Duo BS: $975 $$$ Needs to be used with a good transport, notes MC of this French Bitstream processor, something that was con-firmed by ST, who got excellent results with a Melior CD-D. "Sweetness, smoothness, and delicacy.. . free from edgy, irritating sound' was Srs description of the Duo's character. (Vol.15 No.6)

D Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine v1.0: $299 $$$ Overall balance of this very inexpensive bitstream pro-cessor is on the forward side of neutral, with an upfront presentation of detail and a somewhat restricted image depth. The DDE has a sharper sense of image focus than that other giant-killer, the lintel RCD-855, but a less laid-back musical presentation. There's some disagreement among Stereophik's writers about the quality offered by the DDE. ST says it's basically as good as the Meridian 203; JA and RH feel it doesn't offer quite as well-developed a sense of palpability; CG prefers the lintel '955; MC men-tions that it needs to be used with a good transport; JE adds that it's a nice little product that's unfortunately "overrated by the audiophile grapevine" All recommend it highly to music-lovers on a tight budget, however. I'S

STEREOPHILE, OCEOBER 1993 115 WorldRadioHistory

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bus connection makes for easy updating. ST says the sep-arate power supply makes the sound more dynamic. About to be discontinued; price now includes lm Clear-stream data cable. (Vol.14 Nos.8 & 10, Vol.15 No.10) Cobalt 307: $599 "Punchy, clean, clear," says ST "A big, gutsy, powerful quality," says RH, though a little "thick" overall. Less lean than the Sumo Theorem, but doesn't have as focused imaging or as deep a soundstage. Borderline Class C, according to RH; the best under-81000 processor CG has heard. (Vol.16 No.4) PS Audio Digital Link H: $499 Very smooth treble with a lack of grain, allied to a bass that is fuller than the Sumo Theorem's while not being as fat as the CAL Sigma's. Lacks transparency, but excellent value. (Vol.15 No.10) Sumo Theorem: $799 Superb soundstaging but a slightly lean balance and an analytical, over-sibilant treble make system optimization tricky. Current production has much lowerjitter, rais-ing the performance of this inexpensive processor to bor-derline Class C. (Vol.15 No.10, Vol.16 No.4)

California Audio Labs Sigma II, Mark Levinson No35, Krell Reference 64, VTL Straighdine, Bitwise Musik Sys-tem 2 TC, Counterpoint DA-10, Wadia 9 & 15, Sonic Frontiers SDP-1. Deletions Theta DS Pro Prime significantly revised, mandating new auditioning; California Audio Labs Sigma replaced by Sigma II, awaiting "Follow-Up" review.

CD TRANSPORTS

A C.E.C. TL 1: $4650 Unusual, beautifully constructed belt-drive transport with a more laid-back, easeful sound than the Levinson No31, and less forceful in the bass. Sweet-sounding and extraor-dinarily musical, however, with a lush midrange (Vol.16 No.7; see also RH's response to a reader's letter in Vol.16 No.9, p.25.) Mark Levinson No31: $8495 Astonishingly well-constructed transport offers spec-tacular presentation of recorded detail and superbly attended, well-defined low frequencies, summed up RH. JA found that while the 31 is the natural partner to the Levinson No30, it also gets the best from inexpensive pro-cessors such as the Meridian 263. (Vol.16 No.6; see also RH's response to a reader's letter in Vol.16 No.9, p.25.)

Meridian 602 CD/S: $2750 With this beautifully finished British transport feeding the VTL processor, JA felt the sound to be superbly nat-ural, particularly regarding the reproduction of bass fre-quencies. Using Mod Squad Wonderlink for the coax-ial connection, the American transport produced a rather more forward midrange, alms deep soundstage, and, occa-sionally, more emphasis of the top octave when compared to the similarly priced Wadia WT-3200. Like the expensive Nakamichi, the drawer door isolates the CD from air-borne vibration. Superb error correction. An MC favorite, but non-standard output impedance may lead to more than the usual variability of sound with data cable used.

(Vol.14 No.6) Museatex Melior CD-D: $1749 $$$ ST heard a firming-up in the bass, lower distortion and hash, and increased resolution of detail, air, and ambience with this nicely finished transport fitted with a coaxial data output. RH confirms that high Class B is the appro-priate rating. (Vol.15 No.6) Nakamichi 1000mb: $6000 Stunningly finished transport visually matches Naka-michi's 1000p processor and 1000 DAT transport (see "Recording Equipment") and incorporates the Japanese company's "Music Bank" 7-CD changer mechanism. CD drawer door provides acoustic seal against external airborne vibration. Sound driving the Theta Generation Ill or PS Audio UltraLink is mellower than the Theta Data's, RH found, with a general sense of ease. AT&T ST optical output adds $850. (Vol.15 No.6) Proceed PM' 3: $2495 Cosmetically identical to the Proceed CD player, the PUF offers optical (Si), balanced electrical (XLR), and unbal-anced electrical (RCA) data outputs. Compared with the Esoteric P-2, the earlier PDT 2 offered a more forward treble and fatter and deeper low frequencies, but a less well-defined bass performance overall. Latest PDT 3 signifi-cantly improves on the PDT 2's performance, and has slightly better cosmetics and excellent damping feet. (Upgrades from Series 1 and 2 cost $1295 and $1095, respectively.) (Vol.14 No.5, Vol.16 No.5) PS Audio Lambda CD transport: $1695 $$$ AT&T ST output adds $200 to price; AES/EBU adds another $200. (See RH's review in this issue.) Theta Data Series H: $2500 Modified laserdisc player which impressed RH, MC, CG, and LL. AT&T ST optical output adds $400 to price, but must be regarded as mandatory. (Though CG says that if you have an early Data, the money is better spent on upgrading to the Series II-"Coax Series II sounds better than optical Series I.") JE feels the Data to be clearly the best transport he has heard in his system, while RH stated that it "redefines what we can expect from a CD trans-port." RH's Data occasionally finds a disc it won't play, while LL's original Data developed a susceptibility to shock, which appeared to be a sample fault. Now features optional Single-Mode Laser Link for an extra $800 (see RH's and CG's WCES reports in Vol.16 No.4). (Vol.14 No.11, Vol.15 No.10)

Meridian 200 CD/S: $1495 Similar in concept to Meridian's 602, with a disc com-partment/transport that slides out to accept the CD, the 200 features clunkier graphics and pushbuttons. Short-comings of omission rather than commission, thought RH, though the 200's lack of glare and hash was addictive (Vol.16 No.6)

D Creek CD-60: $1295 More rock-solid, rhythmically involving than the JVC '1050 when used as a transport, reports CG. (Vol.16 No3) JVC XL-Z1050TN: $800 We have found the JVC to make a good transport from its coaxial data output, even though that output is taken before JVC's proprietary K2 Interfacejitter-reduction cir-cuit. (Vol.15 No.2) Pioneer PD-65: $800 "Makes a superb transport," notes ST, who likes the Pioneer's ergonomics. (Vol.16 No.1)


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Forsell Air Reference, Theta Data Basic, CAL Delta, Wadia 7 & 8, Enlightened Audio Designs T-7000, Krell MD-10. Deletions Esoteric P-2 not auditioned recently enough to be sure of its current rating.

PREAMPLIFIERS Editor's Note: Apart from the jadis and the CAT, all the Class A preamplifiers offer both balanced and unbalanced outputs.

A Audio Research LS2B: $2995 "The most transparent yet-love it!" said MC of the unbalanced version of this line-level-only preamp, which RH also found to have almost no editorializing effect on the signals it passes. DO demurs, however, feeling that the FET/tube '2 was bettered by the Jadis in that the all-tube preamp threw a more palpable better-defined sound-stage. Current version has balanced inputs and outputs; an upgrade is available for owners of the original LS2 for $695. (Vol.14 No.10, Vol.16 Nos.1 & 4) Audio Research LS3ILS3B: $1495/$1995 $$$ A line-level-only all-FET preamplifier, the '3 offers Class A quality at an affordable price-"impossible but true!" enthuses MC, who prefers it to the hybrid LS2B. "You could not ask for more at twice the price!" Superbly spa-cious soundstaging and punchy dynamics are coupled with excellent transparency and a very neutral midrange. The "B" balanced upgrade for a plain LS3 costs $595. (Vol.16 No.8) Cello Palette Preamplifier: $6500 As well as superb transparency across the band and holo-graphic imaging, the Palette Preamplifier offered "a musi-cal quality I didn't know existed," according to LL, though JE is less convinced. Extremely high input impedance but only 6dB of gain. Incorporates superb graphic equalizer which differs from the norm in having a large amount of interaction between the bands. In combination with the fact that the maximum amount of boost and cut decreases toward the center of the audioband, this actually results in very fast optimization of program material by ear. Note that the response with the controls centered but not bypassed is not quite flat, which will invalidate listen-ing comparisons to pin down the sound of the EQ cir-cuitry on its own. Optional phono stage costs an addi-tional $2000. (Vol.15 No.6) Convergent Audio Tiichnology SL-1 Signature: $4950 JE's idm=ice, the tubed CAT is both harmonically accurate and able to endow the music with "glorious midrange splendor!' It also excels in the reproduction of dynamics and of a palpably real soundstage. Phono stage is quiet enough to work with the AudioQuest 700ONSX. "Magic!' summed up Mr. E. "A great preamp," adds RD. (Vol.15 No.12) Jadis JPL: $5395 DO's reference, the tubed jadis offers timbral accuracy and consummately defined soundstaging, and sets a new standard in the delineation of dynamic contrasts. Fleshes out the full spectrum of shadings from soft to very loud with the greatest of ease, says DO. MC would like greater transparency, however. (Vol.16 No.1) Jeff Rowland Design Group Consummate: $8750 This superbly made, fully remote-controlled, solid-state

preamplifier is TJN's reference for absence of preamplifier sound, offering superbly precise imaging, palpable sound-staging, clean and tight low frequencies, and a slightly forward midrange and treble. TJN said the line section was less dark-sounding than the Krell KBL, with bet-ter image focus. Phono section sounds open and spacious, but a little lean overall. Price includes phono stage, available separately for $2800; price for line section alone is $5950. (Vol.15 No.1) Mark Levinson No.26S: $8495 with internal balanced or phono module, $7495 without er The original No.26 (still available for $6495 with, or $5495 without, balanced or phono module) had a laid-back presentation of the music, coupled with superb defi-nition of detail and soundstage delineation. With internal switches set for minimum gain, the sound lacked dy-namics, however. More expensive "S" version of No.26 features Teflon circuit boards: Our auditioning suggests that it sounds significantly more transparent and would therefore supercede our recommendation of the 26. Offers a choice of intemal balanced line-level input or high- or low-gain phono input, and front-panel-switchable signal polarity. (Vol.11 No.5, No.26) Threshold FET ten/e: $5700 * A two-box unit with separate High-Level ($3200) and Phono ($2500) sections, each with its own power-supply module. While its soundstage depth was a little shy of that provided by the best tubed preamps, DO-that well-known tube enthusiast-was impressed by the Threshold's superb presentation of musical detail and lack of grain. "An exceedingly pure and pristine window on the sound!' he summed up. JGH loves this preamplifier's line-stage. (Vol.14 No.3)

Audio Research SP14: $2995 tr Borderline Class A sound for this versatile hybrid tube/FET preamp. The SP14 is one of those rare compo-nents that lays out every sonic detail clearly without de-stroying the essential sense of musical wholeness. It allows the listener to hear into the soundstage in an addictive manner, without having individual instruments thrust forward at him or her, though that soundstage is a little narrower than with the best preamps. The quality of its line-stage doesn't quite match that of the phono. Though GL enthused that at last he "could hear through the elec-tronics to the music itself," CG found the line-stage to have more of an editorial effect than he would have liked. JA feels the SP14's treble sounds perhaps a little more etched via its phono stage than, say, that of the Conrad-Johnson PV9. But, as GL noted in his review of the SP9 Mk.II in Vol.13 No.11, both share a similar quality-"magic!' (Vol.13 No.6) Coda Technologies PET-01: $2750 "Superb detail, very smooth, lacks dynamics when com-pared with the best preamps, avoids any hint of hardness or sibilant splash, a fine performer at the price," said ST of this beautifully built FET preamp. "Cool, calm, and collected!' was how RD described the Coda's sonic per-sonality, noting that its bass was more extended and more controlled than that of either the SP9 or PV11. He also found the Coda to lack any trace of hardness. Line-level-only version costs $2450. (Vol.15 No3)

Conrad-Johnson PV11: $1895 RD said it was less colored than earlier C-J preamps, with a better sense of space and depth. He found this all-tube design to supply an endlessly musical stream of sound. "A magical way with voices!" he noted. The line-stage

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represents superb value at an affordable price (Vol.13 No.4)

Audible Illusions Modulus 3, JadisJP80MC, Classé DR-6 Mk.II, Vacuum Tube Logic Ultimate, McCormack TLC-1, MFA MC Reference, Melos 333 Gold, Krell ICRC, Atma-Sphere MP-1. Deletions Music And Sound DLS-I DIA preamplifier, too long since it was auditioned; Adcom GFP-565 now too expensive for sound quality offered; Audio Research SP9 Mk.II replaced by significantly more expensive Mk.III, not yet auditioned.

PASSIVE CONTROL UNITS Editor's Note: While many audiophiles feel that a passive control unit has the potential for offering the highest pos-sible sound quality from line-level sources such as CD, it must be noted that the entire responsibility for driv-ing the interconnects, the passive unit, and the power amplifier input is handed over to the source component, which may not be up to the task. Careful auditioning will be essential in putting together a musically satisfying sys-tem around a passive unit.

A Electronic Visionary Systems Attenuators: $230-$470 * RH enthused over the transparency offered by these pas-sive control units, sold by mail-order only. The dual-mono Ultimate Attenuators, which plug into the power ampli-fier's input sockets, cost 8230/pair with 12-position attenuator, 8470/pair with 24-position attenuator, and are available in unbalanced and balanced versions. Those primarily interested in CD replay should investigate these well-made units. (Vol.13 No.7)

From John Curl, a dual-mono MC-line-level RIAA equalizer and preamplifier with separate power supplies that redefines the term "quiet." JGH felt that this well-made unit imposed less of a signature on the signal than any other preamp he has heard. An ideal partner for a passive-preamp-based system, though its lowish out-put means that the power amplifier or speakers used must be quite sensitive if musically acceptable levels are to be achieved. Current version does not invert polarity. RH enthusiastically supports the Class A rating, while TJN feels it just beats the Consummate phono stage in terms of dean presentation of detail and overall balance SS, how-ever, feels that the Vendetta's soundstage is "slightly bigger and slightly more spread out than reality." Very limited availability. (Vol.11 No.6, Vol.15 Nos.1 & 11, Vol.16 No.9)

Audio Research PH1: $1495 "Remarkable in its sense of focus, delineation of individual instruments within the soundstage, and transparency:' said RH of this phono preamplifier/RIAA equalizer. He did point out a somewhat lean, too incisive balance that keeps this unit from Class A performance overall. Requires careful system matching. (Vol.15 No.11) Sonic Frontiers SFP-1: $1095 $$$ Tubed unit with what RH called "a delicious midrange bloom:' a complete lack of grain, etch, and hardness, and stunning soundstaging, particularly in its MM mode. (MC mode adds a class-A FET gain stage ahead of the tube cir-cuitry.) First review sample had a shelved-down treble due to an out-of-spec RIAA stage capacitor. The second sample had a flat RIAA response which ameliorated RH's earlier criticisms of an "overly soft sound" and a lack of "air, immediacy, and detail." "A terrific bargain," was his final verdict. Borderline Class A. (Vol.16 Nos.9 & 10)

Audio Research PH2, American Hybrid Technology Phono Stage, Counterpoint SA-9.

MOVING-COIL STEP-UP POWER AMPLIFIERS DEVICES/PHONO PREAMPS A A Expressive Thchnologies SU-1 transformer: $3500 A 35-lb step-up transformer that offers "utter trans-parency" and "exquisite resolution:' according to RH. JA agrees, finding his LP sound with the SU-1 feeding the Mod Squad Phono Drive's MM input to be deliciously transparent and musical. Unless used with Expressive Technology's own interconnects, however, it may be impossible to avoid excessive hum pickup. Needs also to see a 47k ohm load impedance with low capacitance. Otherwise, the sound quality will be overly dependent on the preamp's MM-input characteristics. (Vol.15 No.7) Mark Levinson No.25: $3990 * Available in High- or Low-Gain versions, this MC-line-level phono preamplifier features identical circuitry to the phono section of the No.26 (see "Preamplifiers"). Above price includes PLS-226 power supply. Price without, for those who want to power it from their No.26 power sup-ply, 82495. Needs careful positioning to avoid hum being induced into its circuitry from the power supplies of other components. (NR) Vendetta Research SCP-2C phono preamp: $2995 *

Editor's Note: Class A amplifiers differ sufficiently in character that each will shine in an appropriate system. Careful auditioning with the user's own loudspeakers is therefore essential. Note that, except where stated, all out-put powers are specified into an 8 ohm resistive load. Air Tight ATM-2: $6995 er An 80Wpc classic stereo tube design from Japan that eschews the use of printed circuit boards in favor of point-to-point wiring. DO's reference for midrange accuracy: "the most refined tube amplifier money can buy. . . a mag-ical midrange." Though its highs are free from grain or hash, the Air Tight does have rather a shut-in high tre-ble when compared, for example, with the Audio Research Classic 60, a point which bothered ST "Sounds like a more refined Quicksilver," said RH. Its low bass, too, is less well-defined than the other Class A amplifiers, and it really needs to be used with speakers having 8 ohm impedances. As of 10/93, DO lays problems at the frequency extremes squarely at the feet of the original Chinese KT88 tube complement. "No longer a refined Quicksilver," he reports after his experience with the Gold Aero KT99A: "the extreme treble opens up, harmonic overtones are even more liquid, and the deep bass tightens up considerably' Note that the KT99A requires at least a 20-hour break-in.


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(V01.13 No.5, Vol.16 No.10) Air Tight ATM-3 monoblock: 510,500/pair This Japanese amplifier's midrange is pure and liquid in the classic tradition, with full-bodied lower mids and the speed and spatial precision audiophiles have come to expect from modern tube designs. Reproduction of dynamic and rhythmic shadings is outstanding, even with difficult loads such as Sound-Lab A-1s. The best-sounding ultralinear output stage DO has heard to date-he pic-fu. the sweeter sound of the original KT77 to that of the stock EL34s. Note that the ICT77 does not work in triode mode, drasti-cally curtailing distortion-free power delivery. With EL34s, the triode mode carries the midrange performance a notch forward, sounding a bit more sweet and suave, but sacrifices about half the available power 60W vs 135W. (Vol.16 Nos.6 & 10) Audio Research Classic 150 monoblock: $9990/pair A full, harmonically rich midrange presentation, a power-ful, extended, and articulate bass, stunning soundstag-ing, and a grain-free treble-so JE described this hybrid 150W monoblock that uses KT88 tubes in its output stage: "A Class A product if ever there was one!" Based on his auditioning of a pair of '150s driving Thiel CS5s, LA adds that they had "a magic midrange and better bass than they should have." Balanced inputs add $200/pair. (Vol.14 No.11) Audio Research Classic 60: $3995 er The sound of this relatively low-powered (60Wpc) stereo design that combines tubes with FETs is a little forward in the low treble, yet never fails to sound musical, said JA. Superbly delineated soundstaging. The midrange is pre-sented with a natural tonality, and though the low fre-quencies are not as tight or as extended as those of the Krell or Mark Levinson competition, they have a musically appropriate fullness. With the latest ARC KT88 tubes, the sound acquires even more depth and palpability. Clas-sic 120 monoblock (110W, $7990/pair) features similar circuitry but builds even further on the '60's strengths by extending the dynamic range and adding a potent degree of bass slam. (Vol.13 No.9, Vol.14 No.9)

Conrad-Johnson Evolution 2000: $4995 Hybrid 200Wpc design using tubes for voltage gain and a MOSFET output stage. (Inverts signal polarity, so Wood Effect buffs take care.) Tremendous dynamics are coupled with excellent performance at the lower edge of the audio band. JE found the soundstage presentation to be a lit-tle distant, as well as slightly lacking air and spacious-ness in absolute terms. Less vivid-sounding than, for example, the ARC Classic 150, the 2000 also lacks a little low-level resolution. Nevertheless, a very musically satis-fying performer. (Vol.15 No.4) Fourier Sans Pareil OTL monoblock: $2950/pair plus freight Only available directly from the manufacturer, this audiophile-grade reworking of the NYAL Futterman OTL-3 requires careful load matching, preferably with highish-impedance speakers, its measured output power of 160W falling off rapidly below 8 ohms. Surprisingly strong bass for an OTL design, while DO noted, '. . . in concert with all great tube amps, it breathes life and drama into the midrange!' And the soundstaging? With the amplifier driving Sound-Lab A-ls, this literally had DO dancing for joy in his listening room. To a larger extent than any amplifier in this listing, the Fourier will demand • a special relationship with its owner. (Vol.15 No.6; see also "Letters" in Vol.15 Nos.8 & 9.) Jadis Defy-7 Mk.II: $6490 Super dynamics, says ST, perhaps at the expense ofJadis's

traditional subtlety. MC adds that this physically mas-sive, 100Wpc stereo tube amplifier has the ability to drive awkward loads to high levels, with authoritative bass reproduction. "Musically, it has a heart of gold," he enthused, adding that its sound is superbly coherent, grainless, and detailed. (Vol.14 No.9, Vol.16 No.4) Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblock: $15,950/pair LL would like a little more power, but agrees with JA that the 100W No.20.6 offers a big improvement over its predecessor. The sound preserves the 20.5's effortless dynamics and stunning bass impact and extension, and couples them with a significantly more transparent mid-range and airier high frequencies. Whereas the 20.5 lost on points to the newer No.23.5, the No.20.6 sets a new standard, in JA's opinion. Type Il Upgrade from No.20.5 costs S2390/pair plus S560/pair for new faceplates; upgrade from older amplifiers below SN 1850 costs $3290/pair. (Vol.12 No.9, No.20.5; Vol.15 No.4) Mark Levinson No.23.5: $7495 A significant redesign of the original 23 has resulted in an altogether more musical-sounding amplifier, according to JA (though LL feels it's too laid-back for his tastes). Compared with the 20.5s, the 300Wpc 23.5 offers a more vivid, more dynamic, better-defined view into the image, though it still doesn't approach the standard set by the Audio Research Classic 60 in this respect. Its soundstage is also a little shallower than that thrown by the Krell KSA-250, but it handily outperforms even that beast when it comes to low-frequency extension and weight. It's at its best with darker-sounding loudspeakers such as the KEF R107/2, with which it makes a musically synergistic match. (Vol.14 No.9)

Mark Levinson No.27.5: $5495 Now sold with RCA connectors, the 100Wpc No.27.5 offers improved dynamic contrasts, great transparency, punchy lows, and clear highs compared with its predeces-sor, concluded LG. Like its No.235 stablemate, soundstage depth is a little curtailed compared with the best in this respect. (Vol.16 No.7) Symphonic-Line Model RG-7: $5600 "The only solid-state amp I would live with," proclaims DO of this well-made 150Wpc German design. "Musi-cally refined, wonderfully transparent and detailed without even a hint of edginess and aggression." He adds, however, that its presentation is on the dry side compared with the best tube models. (Vol.15 No.2) Threshold SAI12e monoblock: $14,400/pair "A gorgeously clean, natural high end" and "an open, lively midrange:' said TJN after auditioning this expensive 250W behemoth of a pure class-A amplifier. Perhaps the most authoritative low frequencies of any amplifier, but image depth not quite to the standard shown by the Krell KSA-250. (Vol.13 No.12, Vol.14 No.9) Threshold S/550e: $6300 A more forward midrange and treble balance than the similarly priced Krell KSA-250 or Mark Levinson No.23.5, said RH of this very powerful, 250Wpc stereo amplifier. He added that it had a similarly impressive reproduction of low frequencies, if slightly less soundstage depth. TJN decided that though it's somewhat less subtle in sound than Threshold's SA/12s, its more vivid presen-tation will work better with tonally laid-back speakers like the Apogee Stage. (Vol.14 Nos.1 & 9) Vacuum lithe Logic 225 DeLuxe monoblock: $5000/pair * RH's long-term reference amplifier; in its EL34-fitted form, he feels it has a detailed and unfatiguing presen-tation, a harmonic rightness, and an unparalleled mid-

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range liquidity: "There is something magical. . in the mids that is unmatched by any other amplifier I've audi-fionedr CG, however, prefers the version with VTL's own KT90 output tubes (see Vol.14 No.6, pp.128-142 & 289-299) for its "more kick-butt balance and tighter bass!' Maximum power output is around 190W. (Vol.13 No.1, Vol.14 No.10) Valve Amplification Company PA90C monoblock: 55590/pair Its holographic imaging ability in triode mode is as-

tonishing:' DO reports on the sound of this superbly made two-box tube monoblock. "Its levels of transparency, spa-tial resolution, and dynamic shading combine for a much more convincing illusion of live music!' ST, too, was impressed by the sound of these amplifiers-".. . such midrange, such detail. . . a realism that was positively breathtaking," he gushed-though he felt it only fair to point out a lack of overall dynamics. ST agrees with DO that triode mode is the way to go, noting also that the almost unobtainable KT77 output tube gets the best from the amp. Output power is 45W triode, 90W ultralinear. An earlier version was reviewed; auditioning of current samples confirms the rating. (Vol.14 Nos.9 & 11)

Aragon 4004 Mk.II: $1850 US This well-made 200Wpc solid-state amplifier provided TJN with what he thought was the best low-end con-trol of the Apogee Stages he has yet heard in the Stereo-phile listening room. Less forward-sounding than the Threshold 5/550e, the 4004 is overall not quite up to Class B's highest performers in high-frequency purity. Nevertheless, TJN notes that he prefers it to the similarly priced McCormack, which by comparison has a some-what softened treble focus. CG also enthuses over the 4004: "This is a KILLER amp and one of the best values in high-end audio, period ...my favorite affordable muscle amp!' (Vol.15 No.9; see also TJN's Hafier review in Vol.16 No.4.) Berning EA-2101: $4290 Unusual 140Wpc tube amp featuring switch-mode power supply and versatile strapping choices of output trans-former secondaries. Capable of conveying an intensely musical experience provided care is taken over system-matching. An undercurrent of bright harmonic textures can easily be exacerbated by typical solid-state edginess. Excellent midband transparency, noted DO. Prefers highish-impedance speakers, due to increase in HF dis-tortion and intermodulation into more demanding loads leading to sonic "wiriness!' (Vol.15 No.10) Boulder 500AE: $4350 er DAS feels this well-made, 150Wpc solid-state stereo amplifier, based on the late Deane Jensen's discrete op-amp topology, is "the most natural-sounding amp I've used:' though he points out that it needs to be used with a preamp lacking dryness to get the best from it. LL and JGH would argue for a Class A rating for the 500AE, JGH feeling the Boulder to be the most accurate amplifier he's heard. He found that, while '. .. there was nothing reticent about the top:' the Boulder's presentation of midrange detail "was nothing short of remarkable. .. Highly recom-mended!" Says LL: "Some will claim that it sounds too vivid, too forward, but I think it sounds so much more real than I thought possible!' Though he agrees with JGH that the 500AE has superbly powerful, well-defined, and extended bass, RH does find its overall sound too vivid, too forward. So JA decided that borderline Class A is about right. LL, DAS, and JGH found the 500AE's sound

to be significantly improved, in that it becomes smoother and less dry when a pair is used as bridged monoblocks. XLR sockets are wired opposite to IECIAES recommen-dation with pin 3 hot, leading to inverted polarity. The otherwise identical Boulder 500 adds meters and other ancillaries for $5500. (Vol.9 No.5, Vol.14 No.10, Vol.15 No.4) Bryston 7B NRB monoblock: $4390/pair Borderline Class A. THX-approved version costs $2345 each. (See TJN's review in this issue.) Bryston 4B NRB: $2095 $U The revision of the highly regarded 250Wpc 4B improves on an area that was very good to start with: bass, where it equals the Krell KSA-250. The 4B NRB displays gener-ous amounts of bass "slam" and "snap," notes LG, but falls short of the Krell's rich midrange and ultra-smooth highs. THX-approved version costs $2245. (Vol.15 No.5, Vol.16 No.1) Conrad-Johnson MV-125: $3995 A classic, 125Wpc all-tube design without any electrolytic capacitors in the power supply or signal path. High input impedance and sensitivity make it suitable for use with a passive control unit. If a little too luscious on rock record-ings, MC thought its sound was luxurious on classical, "invoking the rich space and character of great concert halls" and imparting a "sense of inner poise and calm!' ST agrees-'`. . . spacious, dramatic, excitine though he questions the '125's resolution of detail. Borderline Class A, the MV-125 proved a synergistic match with digital front-ends. (Vol.15 No.7)

Crown Macro Reference: $3500 Very powerful (760Wpc) solid-state stereo amplifier with a "clear, clean, quick" character, according to ST, and "gobs of power at a very reasonable price" However, being dry-sounding overall, the Crown's lean balance will lead to more-than-usual care having to be taken in system-matching. Fans can be noisy. A full review from LL will appear soon. (Vol.15 No.12) Forté 4: $1595 $U A really great-sounding amp, decided CG, adding that it goes much louder, with greater authority, than any 50W solid-state amplifier has a right to. He also praised the sweet but vividly detailed high frequencies and terrific pitch definition in the bass. Added RH: "A remarkable absence of grain and glare!' (Vol.15 No.11, Vol.16 No.7) Hailer TkarasNova 9500: $1900 US Hailer TkansNova 930011-IX: $1295 $55 The 9500 is an unconventional, well-made 250Wpc MOSFET design that excels in its definition of sound-stage depth. Overall balance is a little on the lean and ana-lytical side, felt TJN, but it goes loud with ease. Less powerful, 150Wpc. THX-certified 9300 THX sounds very similar, according to ST, but has some residual grain putting it on the cusp between Classes B and C. These are the best-sounding amplifiers to bear the Hailer badge, says JA. A silver-finish 9300 costs 51350. (Vol.16 No.4, 9500; Vol.16 No.5, 9300) Jeff Rowland Design Group Model 1: $3100 Compact, well-made, 60Wpc solid-state stereo ampli-fier that TJN described as being"full-bodied, even slightly lush, but in a completely believable, natural fashion!' He said that the Model One had a somewhat soft low end and "lacks a bit of 'speed' and liveliness, but makes up for them with a disarmingly unforced quality. . . and a subtle and delicate high-frequency response!' TJN also found it to exert excellent control and dynamic range in bridged mode, if lacking a small degree of subtlety com-pared with one amplifier used conventionally. RH was


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also impressed by this amplifier. (Vol.14 Nos.4 & 9) Mark Levinson No.29: $3495 Said TJN: "Focus, depth, and detail. The 50Wpc Levinson No.29 excels in all three of these vital characteristics" But he did note a slightly lean balance overall, without the ultimate low-frequency weight possessed by the more expensive Levinson amplifiers. He also felt the sound-stage offered by the Jeff Rowland Model 1 was a shade more palpable. Nevertheless, his ultimate conclusion was: "a compelling performer." (Vol.14 No.4) McCormack DNA-1: $1995 $$$ Beautifully made with premium parts, this relatively inex-pensive amplifier had RH waxing lyrical about its sound: ". . . warm, sweet, punchy, and eminently musical" With a more laid-back balance than the Boulder 500AE, the DNA's soundstage presentation featured a superb sense of palpability, noted both RH and JA. A pair wired for bridged-mono operation costs $4595. "A strong Class B product that is knocking on the door of Class Ar-RH. (Vol.15 No.4) Meridian 605 monoblock: $3500/pair Fvc,Uent sense of pace, notes MC. ST says there's a liquid-sounding, tube-ish midrange, though it's perhaps not as fully developed a sense of space as he would like. (Vol.15 No.12)

Nains NAP 140 power amplifier: $1345 $U The idiosyncratic nature of Naim components means that this diminutive 50Wpc amplifier should only be used with a Naim preamplifier and Naim speaker cables. (The 140 is only marginally stable into some highly capacitive "audiophile" cables, and works best into higher-impe-dance speakers.) The sound of the 140 with the now-discontinued NAC 62/Hi-Cap preamplifier was astonish-ingly musical, smooth, transparent, detailed, and involv-ing, with an excellent ability to keep musical threads dis-tinct within the overall texture. But RH felt that a lack of midband immediacy was sometimes noticeable. (Vol.14 No.2) Nestorovic NA-1: $7200/pair In his original review, SWW said that this 150W tube monoblock, driven in balanced mode, came close to com-bining the best of solid-state performance with the best of tubes, sounding euphonic but with a tight, well-controlled bass. DO listened to more recent samples and felt that, although they were not as detailed or as trans-parent as the Audio Research, VAC, and Threshold ampli-fiers, they had a sweet-sounding midrange and worked to perfection in complementing Nestorovic's own loud-speakers. Borderline Class A performance, overall. (Vol.9 No.8, Vol.14 No.9) Quicksilver KT88 monoblock: $1895/pair Quicksilver Silver Edition KT88 monoblock: $2300/pair IC1138 output tubes eliminate a residue of glare in the upper mids, giving more of a "see-through" quality. ST found the mono Quidcsilvers to be ideal with the Quad ESL-63s. Others have found them to work beautifully in a lot of low-power situations: Reports from the field suggest that the Quicksilver is a happy choice for driving Vandersteens and Acoustats of various vintages. Wonderfully tube-like, superb, tonal-standards-setting midrange; can drive low impedances due to an excellent output transformer; but low frequencies still rather soft and ill-defined in the classic tube amplifier tradition. Stetrophile's reviewers are divided on the Quicksilver's merits. LA feels that, despite its overall "pleasant" sound, it's still a "low-resolution" design. DO says: "It just doesn't cut it in the bass, and is soft and muted on top" He points out that the Quicksilver has too much

of an old-fashioned sound for a Class B recommenda-tion in these days of highly neutral amplifiers. GL, how-ever, disagreed strongly with both LA and DO in his "Follow-Up:' feeling that the Quicksilvers should remain in Class B on musical grounds: "It doesn't do anything to actively interfere with the music" And Mr. T paren-thetically points out that, for not much more money, the 90W Silver Edition monoblock is the amplifier to buy. (Vol.7 No3, Vol.8 Nos.2 & 4, Vol.12 No.11, Vol.13 No.5; Vol.14 No.9, Silver Edition.) Sonic Frontiers SFS-80: $2895 Well-thought-out 80Wpc tube design with much use made of premium parts. JE said it sounded typically tubey, slightly softened on top, but with a warm, rich midrange character. He also felt its soundstage depth was slightly foreshortened. ST thought it had great bass for a tube amp but lacked ultimate resolution. He found it worked much better with Czech Tesla EL34s than with Serbian KT99s from Gold Aero. (Vol.16 No.4) Vacuum Tizbe Logic Compact 160 monoblock: $3500/pair Whereas the older VTL Compact amplifiers (the 100 reviewed by JA in Vol.11 No.11, for example) had an upfront midrange that grabbed the listener's attention, the 160 has a more subtle overall balance with a softer but still detailed treble. Though it runs out ofjuice before the "160" name would suggest-JA measured a maximum of 130W in pentode mode, 95W in triode-it presents a musically satisfying sound overall. Front-panel switching enables the amp to run in triode mode, which, accord-ing to the results of CG's auditioning and JA's measure-ments, is essential to get the best sound from the KT90 tubes. (Vol.14 No.8)

B (Integrated Amplifiers) Ensemble B-50 Tiger: $2100 This diminutive 50Wpc integrated amplifier enabled GL to get some of the most musical sound he had experienced from his old Acoustat 2s, particularly when used with Ensemble's own cables. "A soundstage seemingly un-limited by the dimensions of my room," he noted, also emphasizing the Tiger's "captivating ability...to maintain rhythmic and timbral spatial separation between diverse elements of any musical presentation." JA also found the Tiger to give a fundamentally musical presentation. JE disagreed, feeling that the B-50 was more of a "pussy-cat" than a tiger. Though the Tiger lacks a phono input, the Phonomaster MM/MC preamplifier with adjustable loading option (not tested) is available for $740. Though this can be powered from the B-50, a Malaysian reader ("Letters' Vol.14 No.9, p33) suggests that a separate power supply ($260) is essential to get the best from it. (Vol.14 No.5) Exposure XV: $1295 114 Modest-powered (40Wpc) English integrated amplifier with unusual regulated power supplies for its output stages. Got a thumbs-up from RH for its excellent sense of dynamics and soundstaging, its smooth, natural mid-range quality, relatively grain-free treble, and good sense of bass weight-all provided the amplifier was not asked to work too near the edge of its power envelope. (Vol.16 No.2)

Adcom GFA-555 $850 ir While the original '555 was one of the best-selling power amplifiers of all time, some felt its rather hard treble to be its weakest point. The Mk.II version sounds signifi-


Stereophile Vol 13, No 10, October 1990

" I he result was striking. "This is wonderful," my listening notes read — "a real soundstage."

...the ISL2801 Signets were (and are) remarkably satisfy-ing on a wide range of music, from the most intimate to the most bombastic."

— Thomas Nor

Hifi Heretic Issue 14, Spring, 1991

"Superior in sound quality to many speakers costing far more, the SL260 also dazzles with its superb build quality and gorgeous cabinet finish. As such, the SL260 easily qualifies for "Best Buy" status."

— Kent Brans ford

The $ensible Sound Issue 43, Summer, 1991

"Gobs of bass and percus-sive kick...and there's great ambience and imaging. The Signet ISL2601 has

more bass than the reference but preserves all the other good qualities. It almost gives the real feeling of a pipe organ — high praise for such little woofers."

— Gregory Koster

The Absolute Sound® Vol 17, Issue 81, July/August,1992

— Neil A. Cader, Smt I. MarkWell

No excerpts may be printed here. The complete review is available on request from Signet or your Signet dealer.

Call (800) 693-3000 for your copy of all the unedited reviews plus a list of Signet dealers.

ssiignet son Drive, Stow, OH 44224 • (216) 688-9400 WorldRadioHistory

cantly sweeter, though still with rather a forward sonic signature, while maintaining its predecessor's superbly well-defined, authoritative low-frequency performance and excellent sense of dynamics. It also throws a deeper soundstage A lot of power for the money-200Wpc! Fan-cooling is available as a $100 option for those with insen-sitive or low-impedance loudspeakers. (Vol.8 No.4, Vol.12 No.12, original version; Vol.13 No.10.) Adcom GFA-565 monoblock: $1800/pair "Clean, solid, secure," was how TJN summed up his description of the 300W '565's sound, while ST loved the sound of this gutsy monoblock-noting the high power, excellent presentation of detail, weight and authority in the lows, and superb image definition. He agreed with TJN, however, that a certain flatness of image, a touch of low-treble hardness, and an ultimate lack of high-fre-quency transparency made Class C an appropriate rat-ing. Balanced inputs add $200/pair to the price, as does a pair of fans for those with very insensitive or low-impedance loudspeakers. (Vol.14 Nos.4, 6, & 7)

B&R Sonata M-200 monoblock: $1996/pair ST found this relatively inexpensive 200W amplifier to drive his Spendor S-100s to perfection, despite a rather lean tonal balance in stock form. Output-stage bias can be increased, the sound then warming up to give tube-like smoothness and sweetness. "A wonderfully sane prod-uct:' proclaimed Sam, adding that it should give more expensive amplifiers a hard time justifying their existences. Price now includes balanced inputs. (Vol.14 Nos.1, 2, & 3) Muse Model 100: $1200 This modestly priced stereo MOSFET amplifier was one of the "finds" of 1991, offering a coherent, musically satis-fying presentation. CG commented on its effortless sense of dynamics, and while its bass was not in the same class as that of the Adcom '555 II, its midrange and highs were better-balanced overall. TJN also found the sound of the 100Wpc Muse to his liking when driving B&W 801s (see Vol.14 No.6, p.200). Balanced inputs add $100. (Vol.14 No.4) Nobis Cantabile: $1695 This reworking of the Dynaco Stereo 70, with discrete FET input and driver stages, offers 35Wpc, reasonably good bass, and superb midrange transparency. "Price a little high for the watts:' decided CG, but "a very musical, capable, thoroughly modern Millie of a tube amp" High output impedance will give a sound that is more dependent than usual on the loudspeaker with which the Nobis is used. (Vol.15 No.9) PS Audio 100 Delta: $1295 Main sonic characteristics of this 120Wpc solid-state design are a somewhat softened bass and slightly dosed-in high frequencies, thought TJN. He liked the excr-llent mid-range presentation, however, with its "clear, naturally rich immediacy." Good value for money. (Vol.15 No.9) Rotel RB-980BX: $600 $$$ Excellent value for money, this modestly priced 120Wpc amp was designed in England but is made in the Far East. Kind to difficult loads, said MC. TJN noted a slight grain or crispness to the highs, some midbass leanness, and a somewhat soft low end, but these were offset by a lively overall presentation and an excellent sense of soundstage depth. (Vol.15 No.11) Sumo Andromeda II: $1595 As a balanced-bridge stereo amplifier, the 240Wpc Andro-meda Il requires care when used with speaker switching boxes, IRS 1B crossovers, and other ancillaries that might common the grounds of the two channels. But used con-

ventionally, it impressed the heck out of TJN, who noted that its midrange is more laid-back and its bass warmer than that of the big Adcom monoblocks. He also com-mented very positively on its "upper-frequency air" and clean, transparent sound. (Vol.14 No.6) Vacuum Tube Logic Tiny Thode monoblock: $1300/pair It's hard to recommend such an idiosyncratic amplifier, the (just) 25W Tiny Triode being unable to put out any real power with any degree of control in the bass and also unable to drive conventional dynamic loudspeakers to high, let alone very high, levels. Yet when it comes to mid-range performance, it's perhaps one of the most palpa-ble, musically real-sounding amplifiers CG and JA have heard. "Used within their limite concluded CG, "they sound utterly temfu." If you have an old pair ofEkctroVoice or Klipschom speakers around, you might try investigat-ing what a pair of TTs could do for them. JA also tried, with some musical success, using a pair to drive Grado HP 1 headphones. On the other hand, a pair of TTs is the ideal amplifier for your desktop office system when hooked to a pair of LS3/5as and a good portable CD player such as the Denon. (Vol.14 No.4)

C (Integrated Amplifiers) AMC CVT-3030: $900 $$$ "Attempts to do for tubes what the venerable NAD 3020 did for solid-state," said JE of this 30Wpc amplifier with MOSFET preamp circuits and a modular tube output stage. With sonic errors mainly of omission, the '3030 largely achieves that goal, only really falling short in its shallow reproduction of soundstage depth. "A great buy at the price summed up JE. Note that the response is not flat with the tone controls engaged and set to their center positions. (Vol.16 No.6)

D (Separates) Adcorn GFA-535 II: $350 (See CG's review in this issue.) B&K ST-140: $548 tr The 105Wpc MOSFET '140 costs little enough to make it into Class D, but the sonics, after extensive auditioning, convince ST that it belongs in Class C. LA disagrees, feel-ing that it should be "high Class Dr After his own audi-tioning, JA agrees with LA. The ST-140 features deep but not extraordinarily powerful (and mushy) low bass, and a tube-like tonality with a smooth, sweet midrange. Despite the Anarchist finding the '140 not to have "too much MOSFET mise the amp's high frequencies can become a little tizzy, thought JA. And GL found disc sur-face noise to be somewhat accentuated. Latest produc-tion features a detachable IEC AC cable and gold-plated RCA input jacks. An important caveat to our continued recommendation of the ST-140 concerns the ability of the current version to drive real-world loudspeakers. With loudspeakers whose impedances drop much below 8 ohms, the amplifier is thermally limited from delivering much power without a significant increase in distortion that results in hardness to the sound. More powerful ST-202 (balanced inputs standard, $698, reviewed in Vol.10 No.8) has a very similar sonic signature, according to ST, and is therefore to be recommended with a much wider range of loudspeakers than the '140. Balanced inputs add $50 to the price of the '140. (Vol.7 No.4, Vol.10 No.7, Vol.12 Nos.4 & 12, Vol.13 No.1; Vol.11 No.10, mono version.) NAD 2400THX: $649 "Gutsy and weighty:' said TJN of this powerful (100Wpc


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continuous, 370Wpc short-term) design. Though the lower treble is a little forward, the overall sound never comes to life in the way that it should with a Class C com-ponent, he concluded, but a natural choice for a high-dynamic-range Home Theater system. (Vol.15 No.11) Parasound HCA-800 II: $455 * Less image depth than the Adcom '555 Il and a touch of treble grain at high levels, but with ". . . more than a touch of high-end sound," said JA of this modestly priced 100Wpc amplifier, citing its sweet midrange presenta-tion and good sense of dynamics. (Vol.11 No.2, Vol.12 No.2, original version; Vol.13 No.10.) Rotel RB-960BX: $369 (See CG's review in this issue.)

Audio Research Classic V140, Krell MDA-500, VTL 140 Deluxe monoblock, McCormack DNA-1 monoblock, Woodside MA-50, YBA 2. Deletions Naim NAIT 2 replaced by Naim NAIT 3, Naim NAC 62 preamplifier replaced by NAC 92, neither yet audi-tioned; Audio Research D240 II replaced by less expensive D200.

LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEMS Editor's Note: Class A "Loudspeakers" are sufficiently idiosyncratic and differ enough from one another that prospective customers should read our original reviews in their entireties. I have therefore just listed every sys-tem or combination that at least one of Stereophile's reviewers feels, as a result of his experience, to approach the current state of the art in loudspeaker design. (Note that, to be eligible for inclusion in Class A, the system must be full-range—le, feature bass extension to 20Hz—which is why the Hales Signature is only induded in combination with the Muse Model 18 or Kinergetics SW-800 sub-woofers and the WATT 3/Puppy 2 with the Wilson WHOW or POW-WHOW. They must also be capable of reaching realistic sound pressure levels without any feeling of strain.) Readers are therefore advised to turn to the original reviews for descriptions of the sound.

For those unconcerned about the last few hertz of low-bass extension, we have created Class A (Restricted Extreme LF) for those speakers that are actually state-of-the-art in every other way. Candidates for inclusion in this class must reach down to at least 40Hz, below the lowest notes of the four-string double bass and bass guitar.

In addition, such has been the recent progress in loud-speaker design at a more affordable level that we have an extra class: E. for "Entry-Level:' Someone asked me recently why Stereophile bothers to review inexpensive loudspeakers at all. In effect, aren't we insulting our reader-ship by recommending that they buy any of these inex-pensive models? Remember: It's possible to put together a musically satisfying, truly high-end system around any of our Class D and E recommendations. That's why they're listed—and why you should consider buying them.

A Apogee Diva: $9995/pair Best sound is to be obtained with the $3295 DAX III dedi-cated electronic crossover. If the DAX is bought with the Divas, the system price drops to $11,595. (Vol.11 No.8, Vol.13 No.8) B&W Matrix 800: $15,000-$18,0001pair

(Vol.14 Nos.6 8t 10) Hales System Two Signature with Muse 18 sub-woofer: $8650/system Hales System Two Signature with Kinergetics SW800 subwoofer: 59895/system (Vol.13 No.7, Vol.14 Nos.7 & 10) Meridian D6000: 515,000/pair Active system offers digital data inputs only and uses Bit-stream D/A conversion. (Vol.14 Nos.9 & 10) Sound-Lab A-1: 510,990/pair "Wine" to reinforce the lows are 51450/set of four in oak, 111750/set of four in walnut; "SALLIE" backwave attenu-ators are $1000/pair. (Vol.15 No.11) Thiel CS5: $10,800/pair * (Vol.13 No.6, Vol.14 No.10) Wilson Audio WATT 3/Puppy 2/WHOW II Universal or POW-WHOW II: $22,290/system-$26,620/system (Vol.14 Nos.6 & 10, without WHOW)

A—Restricted Extreme LF Sonus Faber Extrema: 512,500/pair (stands necessary) "I admire the commitment, dedication, and craftsmanship which have gone into this effortlessly musical transducer," says MC of this well-contructed two-way speaker from Italy. MC emphasizes that the Extrema, with its remark-able sense of timing, superbly transparent, spacious treble, and naturally generous midrange, would be rated in Stereophile's Class A were it not for a low-frequency response that doesn't quite reach 20Hz. "Always musical:' says KK. LG agrees with both writers, saying that "The Extrema has it all: speed, transparency, imaging accuracy, and midrange richness." Unusually, the crossover does not use capacitors, and tuning of the rear-panel ABR is adjustable to optimize the low frequencies for the owner's room. Matching stands cost 51500/pair, but should be regarded as essential to get the best from this gem by designer Franco Serblin. (Vol.15 No.6) Sound-Lab A-3: 57990/pair •er JGH's reference speaker for more than seven years, offering excellent dynamic range and a neutral, transparent mid-band that reproduces instrumental timbres as convincingly as Gordon has encountered. JGH and PWM feel it quali-fies for Class A in sound quality, though this large elec-trostatic's ultimate lack of extension without a subwoofer precludes that lofty ranking. "Wings" to extend the bass response can be retrofitted for $1250-$1550, depending on finish. (Vol.9 No.6, Vol.11 Nos.6 & 11, Vol.15 No.1) Wilson Audio WATT 3/Puppy 2: $12,900/pair-$13,900/pair A pair of WATT 3s costs between $7450 and $7950, depending on finish (the update from WATT 2 to 3 status costs $2700), but because their balance is too lean and lightweight for long-term satisfaction, they are recom-mended only for such specialist applications as location monitoring. But add a pair of Puppy 2 woofers and you have an almost-flail-range system that throws a magically holographic soundstage, the speakers giving no clue to their physical location. The WATT/Puppy system is also refreshingly free from resonant colorations—the much-modified Focal tweeter used by Wilson is an order of mag-nitude better behaved than the similar-appearing Focal tweeters used in lesser speakers—and excels when it comes to accurately reproducing music's dynamic contrasts. It's easy to get an excess of energy in the crossover region between WATT and Puppy, however (something that par-ticularly bothers ST), while the treble region tilts up some-what, which is very revealing of amplification problems.


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The Academy for the Advancement of High-end Audio, USA)

• N"31 Component of the Year—CD Transports/1993 (Stereo Sound, Japan)

•N°31 Accaclemia dell' AUDIO/1993 (Audio Review, Italy) • N035 Component of the Year—Digital Processors/1993

(Stereo Sound, Japan) • N035 Accaclemia dell' AUDIO/1993 (Audio Review, Italy) • N"28 European High-end Audio of the Year/1992 iST 1993

(European Awards Panel)

Thanks to all those who share our passion for music and enduring quality. It is for you that we remain committed to establishing new standards of excellence in both design and manufacturing, all

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This also adds a degree of brashness to the sound that's reminiscent of the real thing, but is a little exaggerated in absolute terms unless MIT CVT Terminator cable is used.

Despite an impedance which dips to 1.75 ohms at 21cHz, the WATT/Puppies seem to work best with great tube amplification, the ARC Classic 120s or the jadis Defy-7 proving capable of producing superbly palpable imaging and a natural tonality. "Less is more," states MC: "more rhythm, more dynamics, more music! Who wants deep, slow bass?" As with the Sonus Faber Extrema, only a few hertz more of bass extension would result in true Class A sound, something that those whose ears we trust indi-cate can be achieved by adding the expensive Wilson WHOW subwoofer. (Vol.14 Nos.6 & 10)

Editor's Note: I make no apologies for the wide vari-ety of loudspeakers listed in the next two groups. Poll-ing Stereophile's reviewers resulted in a total lack of con-sensus, implying that all the following speakers will, in the right room with the right ancillaries, give true high-end sound. Following pressure from JGH that small speakers should automatically be denied any recommen-dation because of their lack of LF extension, I have split Classes B and C into two sections: "Full-range" and "Re-stricted LF' To be induded in the latter dass, a small speaker has to be at least as good in every other area as the full-range competition. (Note that all the full-range Class B recom-mendations, with the exception of the Apogee Stage, B&W 801, and Spendor S100, are floorstanding models.)

B—Full-range Acarian Alón IV: $3400/pair With a bass response that was as tight as it was deep, a "huge" soundstage, and excellent dynamics, the three-way Alón IV impressed the heck out of RD. Some residual upper-midrange brightness can be alleviated by careful system and room matching. Needs to be tri-wired for best performance A rosewood finish adds $500/pair. (Vol.16 No.2) Apogee Centaur Major: $3395-$37851pair TJN decided that crossing a 40" ribbon over to a 10" moving-coil woofer below 350Hz gives the best of both worlds: midrange and treble transparency and a superbly tight, well-defined, and extended bass—organ pedals shook the room, he noted—that makes the all-ribbon Stage sound exaggerated in this region by comparison. Side-by-side driver configuration and length of ribbon make the Major fussy regarding setup. A slight tendency to brightness is offset by a superbly clean midrange and a freedom from treble grain. New aesthetics are on the way. (Vol.15 No.4) Apogee Stage: $2595/pair * fa (stands optional) Price with "Grand"-style fascias is $2995/pair. The Stage has one of the most neutral, seamless midbands around. Recorded voice is reproduced with an uncannily lifelike quality. Imaging, too, is superb—"In terms of soundstage transparency, it rivals any loudspeaker money can buy:' says DO—as is the speaker's presentation of recorded dynamics. There's a lack of deep-bass extension, but the midbass is actually very generous, which both upsets LA and leads to matching problems in some rooms. The Stage works particularly well with Classé amplification and SYMO cable, but prospective purchasers should be pre-pared to experiment with room position and toe-in to get the optimal sound. Matching stands ($395/pair) are also available for those who prefer a higher listening seat. "A

real honey. . . an eminently musical transducer:' said MC. Stereophile agreed sufficiently with that conclusion to buy the review pair. A dedicated subwoofer is available ($25951 pair) that might make the combination a Class A con-tender. (Vol.13 No.8, Vol.14 Nos.2, 3, & 10, Vol.15 No.4) Avalon Eclipse: $5900/pair A warmer balance than the Hales System Two Signature, a flat on-axis response, astonishing midrange transparency, beautifully delineated, almost holographic soundstag-ing, and a relative freedom from coloration combine to generally allow the music to communicate most effec-tively. However, this is only true when the Eclipses are driven by good tube amplifiers, the sound with even good solid-state amplification—Mark Levinson, JeffRowland— being too bright. The Eclipses also have somewhat limited dynamics, which can lead to hardness at very high play-back levels. Price refers to a Nextel finish; a non-rain-forest veneer finish adds S1700/pair. Current production has "an inexpensive tweeter revision" which AB felt to sig-nificantly improve the sound; earlier samples are upgrad-able. (Vol.14 Nos.1 & 10, Vol.15 No.8) B&W Matrix 801 Series 3: $5500/pair

(stands optional) A complete redesign of the classical recording industry's standard monitor loudspeaker—aluminum-dome tweeter and B&W's patented "Matrix" enclosure, whereby the cabinet is effectively transformed into a solid body— has resulted in a moving-coil speaker capable of competing with the best planars. As LL put it, "a true musician's reference transducer" Strengths include excellent low-frequency definition and weight, a highly detailed mid-range, and unrestrained dynamics. B&W's bass-alignment equalizer gives true 20Hz extension but is not included in the purchase price. The best sound, however, is to be had from one of the after-market models, such as those from Anodyne and Denver dealer Listen-Up (the Maugh-anBox). Best used with stands: We have had good results with the Sound Anchors and with the wooden, sand-filled Arcicis. (Also see Vol.12 No.10, p.45, and Vol.13 No.2, p.217, for discussions of a crossover modification that improves the sound of the original 801 Matrix.) Current version has a revised tweeter, a non-detachable head, and an improved crossover layout, and has done away with the APOC protection circuitry. (Von() No.9)

Genesis Technologies Genesis III: $6199/pair A sophisticated five-way design using dome midrange units and Genesis's planar tweeter that floated Ri-I's boat with its smooth yet highly detailed treble, spectacular soundstaging, excellent midbass control, high dynamic range, and natural portrayal of instrumental timbre "Its many superb qualities made listening to the III a joy," he proclaimed. LA was less impressed, however, noting some tonal imbalance in his large room. In absolute terms, the Ill's bass level is too high, which will lead to placement problems in some rooms, though Genesis says that there is a modification available for those who are bothered by this. Low impedance will make demands on the accom-panying amplifier. Price is for piano black finish; rose-wood adds $200/pair. (Vol.16 No.8) Hales System Two Signature: $5900/pair A beautifully made two-way, dual-woofer design with a resonance-free cabinet featuring a 4" baffle and a phys-ically separate crossover, the 181-lb System Two Signature displaced the B&W 801 Matrix from RH's listening room. His characterization of the Hales's sound: ". . . precise, controlled, detailed, meticulous, exact, finesse." Though the treble is both clean and transparent, a slight propensity for on-axis brightness can be ameliorated by experiment-


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mg with toe-in. Compared with the 801, the Hales offers superior dynamic detail, even though it lacks the Brit-ish loudspeaker's low-frequency weight. In fact, the main fault of the Hales is a lean, rather over-damped bass balance which can be unforgiving with some ancillaries and in some rooms. With a good subwoofer such as the Muse 18 or perhaps the Kinergetics SW-800, the Signature becomes a Class A contender. East Coast price is $60001 pair. A recent hiccup in supply, due to the Hales company's reorganization, is said to be over. (Vol.13 No.7, Vol.14 No.10; see also RH's reviews of the Hales System Two in Vol.14 No.4 and the Muse 18 subwoofer in Vol.14 No.7.) KEF R107/2: 85900/pair The latest version of KEF's flagship speaker features a new tweeter and a revised KUBE line-level equalizer. JA felt strongly that its bass performance (within dynamic limi-tations set by the use of EQ to extend the response below the design's natural LF limit) was among the best he has experienced in terms of definition and authority, as was its presentation of image depth. While the treble sounds dark, leading to a somewhat polite tonal balance (which might also be a function of the KUBE's solid-state elec-tronics), the 107's midband is neutral and free from res-onant colorations. (Vol.9 Nos.4 & 7, Vol.10 No.2, original version; Vol.14 Nos.5 & 10) Martin-Logan Quest Z: 83995/pair (See DO's review in this issue.) Martin-Logan Aerius: $1995/pair Once broken-in, this hybrid speaker offers superb integra-tion between electrostatic panel and dynamic woofer and very good LF extension for what is basically a small speaker. In terms of speed, truth of timbre, absence of col-oration, and reasonably good imaging and soundstage focus, ST feels the Aerius is hard to beat, though he would like more highs, in absolute terms. MC points to a rather ragged on-axis response, but JA states that within the restriction of its necessarily limited dynamic range (which will rule out its use in large rooms), the Aerius is the best speaker yet to come from M-L. Oak side panels add $300/pair to the price; bi-wiring adds $200/pair. (Vol.16 Nos.6 8c 10)

Mirage M-lsi: $5500/pair Large bipolar design from Canada with a smooth yet pre-cisely detailed sound. A large, spacious soundstage, both in width and depth, a clean, low-coloration midrange, and silky, detailed highs, according to TjN. Bass is deep and extended, though it leans toward warmth; at its best with solid-state amplifiers having tight low-frequency control. Capable of first-rate sound in Home Theater applications. (Vol.16 Nos.6 & 10) Mirage M-3si: 82800/pair US "An unqualified success:' said GL of this unusual, floor-standing bipolar design, ". . .which, in the right system, can re-create a musical experience with all the richness, finesse, power, and majesty lof) a full-range speaker!' Flat-test response is to be found on the woofer axis (32" from the ground), though the full-bodied bass might be too much in some systems or rooms. (Vol.15 No.11) Nelson-Reed 8-04/CM: 83650/pair Very sensitive, with a wide, compression-free dynamic range. Rather forward midrange balance, but a dean, trans-parent treble that opens "a gorgeously clear (and alive) window on the recording," said JGH in his review. The review samples' out-of-spec woofers resulted in the overall sound being too lean; JGH's later audition of a pair with the proper woofers convinced him of the design's musical worthiness. (Vol.15 No3, Vol.16 No.1)

Nestorovic Type SAS Mk.IV: 84500/pair A four-way dynamic loudspeaker that features a patented bass alignment wherein a driven second woofer also behaves somewhat as an auxiliary bass radiator. DO felt that the Nestorovic's midband had a velvety, non-resonant texture, especially on female voice, and that its highs were free from sizzle and tizz, though he did find that sound-stage depth did not develop as fully as he expected. JA adds that the overall balance is a little forward in the treble, which might be a factor here, though it does lead to a syn-ergistic balance with tube amplification rather than solid-state. Nestorovic's own NA-1 monoblocks gave liquid-sounding mids and a bold, sweeping soundstage, reported DO, who summed up his feelings thusly: "In terms of tonal balance, LF extension, and dynamic scale, this speaker allows one to fully explore orchestral music without trepi-dation, congestion, or any form of attendant harshness!' (Vol.9 No.5, original version; Vol.14 Nos.9 & 10.) ProAc Response Three: $6500/pair Beautifully finished two-way, dual-woofer design from English designer Stuart Tyler that Jack English can't rec-ommend highly enough, feeling that it outperforms Class A speakers such as the Thiel CS5 and the combination of the Martin-Logan CLS II with the Kinergetics SW-800 subwoofer. When the speaker's integral plinth is cor-rectly loaded with sand, the bass is 'extended, controlled, and powerful!' The highs are clean and extended, while the soundstaging is excellent, the speakers disappearing. The midrange is ". . . full, lush, musical, involving-in short, lifelike wrote JE. And CG, for one, would not dis-agree. (Vol.14 No.9)

PSB Stratus Gold: $2100/pair A large three-way design, the Stratus Gold offers a fun-damentally neutral midrange balance coupled with very low levels of coloration, a lively yet unfatiguing treble, and a generous, powerful bass. The treble is less prominent when the speaker is used with the grilles on, the sound taking on an appealing accessibility. Excellent value. (Vol.14 Nos.2 & 10; see also PWM's "Industry Update" in Vol.14 No.4.) Snell Type B: 84799/pair Considerable conflict among Stereophilis writers over the sound of this big, Kevin Voecks-designed, floorstanding three-way. All agree about its low levels of coloration, neutral midrange and treble balance, and extended, power-ful low frequencies. RH and CG feel very strongly, how-ever, that the B's slow, ponderous bass quality precludes recommendation, while PWM and LG feel that, under the right circumstances, the B can sing. JE feels that the Snell B is the sonic equivalent of a Triare recording: ". . . initially very impressive but ultimately dissatisfy-ing!' LG reinforces JA's feeling that the B's balance will work better in larger rooms, while PWM adds that, unless the room is somewhat "leaky" at low frequencies, the speaker will tend to sound too thick. Even more than usual, therefore, home trial is essential. (Vol.14 No.12, Vol.15 No.2) Snell Type C/IV: 82299/pair 888 Superbly flat on-axis response, a lack of resonant color-ations, and a weighty but well-defined bass performance that is emotionally and intellectually satisfying make this large floorstanding speaker from the pen of Kevin Voecks an excellent value. Low Class B sound, however, due to a lack of ultimate transparency and restricted image depth compared with such space-meisters as the Avalon Eclipse, KEF R107/2, and Hales System Two Signature. (Vol.14 Nos.4 & 10) Spendor S100: 82990/pair tr (stands necessary)


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Somewhat self-effacing quality compared with "audio-phile" loudspeakers and only fair imaging, thought ST, but the outstandingly tight, extended bass, full, rich bal-ance, overall smoothness and lack of coloration through the midrange, and treble sweetness make this beautifully constructed British three-way a strong Class B recom-mendation. "No significant flaws:' say both Mr. T and MC, the latter regarding the S100 to have "hidden depths." JA emphatically agrees, feeling the Spendor to be one of the best buys in high-end audio. The $195/pair speaker stands from Chicago Speaker Stands are normally sup-plied, though Spendor intends to introduce its own stands. (Vol.13 No.6, Vol.14 Nos.10 8c 12) Thiel CS3.6: $3990/pair Remarkably transparent, extraordinarily uncolored floor-standing three-way speaker, with first-order crossovers and truly time-coherent performance. Very revealing of source imperfections and bass on the edge of the generous side, both of which will mean extra care needs to be taken in system-matching. Easier to get good results from, how-ever, than the Genesis Ill, notes RI-l. "A terrific bargain" at its price, he concludes: "The more I listen to them, the more I like them." (Vol.16 No.5) Thiel CS2 2: $2750/pair SU Smooth, civilized, "buttoned-down" sound with good soundstaging, excellent presentation of detail and dynamics, and superbly controlled and nicely extended bass. "One of the best speaker values on the market today:' states ST. JA agrees, choosing to use the Thiels as his long-term reference, though it's fair to note the 2 2's reduced transparency compared with the larger 3.6. He also points out to habitual party-throwers that there's a limited dynamic range in the bass, and notes that a residual bright-ness will mandate careful system-matching. The speaker was launched as the 2.2 but has been renamed, due to Bose's copyrighting of decimal numbers such as (Vol.15 No.4, Vol.16 Nos.1 & 10) Unity Audio Signature 1: $299543295 depending on finish Well-finished three-way design, with a downward-firing woofer, that RD enjoyed immensely. He noted its superb soundstaging and exceptional transparency. Treble is a little crisp and the midbass somewhat exaggerated, but the overall performance is better than the sum of its parts. "Superbly musical," was how he summed up his review findings. Bi-wiring option adds $250. (Vol.16 No.5) Vandersteen 3: $2395/pair As always with a Richard Vandersteen design, this is a well-balanced speaker with no serious faults. Excellent low-bass extension, excellent presentation of musical dynamics, and a good loudness capability are married to a superbly transparent, tonally neutral midrange (when the listener is sitting on the midrange driver axis). Doesn't throw as well-focused a soundstage as the similarly priced Thiel CS2 2, but it's a more forgiving design, overall. Needs significant break-in period,, though much of this is now done at the factory. Dedicated Sound Anchor rear braces cost 5200/pair but are essential to aim the speaker's optimum axis at the listener. (Vol.16 Nos3 & 4)

B-Restricted LF Apogee Centaur Minor: S1295/pair (stands optional) SU

1 A tip from TJN for breaking-in speakers: Place them face to face but wired out of phase You can then drive them hard with pink noise from a Test CD, but there is less sonic pol-lution to annoy the other members of your family. To a large extent, the speakers' outputs cancel.

A hybrid design that mates a ribbon tweeter/midrange unit to a sealed-box tuned dynamic woofer. Restricted in bass extension and ultimate dynamic-range capability, fussy about setup, but excellent transparency coupled with upper-midrange purity and the ability to throw a huge, wide soundstage. Upper bass sounds a bit wooden, but it's a musical bargain overall. Matching stands, $169/pair, should be regarded as mandatory, said RH. (Vol.15 No.1, Vol.16 No.2) B&W 805 Matrix: $1600/pair (stands necessary) in Borderline Class B, according to LG, but full Class B, according to MC. This well-finished two-way features an exceptionally rigid "Matrix" enclosure. The highs sound effortlessly open, the lows reasonably extended for a minimonitor, and the imaging is well-focused. The speaker goes loud without strain. "A winner at its price judges JA. Optional 800 Series Variable High-Pass Align-ment Filter equalizer costs $250. (Vol.16 No.4) Celestion SL700SE: S3399/pair * (stands included) Once considered very high for a small speaker, the price includes excellent stands. Improves over the SL600Si in the areas where that speaker excels, and sets new stan-dards for a box loudspeaker in transparency, neutrality, and upper-bass clarity. In contrast with the SL600Si, over-all balance is rather on the bright side, which demands careful system-matching. Auditioning of the current "Spe-cial Edition" version reveals better integration between tweeter and woofer and an even cleaner upper bass, though the tradeoff appears to be a less involving sound over-all. "A bit polite," says ST Though the SL700 is deficient in low bass in absolute terms, rate of rolloff in-room is slow enough that it almost qualifies for inclusion in the "full-range" Class B category. But only almost. (Vol.11 No.9, Vol.14 No.10, Vol.15 No.4)

Celestion SL600Si with DLP600: $2798/pair (stands necessary)

Celestion's DLP600 digital-domain loudspeaker processor ($699) fits between the CD transport and DAC; with it, the SL600Si's soundstage snaps into focus to an extent that JA hadn't heard from any speaker other than the Wilson WATT, Avalon Eclipse, or Quad ESL-63. The speaker's dark-sounding treble also becomes more natural/airy/spacious. The lower-midrange congestion remains unimproved, however. Otherwise, the '600 system would beat out Celestion's SL700. MC adds that the '700 has a better sense of pace and timing. (Vol.15 No.8)

Ensemble PA-1: $3180/pair * Ensemble Reference: $4980/pair (S5300/pair with bi-wiring option) * (stands necessary) Two almost identical-looking expensive rninimonitors from Switzerland combine an excellent soft-dome tweeter with an unusual laminated-cone woofer and a rear-facing passive radiator. Both are sensitive to being overdriven by subsonics, but, provided a good high-pass filter is used, the Ensembles generate a neutrally balanced, if bass-shy, sound with better imaging (". . spatial resolution was outstanding:' according to DO) and less upper-bass con-gestion than the standard Celestion SL600Si. The Refer-ence betters the PA-1 in every way-at a cost. A "remark-able midrange," notes MC of the Reference, but adds that its sound is something oían acquired taste. Both speakers require considerable break-in periods to reach their optimal performance levels. Matching Landmark stands cost $1390/pair. (Vol.13 No.6, Vol.14 Na10, Vol.15 No.12) Monitor Audio Studio 20SE: $4499/pair-S5999/pair depending on finish A floorstanding descendant of the first Monitor speaker


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to offer a metal-coned woofer (the Studio 10). With a simi-lar drive-unit complement, the two-way Studio 20 offers a big, transparent, well-focused soundstage presentation with an excellent sense of detail and sufficient bass fullness, said RH. ST disagrees strongly, feeling that the Studio 20 is too expensive, considering it doesn't go low or play very loud. "Not for rockers!" he warns. JA feels the 20 to be a superb speaker when used within its limitations, though he noticed an occasional wiry edge to female voices and boy sopranos. RH also noted this in his review, but thinks this will be ameliorated by a good tube amplifier. Current "SE" has an integral plinth 4" taller than the ver-sion reviewed. (Vol.14 No.12, Vol.15 No.4) ProAc Response Ttvo: 83000/pair (stands necessary) "Solid Class 13;" decided CG, but only when the Response Twos are used with the matching Target stands (5700/pair) coupled to them with Blu-Tack, or the Room-Tune Torture Clamps." A slight tendency to woodiness in the lower mids is exacerbated by the wrong stand, JA found. While the massively constructed Response Two doesn't have quite the image focus of the Wilson WATT, the SL600/DLP600, or the Acoustic Energy AEI, it has a more accessibly even tonal balance, with a smooth yet detailed treble, enough bass to be very musically satis-fying, and much better dynamics than either the Celestion or the Acoustic Energy. "A stunning product that delivers a quality of sound most audiophile speakers only hint at," summed up CG. (Vol.15 No.7; see also Vol.15 No.9, p.162.)

Quad ESL-63 USA Monitor: S5500/pair (stands necessary)

Very musical sound, with very low midrange coloration, natural, precise imaging, excellent soundstaging, and very good resolution of detail when listened to on the optimal axis. The highs roll off considerably off-axis, which can lead to a dull, lifeless sound in overdamped rooms. The low treble is a little resonant (perhaps due to the dustcover), which bothers some listeners (LA) more than others (ST, LG, DO, JA). Low frequencies are tight but not very deep, while maximum volume capability is somewhat limited. (At Santa Fe's 7000' altitude, this is a strict 97dB on peaks.) Later models sound less dry than early production. Can really come alive with the right amplifier, and benefits from modifications, most especially suitable stands (we've found Arcicis to work well). Works well with such dipole subwoofers as the Finnish Gradient SW-63 (see "Sub-woofers") and the Celestion System 6000, while LG has achieved an excellent match with both the omnidirectional, servo-controlled Velodyne ULD-18 and the Muse 18. The current version, the USA Monitor, has a stiffer steel frame, a revised protective grille, and a reduced plate gap for higher sensitivity. (Vol.6 Nos.4 & 5, Vol.7 Nos.2 8c 7, Vol.8 No3, Von° No.1, Vol.12 Nos.2 & 6; see also LG's review of the Gradient SW-63 subwoofer system in Vol.14 No 10, and "Editor's Choice," Vol.15 No.12, p.17.) Sonus Faber Electa Amator: 54500/pair

(stands necessary) "The Amator has the Extrema's wonderful imaging and huge soundstage, without that loudspeaker's dynamic range, bass, or transparency," said LG, though JA and TJN agree with JE that it's still a superbly natural-sounding, if very expensive, rninimonitor. "A powerful and involving sound' adds MC. Matching stands cost $950/pair. (Vol.15 No.10) Totem Acoustic Model I: 51495/pair US

(stands necessary) Astonishing LF response for such a small speaker, found LG, with smooth, sweet highs, excellent dynamics, and

palpable, well-focused imaging, particularly in the depth plane. Some midrange prominence, however. A GL favor-ite. Suggested stands are the Target Model R4 ($600/pair), HJ (S250/pair), or HS ($180/pair). (Vol.16 No.4)

BittW Matrix 804: $2200/pair Borderline Class B, said TIN of this elegant two-way-"a miniature 801"-adding that it produces an open, gener-ous sound with a well-defined soundstage. Apart from some warmth in the upper bass, the lows are intrinsically clean and reasonably extended, though TJN points out that using B&W's "800 Series Variable High-Pass Align-ment Filter" to equalize the speaker's bass to be flat to below 30Hz restricts the dynamic range too much to be useful. He also commented on some occasional nasality, though this was generally insignificant. (Vol.14 No.11) Eminent Technology LFT-VIII: $1500/pair Combining push-pull planar-magnetic drive-units for the treble and midrange with a conventional moving-coil woofer, the LFT-VIII's bass is a little rich-balanced and the full complement of high frequencies is only to be obtained when the listener sits level with the center of the tweeter and to the inside of the tweeter midrange ribbon. The speaker's midrange smoothness and lack of boxiness impressed the heck out of CG, however. (Vol.16 No.2) Harman/Kardon Fifty: 52198/pair Some disagreement over the merits of this large floor-standing speaker, despite its excellent showing in Stereo-phile's blind panel tests. Some writers felt it to be too bland and inoffensive. Its smooth, rich balance, mellow highs, extended lows, and effortless dynamics will win it many friends, however. (Vol.16 No.9) Linn Keilidh LS300: 51295/pair Borderline Class B, according to RH, who enjoyed this Scottish speaker's tuneful, "fast" bass, smooth, uncolored midrange, generally clean treble, and-most importantly -seamlessly musical and involving overall presentation. Treble can be a bit sibilant, however, and the lower mid-range lacks ultimate transparency. One of the few high-end speakers that works best near the wall behind it. RH says he would choose the Keilidh over all the other loud-speakers currently in Class C. Polymer/granite bases-essential-add $200/pair. Performance can be taken even further by bi-amping and bypassing the internal crossover. (Vol.16 No.9) Magnepan MG2.6/R: 51950/pair Large two-way panel combining a ribbon tweeter with a "Magneplanar" woofer/midrange unit. A warm-sound-ing midrange is coupled with a clean yet detailed, trans-parent treble that will be musically pleasing with the right ancillaries, provided that care is taken in setup. Somewhat restricted dynamic range and a rather thickened bass, but overall "deliciously smooth:' said JA. Otherwise similar three-way MG3.3/R (S3000/pair, not yet reviewed) adds a Magneplanar midrange unit and should be capable of both playing louder and going lower in the bass. (Vol.14 No.11)

Mission Cyrus 753: 51500/pair Unusual floorstanding design uses four small woofers-two reflex-loaded, two in sealed enclosure-to give good balance between bass extension and definition when speaker is used, as intended, near the wall behind it. Iranias-sic treble balance is on the lively side, but with the speakers not toed-in to the listening seat the clean highs are in good balance with the uncolored, very transparent midrange. AJA favorite. (Vol.16 No.9) Snell Type E/III: 5990/pair $U (stands necessary)


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A smooth treble is coupled with a natural, if remote, mid-range, while the soundstage focus is somewhat diffuse. "Awfully good for what they are!" says LL, however, of this inexpensive, ported two-way that resembles a smaller Snell C/IV-it even has a similar second rear-firing tweeter. LG was similarly impressed, feeling the Type E to have ". . good dynamic range [and] stunning bass response [with] complete control, no overhang, no peakiness. . it truly offers the wonder and excitement of recorded music at a modest pricer Needs to be used well away from walls; matching stands cost $120/pair. (Vol.14 No.10) Thiel CS1.2: $1250/pair Lacking ultimate dynamic range, this modest-sized floor-standing speaker offers an outstandingly detailed sound with superbly precise, if a little shallow, soundstaging, a neutral midband, and a less critical treble balance than the older CS2 (although VTL monoblocks produced rather a "hissy" sound). ST reports that the Electrocom-paniet AW100 sounds terrific with the 1.2s. JA says that low frequencies are full, and only become too ripe when used with, say, a tube amplifier. ST disagrees, feeling that the bass was a little lightweight, which might suggest some room-dependency in the low-frequency balance. (Vol.12 Nos.1, 6, & 11, Vol.13 No.1) Vandersteen 2Ce: $1295/pair US (stands optional) The latest version of Richard Vandersteen's classic three-way design has a larger cabinet and a revised drive-unit. The intrinsic balance is a little on the warm side, with a forward midrange and rather limited transparency and image focus. However, while there may be other loud-speakers that perform better than the 2Ce in one or more areas, there is not a speaker in its price range that does so little wrong across the board. TJN wrote that it spreads its compromises so that there is no particular area of weak-ness; DO was impressed by the 2Ce's tonal balance and sense of pacing; JA noted that it offers more extended lows than its competition. A great value for the dollar. (Vol.16 Nos.4 & 9)

C-Restricted LF Acoustic Energy AEI: S1995/pair *

(stands included) Tiny reflex box with metal-dome tweeter and metal-cone woofer. Redefines the art of miniature speaker design, according to JA, due to its relatively high dynamic range, electrostatic-quality treble, and see-through, if somewhat forward-balanced, midrange. Bass is perhaps the weak point, with rather a slow-sounding character that keeps the AEI from Class B. Now supplied ready for bi-wiring with gold-plated binding posts. Price is for satin black finish (other finishes are available on request) and now includes matching stands. (Vol.11 No.9, Vol.15 No.7; see also Vol.15 No.9, p.162.) Celestion SL600Si: 1;2099/pair er

(stands necessary) Though lacking the bottom octave-and-a-half of bass extension, and possessing slightly depressed mid- and extreme-treble ranges that make system optimization dif-ficult, the SL600Si combines lower-midrange trans-parency and holographic imaging (areas where it badly beats most of the moving-coil competition) with a musi-cal, if dark-sounding, balance unique for a box speaker. Worth using with high-end electronics. Latest Si version has revised crossover layout to allow bi-wiring and is more transparent in the treble, though a touch of rnidband con-gestion remains. Sound quality significantly improved by $699 DLP600 DSP engine. Good stands, such as Celestion's own $299/pair 18" SLSis, are mandatory.

(Vol.10 No.2, original version; Vol.12 No.5, Vol.15 No.8.) Celestion 100: $1199/pair (stands necessary) While not as inherently musical or as sweet-sounding as Celestion's SL600, or as transparent as Acoustic Energy's AEI, the well-finished 100 offers low levels of coloration, excellent imaging, articulate if not particularly extended low frequencies, and very clean-sounding if slightly uptiked highs. Low treble gets a little grainy at high levels, with an occasional touch of congestion in the lower mids. Price is for walnut or black oak finishes; a pair in mahogany veneer costs $1299. (Vol.15 No.6) Epos ES14: $1295/pair * (stands necessary) A speaker that has long been an ST favorite, the ES14 seems to be typical of small British speaker designs in that it features a metal-dome tweeter in a well-braced cabi-net with a minimal crossover and the option for bi-wiring. The result is a superbly coherent sound that, according to TJN, kept drawing him into the music. Ported bass is both a little lightweight and somewhat soft, but the upper bass and midrange are very low in coloration, with excel-lent transparency. Matching stands cost $250. (Vol.11 No.6, Vol.13 No.1)

Genesis Technologies 1M-5200: $895/pair (stands necessary)

Tiny two-way in a unique tubular enclosure from Arnie Nudell, one of the founders of Infinity. Circular "ribbon" tweeter gives a delicate, detailed, open, and airy treble, found 1JN. Levels of colorations are low, while the sound-staging is wide, deep, and well-focused. Low bass, how-ever, is missing in action, and the dynamic range of the 5" woofer is also necessarily limited. Overall, the rather analytic tonal balance works best with sweet-sounding tube amps, decided TJN in his review, while the combi-nation with the Genesis Servo 10 subwoofer (see "Sub-woofers") approaches Class B quality. Matching stands cost S395/pair. (Vol.14 No.10) JM Lab Micron: $695/pair ITS (stands necessary) The original version of this French rninimonitor had a truly horrendous lower treble-peaky and fatiguing-which could be laid at the feet of its ICevlar-domed Focal tweeter. Current production features a new titanium inverted-dome tweeter which is significantly smoother and less colored, leading to an enthusiastic recommen-dation from DO. "The upper mida are sweet and texturally smooth:' quoth he. Though it lacks bass extension, it gets the tenor region right, the sound of the cello being tim-brally correct. Soundstage focus was also excellent. Price is for black vinyl finish; walnut veneer costs $795/pair, black lacquer $1095/pair. (Vol.14 Nos.9 & 10) PSB Stratus Mini: $950/pair (stands necessary) Well-finished, well-engineered two-way with a neutral balance, low level of coloration, and superb soundstaging. Bass is intrinsically lean, but careful room placement can result in well-defined but reasonably well-balanced lows. Review sample had a rather congested lower midrange due to a severe cabinet resonance, said to have been minimized in current production by a repositioning of the internal bracing. Matching stands-essential-cost $150/pair. (Vol.16 Nos.6 & 7) Sonus Faber Minima FM2: $1800/pair

(stands necessary) Beautifully finished but tiny Italian speaker has no bass worth speaking of. That didn't stop LG enthusing: "The midrange is the Minima's strength . . . the first speaker I've auditioned that reproduced the human voice as nat-urally as the Spendor BC-1:• Excellent soundstaging and sweet but slightly downtilted treble complete the picture. Matching Sonus Faber adjustable stands cost $950/pair;


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Sumiko "Franklin and Lowell" sand-filled stands are $350/pair. (Vol.16 No.4)

D Epos ES11: $850/pair $SS (stands necessary) Borderline Class C sound, said JA, if it were not for a rather congested lower midrange and restricted dynamics. But above that region, this sophisticated little English two-way from Robin Marshall gets everything right: instru-mental textures and timbres, imaging and soundstaging, a seamless blend between woofer and tweeter, and grain-free highs. Matching stands cost $200/pair. Highly recom-mended. (Vol.14 Nos.7 & 10) Genesis Technologies Genre II: $799/pair US A floorstanding two-way with a seamless midrange and treble that excels in its presentation of natural instrumental tone colors and a precisely defined soundstage. A little sizzly when listened to on-axis, this can be ameliorated by not toeing-in the speakers to the listening seat. A low optimal listening axis-don't sit too high, warns JA, or the Genre II will sound too hollow in the upper rnids. A congested quality to the lower midrange and restricted LF dynamic range keep this little gem from attaining a Class C recommendation, however. (Vol.16 No.1) Icon Lumen: $795/pair (stands necessary) Despite an apparently flat on-axis response, the well-built Lumen sounds a little uptilted, there being some sibilance present in its treble. There is also a degree of resonant col-oration in the lower midrange, but its sound is otherwise delicate and very clean, with an optimally tuned, reason-ably extended bass. Only sold direct; price includes ship-ping. (Vol.14 No.7, Vol.14 No.10) NHT 2.3a: S1099/pair Borderline Class C for this good-value floorstanding design, according to TJN. It falls short of those heights because of a somewhat unsubtle, slightly too crisp tre-ble. But it has fine soundstaging, good low-end control, and clean, relatively uncolored midrange. (Vol.16 No.9) Phase Tech PC-80: SOSO/pair (stands necessary) Although it has a rather exaggerated bass region, the well-made PC-80 also offers excellent imaging specificity, a superbly flat tonal balance, and a clean treble, spoiled only by a slightly nasal upper midband. (Vol.14 Nos.1 & 10; see also RI-I's review of the PC-90 subwoofer in Vol.14 No.9.)

Harbeth LS3/5a: $999/pair tr (stands necessary) Spendor LS3/5a: $896/pair * (stands necessary) A major revision of its crossover in 1988 was meant not so much to "improve" this venerable BBC design (first seen and heard in 1975!) as to bring production back on target. Still somewhat compromised in overall dynamics, HF smoothness, and clarity when compared with Class B and C miniatures such as the Acoustic Energy AEI, Genesis 1M-5200, and Celestion SL600Si and SL700, and having a distinctly tubby midbass, the 1993 version of the LS3/5a still has one of the least colored midbands around, throws a deep, beautifully defined soundstage, and has a slightly sweeter top end, with less nasality than it used to have. The sound, however, is sometimes not as musically involving as it could, or should, be. Originally manufactured by Rogers, who discontinued it at the begin-ning of 1993, the LS3/5a is still manufactured by Spendor and Harbeth: the former has one pair of input terminals; the latter is bi-wirable with four gold-plated Michell connectors-see "Industry Update Vol.15 No.2. (Vol3 No.12, Vol.4 No.1, Vol.7 No.4, Vol.12 Nos.2 & 3, Vol.14 No.10, Vol.16 No.11; see also Vol.15 No.11, p.89.) Signet SL280B/U:$700/pair * US (stands necessary)

Designed by an ex-AR engineer, this two-way was found by TJN to rival the Epos ES14 in being musically satisfying at a modest price. Good bass extension is coupled with excellent midband transparency, though the treble has a tendency to sound a little bright. Model reviewed was actually the discontinued SL280, which was identical apart from being more expensive and substituting a wood veneer for the B/U's black vinyl finish. (Vol.13 No.10, Vol.14 No.10) Spica Angelus: $1275/pair * Borderline Class C and CG's long-term reference, the idiosyncratically styled Angelus has much in common with this New Mexican manufacturer's TC-50, including a superbly defined if lightweight bass register, a basically neutral if occasionally "cardboardy" or "pinched" mid-range-something that upsets LA-and the ability to throw an astonishingly accurate soundfield. "A soundstage champ!" ST proclaims. Transparency in both the treble and lower midrange is a little lacking compared with the better speakers, however, and the mid-treble is too grainy and forward in balance, something that increasingly bothers ST and also disturbed the September 1993 blind listening panel. MC points out that the speaker's unusual styling results in a somewhat deeper than usual "floor dip" in the lower midrange which can lend the bass a rather disembodied character. A 1991 crossover revision results in a more dynamic sound, with less congestion at very high levels. (Vol.11 No.2, Vol.13 Nos.1 & 4, Vol.16 Nos.4 & 9; see also "Manufacturers' Conmients" in this issue.) Spica TC-50: S550/pair * US (stands necessary) The coherence and imaging of the middle to upper mid-range rival the Quad and LS3/5a and would be consid-ered excellent in a speaker of any price: At $550, they're a steal. Only significant drawback is the absolute need for the listener to be sitting with his or her ears on the optimal axis, the sound otherwise becoming too lean. On the optimal axis, the high frequencies roll off above 161cHz, the midband is rather forward-balanced, and the low end is designed to be very controlled down to the lower limit of about 55Hz. This latter aspect makes the TC-50 perfect for matching to a subwoofer-a pair of Kinergetics SW100s with their stands and matching amplifier are ideal. Easily damaged by amplifier overload. Current version features a crossbrace between front and rear panels. (Vol.7 Nos.2 & 3, Vol.9 Nos.5 & 7, Vol.11 No.1, Vol.12 No.10, Vol.14 No.10)

E Advent 25th Anniversary Limited Edition: S399/pair (stands necessary) Provisional rating for this descendant of the Large Advent Loudspeaker of the '70s, based on ST's enthusiastic rec-ommendation for an inexpensive speaker that attempts full-range reproduction with a full measure of admittedly rather boomy bass. (Vol.16 No.5) Celestion 3: S289/pair * (stands necessary) Intended to be sited near a rear wall on a stand or shelf, which usefully reinforces its limited low-frequency output, the diminutive 3 has a rather "cardboardy" coloration in the midband but a clean, open-sounding treble unusual in this price range. (Vol.12 No.10, Vol.14 No.10) Dana Audio Model I: $199/pair

(stands necessary) One of the two least expensive loudspeakers listed in "Recommended Componente Dana's Model 1 is only available via mail order. The original sample had a rather warm bass and a rather depressed treble, which led to a forgiving balance offset only by a degree of resonant col-


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oration in the low treble. Latest version is more forward-balanced. Works best away from room boundaries, when it ". . . squeezes the most music out of the least money!' according to RH, while JE adds that it offers "a very fine level of performance for the price!' (Vol.13 No.9, Vol.14

No.10, Vol.15 No.7) KEF Q60: S600/pair (stands necessary) When used against the rear wall, the Q60's bass is full and generous, which adds to the speaker's clean highs and good dynamics. Imaging a little imprecise, however, and a rather peaky-sounding upper midrange. Perhaps too polite-sounding in absolute terms, and too expensive for Class E. the Q60 is still excellent value according to MC, with an overall performance closer to Class D than most of the other entry-level loudspeakers. (Vol.15 No.5) Mirage M490: S600/pair (stands necessary) Extended bass lacks definition but is offset by lush, trans-parent midrange, good overall clarity, and highs that are non-fatiguing, if a little excessive in absolute terms. Inex-pensive loudspeakers for the music lover rather than the audiophile, said GL. Matching stands cost $110/pair. (Vol.15 No.5) NHT 1.3A: $500/pair * (stands necessary) Unusual styling but a superb level of fit'n'finish distinguish this small, inexpensive loudspeaker. Its midrange is neutral, its high frequencies clean and free from resonant hash, though low frequencies lack a little weight. Overall sound quality is borderline Class D with the right ancillaries. "The NI-IT 1.3 excels in those areas that are most impor-tant musically!' stated RH. Current "A" version differs in minor ways from samples tested. (Vol.13 No.9, Vol.14 No.10) Pinnacle PN8+: $400/pair (stands necessary) Borderline Class D sound, though the presence region sounds a little emphasized and hard, and bass is too lean with the wrong amplification. Midrange has a slight "boxy" coloration but is otherwise clean, and the imaging is good for a speaker this inexpensive. (Vol.15 No.5)

PSB 500: $499/pair (stands necessary) Balance is warm and full rather than tight and lean, but impressive bass weight doen't turn to boominess. Refined highs for an inexpensive speaker. The two-way 500 achieves "that rare balance of ease and detail!' according to TJN, with moderate coloration and congestion only setting in at high levels. 'An attractive mix with no glaring weakness?' (Matching SP5 stands are $79/pair.) (Vol.16 No.7) PSB Alpha: S199/pair $U (stands necessary) "An oustanding audio bargain!' proclaimed JE of this little two-way. Designed to be used close to the rear wall, the Alpha plays surprisingly loud without strain, though toe-in is best avoided to minimize hardness. Optimum with soft-sounding electronics. Imaging somewhat vague com-pared with the similar-priced Danas. (Vol.15 No.7) Rogers LS2a/2: $550/pair (stands necessary) Small, low-coloration two-way offers superb soundstag-ing with a nice sense of openness and ease, offset by a rather spitchy mid-treble, restricted bass extension, and limited dynamic range. (Vol.16 No.1) Signet SL260B/U: $450/pair (stands necessary) An exaggerated treble mandates careful system-matching, but the sound from this inexpensive two-way is otherwise reasonably well-balanced, with quite good bass extension and definition, and a spacious soundstage. (Vol.16 No.1) Snell Type K/II: $479/pair (stands necessary) A tight, tuneful, articulate bass, said RH of this modestly priced two-way design, though with less weight than the Phase Tech PC-80. The mida are neutral, the highs open

and airy, but there is a trace of hardness in absolute terms that can't altogether be ameliorated with the tweeter-level control. Nevertheless, RH enthusiastically recommends the Kill for its musically natural presentation. A TJN favorite. (Vol.14 Nos.1, 7, & 10) Spectrum Audio 208C: $595/pair (stands necessary) Large speaker for the price, and unusual in that it hangs its tweeter in front of the woofer. For devotees of "big bass" who don't mind a lack of image specificity, over-warm lower mids, and some low-treble hardness. A pair in oak finish costs $679. (Vol.16 No.1) Spica SC-30: S399/pair US (stands necessary) This cone-tweetered design offers a very flat response on its optimal axis, which is actually below the woofer, imply-ing either that very high stands must be used or that the speaker must be used upside-down on low stands. "Imag-ing and soundstaging were surprisingly good!' noted RH, adding that the SC-30 had an overall musical balance and sweet yet detailed high frequencies, despite some grain in the low treble. Borderline Class D, overall. A "boxy" lower midrange has been alleviated with a new woofer, used in production from early '92. (Vol.15 No.5, Vol.16 No.1)

NHT 33, NHT Super Zero, Harbedi HL-P3, Rogers Stu-dio 3, Snell Type B Minor, ProA.c Response One & Response Four, Martin-Logan CLS HZ, Swan Cygnus, Naim SBL Active, Soundwave VR-2, Unity Audio Pyramid Signature, B&W DM620.1, Tannoy Definition 700.

Deletions Icon Parsec revised, mandating a "Follow-Up"; Fried Q/4 and Ft/4 replaced by significantly more expensive Q/5 and R/5, not yet auditioned.

VIDEO SURROUND-SOUND SPEAKER SYSTEMS

Snell 500 Home THX system: $5593/system (stands necessary)

This system is intended for use in Home Theater situations and is made up of: three LCR-500 front speakers at $899 each; two SUR-500 surround speakers at $899 each; and a SUB-750 at $549. Matching STA-500 stands cost $99 each. "I was blown away. The sound was as good as any-thing I've ever heard in a movie theater?' proclaimed JGH of the Snell 500 THX speaker system when he used it to play back video soundtracks. On music program, however, he found an "awesomely extended low end," excellent image definition and soundstage depth, and excellent tonal accuracy. He concluded that, in conjunction with the Lex-icon CP-3 surround processor and Raise equalizer, it's only a medium-resolution system when compared with his reference Sound-Lab electrostatics, which were more transparent overall. (Vol.15 No.12)

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SUBWOOFERS & CROSSOVERS Editor's Note: DO's mini-survey in Vol.12 No.1 indi-cated that true subwoofers, capable of reproducing the


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bottom two bass octaves at realistically high sound levels, are almost always rare and expensive beasts. In addition, the problems of integrating one or two subwoofers with high-quality satellites are major if the integrity of the upper-bass/lower-midrange region is not to be com-promised. (Peter Mitchell offers good advice on where to place one or more subwoofers in the listening room in Vol.16 No3, pp.65-67.) With the exception of the Hsu SW10 system, we recommend those trying to subwoof on the cheap to instead look at the possibility of acquiring more expensive full-range loudspeakers.

A Kinergetics SW-800: $3995/system Twin-tower, 10-driver stereo subwoofer offering true 201-la extension and intended to be used with the Martin-Logan CLS IlAs, when it gets a Class A recommenda-tion from JE. Price includes a versatile crossover, but a stereo amplifier, preferably a good solid-state model, is required. (Vol.15 No.3, Vol.16 No.8) Muse Model 18 active subwoofer: $2750 (inc. crossover and amplifier) Slot-loaded active mono subwoofer extending down to 20Hz with which RH, LG, and CG have obtained great sound (successfully integrating it with Hales Signatures, Quad USA Monitors, and Spica Angeluses, respectively). "A complete lack of plodding slowness!' said RH of the Model 18's ability to present recorded kick drum with its character intact. RH also noted that it offers a "dynamic agility" rare in a subwoofer. Part of the reason for the Model 18's quality is that it's not intended to extend very high in frequency, thus minimizing its potential for introducing midrange anomalies. In addition, it can be customized for the specific satellites with which it's to be used to give a seamless match. Each "personality card" to adapt the Model 18's crossover for a specific loudspeaker costs 530, and seems to have very little editorial effect on the sound of the satellites (other than the high-pass func-tion, of course). Price is for oak finish; walnut or cherry finish adds $250. Balanced inputs add $500. (Vol.14 Nos 7, 8, & 10; Vol.16 Nos.3 & 5) Wilson Audio Puppy 2: $5450-$6450 Dedicated passive stereo woofer system for the Wilson WATT minimonitors. Series 2 version of the Puppy fea-tures a new high-density composite panel bottom and dedicated MIT 750-W "Puppy Tail!' See "Loudspeakers!' (Vol.14 No.6)

Entec12-f20 active subwoofer: $3247 (inc. crossover and amplifier) Though it has a lower dynamic range than the Muse, keep-ing it from Class A, the Entec nevertheless goes very deep and is very clean and well-controlled. Its interface is extremely versatile, and includes a useful notch filter to tame the most annoying low-frequency room mode. A bit expensive for what it does, decided TJN. (Vol.16 No.5) Gradient SW-63: $3000/system (inc. crossover) Stereo dipole moving-coil subwoofer system from Finland intended to be used with the Quad USA Monitors. Adds useful increase in dynamic range and midbass power handling—"Within the 40-100Hz range I had never heard a Quad system sound so clean, well-defined, and fast," said LG. Though he found the SW-63 lacked the bottom octave of ultimate LF extension and was prone to sub-sonic overload when driven hard in large rooms, he felt the Gradient to be a "must-listen" for any Quad owner. Separate stereo amplifier required. (Vol.14 No.10,

Vol.16 No3) Velodyne ULD-18 active subwoofer: $2750 * (inc. crossover, amplifier, and servo electronics) LG felt this well-finished, servo-controlled subwoofer system offered superb bass performance, extending his Quad USA Monitors' low frequencies to 20Hz even at high levels, and adding a considerable degree of dynamic contrast. LG, who also found it to work well with B&W 805s, and PWM would choose a Class A rating for the ULD-18. Others on the magazine's staff disagree, feeling the Velodyne belongs in Class B due to an overall lack of absolute definition and a propensity for adding mid-range coloration (this perhaps due to the crossover elec-tronics). (Vol.12 No.10, Vol.14 No.10, Vol.16 No3)

Genesis Technologies Servo 10 active subwoofer: $895 $5.$ (inc. crossover, amplifier, and servo electronics) Main limitation of this inexpensive yet versatile servo-controlled active subwoofer is that, while it does go very deep, it will overload on maximum-extension settings if pushed hard. Excellent value. (Vol.14 No.10) Infinity Modulus active subwoofer: $2000 (inc. crossover, amplifier, and servo electronics) A small, handsome, well-made, well-thought-out servo-controlled design that offers considerable flexibility in choice of satellites. JA got excellent results with the Mon-itor Audio Studio Tens, though he couldn't eradicate a residual hum that appeared to be due to the subwoofer controller comrnoning the grounds of the two channels. (Vol.13 No.11) Kinergetics SW-100 Platinum: $1885/system er The Kinergetics system includes an active crossover and stereo amplifier and uses a pair of 10" drivers per side to achieve true 20Hz extension (at the expense ola limited dynamic range). In the right circumstances, however, par-ticularly with Spica TC-50s, it can work very well, pro-ducing a full-range sound that can be intensely musical. (Vol.12 No.1) Velodyne F-1500: $1495 (inc. crossover, servo electronics, and amplifier) Excellent value for money, this low-distortion, versatile mono design almost approaches the performance of the Velodyne ULD-18, but adds rather more system color-ation, perhaps, suggests LG, due to its gentle 6dB/octave high-pass crossover slope. Its lack of the 'I8's "effortless power" leads to a Class C rating, judged LG. (Vol.16 No3)

D AudioControl Richter Scale Series III: $349 * Versatile six-band, half-octave, low-frequency equalizer and analyzer incorporating bass warble-tone generator and 24dB/octave crossover factory-preset to 90Hz. "Muf-fled" in sound quality, the Richter Scale nevertheless of-fers the woofer fan an excellent chance of achieving suc-cessful integration between subwoofer(s) and satellites. (Vol.12 No.1) Hsu Research SW10: $750/pair $U (including passive low-pass filter and a free CD) An inexpensive, cylindrical stereo subwoofer system that achieves true 20Hz extension. Main drawback is that, as supplied, the satellite speakers are not high-pass-filtered; the subwoofers, therefore, do not increase the satellites' dynamic range (which is the other reason for investing in a subwoofer), hence the Class D rating. Supplied passive low-pass filter is set for 40Hz with 12dB/octave slope; different low-pass filters are available. A variable-fre-


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As you can see, the Macro Reference has made a pretty impressive impact on high-end audio reviewers. And rightly so. Because this amp combines massive power with incredible sensitivity at a price that will astound you. Audition the MR in your system and hear the difference.

For a free information packet containing the complete, unedited reviews from Audioe, New Jersey Audio Society, Stereophile, The Absolute Sound®, and a copy of the Macro Reference Owners Manual, call us toll-free: 1-800-535-6289

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quency 12dB/octave low-pass filter has been introduced in the summer of'93 which will eventually raise the system price by $50, but is currently supplied at no extra charge. (Vol.16 No))

Bryston 10B electronic crossover. Deletions Celestion System 6000 not auditioned in too long a time.

HEADPHONES & HEADPHONE ACCESSORIES

A Grado HP 1: $595 $$$ Beautifully made dynamic headphones with a smooth, transparent, well-balanced sound. The midrange to treble transition is seamless compared with the Stax Lambda Pros, though JA feels that the extreme high end lacks air and the bass is a little generous. Highly recommended, though it must be pointed out that to get the best from the Grados you need a dedicated headphone amplifier such as the Melos tubed unit or Grado's own battery-powered device. GA got excellent results driving the Grados with a pair of VTL Tiny Triodes!) The otherwise identical HP 2 lacks the absolute polarity switches and costs $495. (Vol.14 No.5) Koss ESP/950: $799 $U Class A because of its "ravishing midrange," said TJN of the '950 electrostatic at its original price of $2000— though he did point out a little euphonic softening at the frequency extremes and a warmer balance than the Stax Lambda Signature At the reduced price of $799, it's a sonic bargain! (LG has even seen the '950 advertised for as little as 5499!) (Vol.15 No.12) Stax SR-Lambda Signature: $2000 * A diaphragm one-third thinner (him) than the Lambda Pro, and a drive amplifier (SRM-T1) with a tube output stage distinguish what BS termed "the best headphones around" in his review. As good as the Pros are, the Sig-natures better them in terms of air and space around instru-ments, having a more forward midrange, and less—if you can believe it—of a "mechanical" quality. The modest cables Stax supplies with the SR/vl amplifiers are dark at the top, with slightly muddy bass, according to BS. (Vo1.11 No.8, Vol.15 No.12) Stax Lambda Pro 3: $1200 et When used with Stax's SRM-1 Mk.II dedicated class-A solid-state amplifier (Stax's passive interfaces add some hardness, veiling, and brightness), the Pro 3 features a totally transparent sound with, according to BS, "oodles of detail." Unlike most 'phones, the listener gets a true idea of the surrounding ambience on a recording. Bal-ance is laid-back and bass is a bit fat, not quite blending with the rest of the range, but distortion levels are astonish-ingly low, and the Pros have a remarkable dynamic-range capability. As delivered, the Lambda suffers from upper-midrange suckout, which becomes less bothersome after some hours' use. The low treble still remains a lit-tle isolated, however. Very comfortable. (Vol.7 No.5, Vol.10 No.9; see also headphone reviews in Vol.12 No.4, Vol.14 No.5.)

AKG K-1000: $999

Superb resolution of detail and a sense of effortlessness to the sound of these expensive dynamic headphones, which have hinged earpieces to allow the soundwaves to strike the ear pinnae at a natural angle. BS was bothered by an excessive nasal coloration, but JA found the degree to which this coloration was present to be very depen-dent on the angle the headphones made with the side of the head and the exact relationship between drive-unit and ear canal. Bass response generous, if a little under-damped. (Vol.14 Nos.3 & 5) Stax Gamma Professional: $700 The Gamma offers a superbly dean presentation with airy, delicate high frequencies and excellent low-frequency weight when driven by the SFtD-7/Pro interface. Con-necting the Gamma Pro to a Stax direct-drive amplifier further refines the sound, but it still lacks the pristine detail and musical focus of the Lambda headsets. (Vol.14 No3) Suitt Gamma: $400 A slightly thicker diaphragm than the Gamma Pro leads to a darker, less transparent sound overall. (Vol.14 No)) Stax SR-34 Professional: $200 $$$ A new 4itm diaphragm gives these inexpensive electret headphones a liquidly transparent midrange without any trace of grain or dryness, offset by a sometimes slightly hard edge to their sound that BS felt was due to the SRD-4 step-up transformer. (Vol.14 No.3) Stax ED-1 diffuse-field headphone equalizer: $900 i!i• Equalizes headphone sound to compensate for the fact that headphones fire the sound straight into the listener's ears—see Vol.14 No.5, p.161—whereas in real life the sound has to negotiate the audio obstacle course repre-sented by the listener's head and outer ear. "The entire audible spectrum sounds more coherent and seamless," quoth BS. GAG disagrees, feeling that the ED-1 adds "a layer of sonic grunge to the midrange and an edge to the treble as well as reducing the spaciousness of the Grado HP l's sound. JA also feels the degree of the ED-1's EQ to be a little exaggerated, there being a degree of emphasis in the upper midrange. But he adds that the ED-1 "tames the forward treble of the Stax Lambdas, giving a more relaxed, more musically natural sound' Note that the ED-1 inverts polarity with the EQ switched in. (Vol.12 No.4, Vol.14 No.5)

Beyerdynamic D1990 Pro: $339 * Excellent dynamic headphones, with a neutral midband balance and extended low frequencies. Borderline Class B performance. (Vol.10 No.9, original version; DT990 Pro, Vol.14 No)) JVC 1{A-D990 Digital Reference: $150 $$$ These circumaural and closed-back cans produce a sound that is beautifully clear and transparent, without the mid-range and midbass colorations that afflict so many other closed-back headphones. Though brass instruments tend toward brightness, they don't sound hard. Full but tight bass, along with crisp detailing without being "etched:' (Vol.14 No.8) Sennheiser HD540 II: $199 tr Sennheiser HDS60 II: $279 Slightly less neutral than the Beyerdynamic DT990, being more laid-back with a "wispy," even bright, high end. The HD560 II has a more musical balance, lacking the '540's top-octave brightness, notes PWM. Now supplied with Kevlar-wrapped OFC leads rather than the steel (!) originals, which make the '560's treble balance more neu-tral. (Von!) No.9, '540)


Wor

ldR

adio

His

tory

D Nakamichi SP-7: $100 A somewhat bland balance keeps these headphones from Class C, but, as BS noted, the SP-7 is one of those rare under-S100 headphones that is basically neutral and essen-tially honest. (Vol.14 No.8)

Headroom headphone amplifier, Etymotic Research in-the-ear headphones. Deletions Sony MDR-CD6 & MDR-S101 Mk.II not auditioned in too long a time.

FM TUNERS Editor's Note: LG recommends that those interested in purchasing a good FM tuner read JGH's and DAS's dis-cussion on reviewing and measuring FM tuners in Vol.7 No.7, pp.54-57. (See the advertisement elsewhere in this issue for information on ordering back issues of Stetrophile.)

A Day-Sequerra FM Reference: $4800 Using a closed-circuit comparison setup in which the sound from CD could be compared with its sound via the tuner under test, LG found this superbly made tuner to be the most neutral, most transparent he has heard, offering a musically satisfying sound with a highly defined bass response and a "total absence of white FM haze" RF performance was also excellent, the FM Reference pulling in more FM stations with acceptable or better sound qual-ity than any other tuner he had tried. His verdict? "Rede-fines the state of the art in FM tuners:' The $12,800 FM Reference Panalyzer is identical, apart from adding an FM spectrum analyzer. (Vol.14 No.12; see also LG's tuner reviews in Vol.15 No.9.) Magnum Dynalab Etude: $1350 * $$$ Based on the well-established FT-101A, the Etude fea-tures a machined faceplate, WBT output jacks, audiophile-quality passive components, and two extra hours of com-ponent selection, matching, and testing during its man-ufacture. The result is a tuner that sounds only slightly noisier than the extraordinarily expensive Day-Sequerra Broadcast Monitor with the same antenna and station, and features a distortion-free midrange with strong dynamic contrasts. "The sound was wonderfully free of hash, distortion, grit, and glaze:' said LG, though he feels that it's now borderline Class A due to the Day-Sequerra FM Reference setting a new standard, particularly regard-ing bass reproduction and sensitivity. His overall con-clusion? That the Etude nevertheless "represents one of the better balances of price and performance you can find in FM tuners today." (Vol.13 No.8) Nairn NAT 01: $3095 Excels in natural sound quality, but full automation of tuning parameters to optimize sound quality will annoy DX hounds—DAS was so frustrated he was driven to uncharacteristic hyperbole: "It will not get stereo stations unless the tower lights are in sight!" However, "The Naim's ability to involve the listener in the music is re-markable," stated LG. (Vol.15 No.9) Rotel RIIT-10: $1500 $U (See DAS's review in this issue.)

Grundig Fine Arts T-9000: $1199

Excellent stereo sensitivity and sound quality are let down by brightness due to the German Grundig's de-emphasis not being changed from the European 75µs time constant to the 50s required in the US. Limited selectivity means a good directional antenna will be needed in regions with overcrowded FM bands. (Vol.16 No.2) Magnum Dynalab FT-101A: $815 er An analog tuner, the FT-101A is superb from an RF stand-point, particularly in quieting and sensitivity. Selectivity is bettered only by the Onkyo T-9090, Denon TU-800, and Citation 23, but the '101A consistently sounds superior on most stations. Examination of three different samples in February 1988 confirmed good quality con-trol. Latest version has instant-on feature, defeatable stereo blend, and new board. (Vol.8 No.4, Vol.10 No3, Vol.13 No.10) Meridian 204 Mk.II: $1190 "One of the best values in a high-end FM tuner today," said LG of this diminutive shoebox, finding its imaging and soundstaging to be second only to that of the expen-sive Day-Sequerra. Just misses a Class A rating due to a slight lack of transparency and bass response (Vol.15 No.9)

HarmaniKardon Citation 23: $699 er Excellent selectivity—DAS says it can separate closely spaced stations where others fail—but sensitivity rather on the low side. Excellent AM section, FM fine-tuning, topnotch sound. Still a DAS favorite (Vol.10 No.8, Vol.16 No.4) Magnum Dynalab FT-11: $495 * Borderline Class B tuner, according to DAS in his review, that lacks transparency when compared, for example, with the more expensive FT-101. This is perhaps due to its hav-ing a single, narrow IF bandwidth. Has good selectivity and a very effective high-blend circuit for receiving weak stations in acceptable stereo. (Vol.12 No.10) Pioneer Elite Reference F-93: $900 An optimal tuner for those a long way from the trans-mitters. Loaded with sensitivity, selectivity, and elaborate, "space-age" tuning displays. Sonia display a natural tint-bral quality but are a cut below the best British tuners. More expensive than the similar-performing Onkyo T-9090, but better-sounding than most of the digitally syn-thesized competition LG has heard. DAS recommends trying the less expensive Pioneer F-449 ($285), which he has found to have a similar sound. (Vol.15 No.9) Quad FM4: $849 tr Good-quality construction, though only eight presets. Very sensitive, with listenable, unfatiguing audio if prop-erly aligned. Has excellent imaging, but tends to sound a little thin in the bass and lacks transparency. Lacks high adjacent-channel selectivity, switchable IF bandwidth, and mono/stereo switch. Soon to be replaced, we under-stand. (Vol.8 No.4, Vol.15 No.9) Soundstream T-1: $595 Residual RF noise at some frequencies limits this Amer-ican-made tuner's ultimate sensitivity, but overall RF per-formance makes the T-1 a good choice for those in weak signal areas. A good, long-term buy, thought DAS. (Vol.14 No.11)

D Adcorn GTP-400: $400 et Good budget-priced preamplifier, with integral FM/AM tuner offering good sensitivity but only reasonable selec-tivity. (Vol.12 No.9) AudioSource TNR One: $229


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A basic, no-frills tuner that DAS felt offered a basically good sound for its price in areas where FM signal strength is moderate to high. (Vol.14 No.3) HarmaniKardon TU-9600: $429 Midrange clarity and clean, grain-free highs are let down by a rather confused lower midrange, thought DAS. (Vol.16 No.4)

Yamaha TX-950, Quad FM-66. Deletions Onix BWD1, Onkyo Integra T-9090 II, Proton AT-670 not auditioned in too long a time; Onkyo Grand Integra T-G10 discontinued.

FM ANTENNAE AudioPrism 8500: $450 63"-tall, remote-controllable, vertical phased-array passive FM antenna for indoor use offering a more directional pickup than the less expensive 7500. (Also offers an omni-directional pattern.) Will prove optimal for those who desire to receive relatively weak stations that compete with stronger stations on similar frequencies that are broadcast from other directions. (Vol.14 No.6) AudioPrism 7500: $190 tr Low-VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio), vertically polarized, omnidirectional indoor passive design that, like the Day-Sequerra, will prove optimal in urban high-signal-strength areas. 89.5" height. (Vol.12 No.5) AudioPrism 6500: $90 (wood cabinet) tr If you don't have the room for an external antenna, then the diminutive 6500 could be a good substitute, offer-ing good reception except for DX-ing purposes. A lot more effective than the small, active, omnidirectional antennae offered by some companies, thought BS. Vinyl-covered version costs $60. (Vol.13 No.9) BP FM-9700: $30 er Excellent directional active indoor antenna offers 6dB improvement over conventional T-shaped dipole. (Vol.11 No.10) Day-Sequerra FM Urban: $385 er Low-VSWR, omnidirectional, vertically polarized, 5'-high indoor passive design optimized for metropolitan recep-tion in areas of high signal strength. Price is without base, which adds $150. (Vol.12 No.7) Magnum Dynalab 205 FM Booster: $279 * Fm-cllent RF amplifier to optimize selectivity and reception in areas of poor signal strength. (Vol.10 No.6)

Day-Sequerra Signal Probe Outdoor Antenna.

SIGNAL PROCESSORS Editor's Note: JA feels that to continue to recommend dynamic-range expanders, compressors, aural exciters, equalizers, ambience extractors, etc is not in the true spirit of high fidelity, where the reproduction should be true to what the engineer and producer intended. The only processors he would recommend are those which can prove useful in rendering the playback ofhistorical material acceptable. JGH, however, disagrees forcefully, feeling that equalizers, in particular, should be given high-end respectability for the correction of program deficiencies in the almost ubiquitous absence of tilt controls. BS agrees

with JGH, and says, "What this country needs is an audiophile-quality $1000 equalizer!' PWM also sides with JGH, on the grounds that "the true spirit of high fidelity" could mean either "re-creating a lifelike illusion of music, by whatever means necessary, or literal reproduction of what is on the disc—no matter how falsely equalized, compressed, or colored that signal may be' He goes on to say that "with the best recordings, these goals may coin-cide, but not as a general rule. Case in point: Apogee speakers are inaccurate reproducers, but their fat bass and rolled-off top are partly responsible for their ability to re-create the sound you hear at a concert. Without the aid of equalizers or other modifiers of tonal balance, how can the radically different-sounding Apogee Diva and Acoustic Energy AEI both be called 'high-fidelity' reproducers? If either is regarded as plausibly accurate, the other will need radical help from an equalizer to sound okay." Okay?

A Cello Palette Preamplifier: $6500 Preamplifier with superbly realized equalizer. See "Pream-plifiers." (Vol.15 No.6) Packburri 323A noise-reduction device: $2650 er Quite expensive, and frankly intended for professional (archival) use, the Packbum is the best such device made, in JGH's opinion. It can remove the maximum of sur-face noise—ticks, pops, and hiss—from shellac or vinyl discs with a minimum of signal degradation. (Vol.5 NŒ8)

Pane THX-44 Home THX Audio Equalizer $1299 Offers three full-range channels, each with a mix of l/3_ octave controls below IkHz and two parametric controls above that frequency; and one subwoofer channel. Lacks ultimate transparency, decided JGH, yet he found it an excellent tool to get the most neutral tonal quality from a full-fledged video Home Theater system. (Vol.15 No.12)

D Thddeo Digital Antidote line-level CD filter: $170 Passive box fits between a CD player's output and the preamplifier. Rolls off the highs and adds a slight phase lead in the top octave; JE found a significant improvement in soundstaging palpability, however. The manufacturer's claims that the Antidote performs time-domain and jitter correction were found to be exaggerated. (Vol.16 No.9)

SigTech adaptive room correction system, AudioSource EQ Eight/Series II graphic equalizer.

DOLBY STEREO SURROUND-SOUND DECODERS & SURROUND SYNTHESIZERS Editor's Note: Although BS has argued cogently against the use of a Dialog-channel center speaker in his Dolby decoder reviews, JGH points out that when several listen-ers are involved, as will often be the case with movies, a center speaker will be essential if those well off the central axis are to receive dialog correctly localized at the screen position.

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Similar in concept to the older CP-1 Plus, the '3 is bigger, better, and incorporates a THX mode to optimize its per-formance in Home Theater systems. Enthusiastically recommended by JGH, who found that he mainly used the surround modes for the extraction of recorded concert-hall space rather than the ambience synthesis. Bypass test-ing revealed a slight loss in overall resolution that keeps this otherwise excellent unit from being deemed Class A. (Vol.15 No.12)

Lexicon CP-1 Plus: $1595 * Dolby Pro-Logic decoding is performed in the digital domain, making what is basically an ambience synthesizer also an excellent buy for home video surround-sound use. A rather brash, "transistory" coloration is noticeable. Unique in being able to compensate for the dr,as of tape-azimuth errors. As a surround-sound sythesizer, offers versatile choice of reverberation parameters, although less flexible overall than the now-discontinued Yamaha DSP-3000. Current version has upgraded software. (Vol.12 Nos.! 8c 8) Lexicon CP-2: $995 Less well-featured version of the CP-1 that keeps the all-digital processing of the Dolby surround information and the auto-balancing circuit. (Vol.12 No.12)

D AudioSource SS-Three/II: $399 "A heck ola bargain!" says DAS of this versatile processor incorporating Dolby's Pro-Logic chip, subwoofer cross-over, and a 30Wpc stereo amplifier to drive the front-center or rear channels. "A slight darkening.. . but above-average sound quality:' said BS. (Vol.15 No.1) Deletions JVC XPA-1010TN digital acoustics processor not audi-tioned in too long a time.

HOME RECORDING EQUIPMENT Editor's Note: With the exception of the Fostex, none of the microphones listed below has been formally reviewed. However, RH has had extensive experience with many professional models, and has compiled most of the thumbnail sketches of the sonic signature of each. Other professional models to look out for on the secondhand market are cardioids from Sony (C37P 8c C500), Milab, and Calrec (AMS), figure-eight ribbons from B&O and Coles, °Innis from Schoeps and B&K, and PZM mikes from Crown (though it's very easy to get a rather colored midband with the PZMs). The Shure SM81 cardioid is also reported to have quite a flat response. Anyone about to undertake serious recording should ignore all "amateur" microphones; as a rule of thumb, you should spend as much, or more, on a good pair of mikes as you do on your recorder.

A Brüel & Kjaer 4006: $1660 Omnidirectional, phantom-powered, V? capacitor micro-phone with high dynamic range, extended bass response, and a basically flat response marred only by a small peak in the top audio octave and a rather depressed lower treble. A calibrated sample is used by Stetrophile to measure loud-speaker responses. (NR, but see "Follow-Up" in Vol.14

No.10 and audition track 5, index 7 on the first Stereophile Test CD.) EAR 824M stereo mike preamplifier: $3150 er Extremely neutral, very quiet, all-tube, balanced stereo preamp from Tim de Paravicini, with switchable level con-trols and 48V phantom mike power. Used by Water Lily Acoustics and also to make Stereophilds first two commer-cial recordings. We also use it to make all our loudspeaker measurements in conjunction with a Brüel & Kjaer 4006 omnidirectional microphone. (NR) Manley Reference A/D Converter: $7000 After using this solid-state, UltraAnalog-based two-channel converter to master Stereophile's Intermezzo and second Test CDs, JA felt it to be one of the best-sounding around. One of the winners in the October 1991 AES Sound-Off. Offers DC trim controls, balanced and unbal-anced analog inputs, and AES/EBU and S/PDIF data out-puts. Analog peak meters with "0" set to -12dBFS are an anachronism, however; you're better off using the LED or LCD peak meters on the DAT recorder (or whatever you use to store the data) to avoid running out of bits on peaks. (NR) Meridian CD-R: $6995 Superb, Philips-based digital recorder let down by only fair-sounding ADC and DAC sections. (Use external pro-cessors, is RH's advice, when the Meridian's performance jumps to full Class A.) SMA optical input and output adds $500 to price. A drawback for those with pudgy fingers is that the "Track Increment" button is right next to the "Digital/Analog Source Select" button. A surprise for those who feel "bits is bits" is that a CDR copy of a CD or DAT sounds better than the original. This appears to be due to lower levels ofjitter in the recovered data stream. (Vol.15 No.11; see also Vol.15 No.3, pp.39-41.)

Nakamichi 1000 R-DAT recorder: $11,900 er Easily the most expensive R-DAT machine around, this Nakamichi combines a superb DAT transport ($5900) with the 1000p processor ($6000). (Upgrades from earlier versions of the latter cost 81400.) Records digitally at 44.1kHz and 32kHz and from analog at 481cHz. Superb, quiet tape transport, unique fast-spooling mode, and exceptional ergonomics make it a joy to use. Treated as a DIA processor, the sound of the original version was not up to such Class A contenders as the Theta DS Pre, being less transparent. The current 1000p is much im-proved, particularly when it comes to soundstaging, though it was ultimately outclassed by the PS Audio UltraLink. The Nakamichi was used to master the first Stereophile Test CD, though its A/D section does not now match the transport in overall quality, being exceeded by the Manley and Pygmy ADCs. (Vol.12 No.11; see also RH's "Follow-Up" on the 1000p in Vol.15 No.6.)

AKG C414B/ULS: $1199 * A popular, large-diaphragm condenser mike, the 414's extended bass and flat frequency response make it ideal for a variety of applications. Switchable polar patterns, variable pad, and selectable LP rolloff add to its versa-tility. Transformer-less TL version costs $1499. (NR, but audition track 5, index 11 on the first Stetrophile Test CD.) ARO The lithe: $2999 * One of the few currently produced tube microphones. Smooth, open, and uncolored, The Tube captures detail without solid-state stridency. (NR) AMS SoundField MkN: $5850 * Having used both Mk.III and Mk.IV versions, JA feels that the highly praised variable pickup pattem of this ste-


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reo/Atnbisonic mike is let down by an overall "grayness" and lack of midrange detail, coupled with a slightly hard lower treble. Nevertheless, it's excellent at capturing a true stereo image with width and depth. Price includes 20m of dedicated multi-conductor cable; 100m of cable on a reel adds 8450 to price. (NR, but audition track 10 on the first Stereophile Test CD and track 13 on Test CD 2.) EAR "The Mie": $4000 er Using a single 6DJ8 tube and a fist-sized output trans-former, this very expensive rectangular-capsule (sourced from Nlilab), switchable-pattern (omni, cardioid, figure-eight) mike is somewhat shut-in in the highs and nois-ier than average, but has extended low frequencies and a midrange that is extremely true to the original sounds. "No trace of edge or glare:' says RH. Borderline Class A. (NR, but audition track 5, index 19, and tracks 11-18 on the first Stereophile Test CD.) Neumann U-87A microphone itr A perennial favorite among recording engineers. Wide, flat response gives it a similar balance to the AKG 414, but with more "reach" in stereo miking applications Used extensively for vocals. (NR, but audition track 5, index 12 on the first Stereophile Test CD.) Panasonic Pro 3700 R-DAT recorder: $1599 According to PWM, it clearly outperforms most mass-market DATs with its MASH oversampling encoders and pretty good analog circuitry. A best-buy storage device when used with an external ADC such as the Pygmy or Manley. Offers better sound with redesigned filters, easier head cleaning, a jog/shuttle control knob, more flexible controls, and a lower price tag than its predecessor, the 3500. Includes useful error rate, headlife, and SCMS status indicators (SCMS can be switched out when recording from the AES/EBU data input). Analog in/outputs are all balanced XLR. Only inconvenience is that a rear-panel DIP switch is used to select between AES/EBU and S/PDIF data in/outputs. (NR) Tàndberg TD-20A-SE Open-Reel 'Ripe Recorder: $1995 •er The best buy in an open-reel deck, this Norwegian model offers professional-caliber performance at a relatively modest price. Better sound than many professional decks, but ergonomics are not as good as the still-current Revox B77 III or PRO-99. Now distributed in the US by Tand-berg International of Brewster, NY. (Vol.7 No.7) Telefunken ELAM251 .er Classic tube mike with a sweet, warm sound. No lon-ger made, but available in the used market at many times its original price. Smoother HF than the 414 or U-87. (NR, but audition track 5, index 16 on the first Stereophile Test CD.)

AKG C460B/ULS/CK61: $649 * A small-diaphragm condenser mike with removable cardi-oid capsule (omnidirectional, hypercardioid, vocal, and shotgun capsules are also available). Sound is very detailed, but the tonal balance leans toward the thin and bright, and it has some off-axis peakiness, making it a less than optimal choice for realistic two-mike stereo. Good on drums, however. The C460/CK61 is said to be much improved over its predecessor, the C451/CK1. (NR) Crown SASS-P Mk.II microphone system: $899 This is a stereo pair of omni PZ/V1 microphones in a head-sized foam block that produces ORTF-like, superbly nat-ural stereo imaging. Extended bass response, unlike most directional mikes. Weighs only 1 lb, making it very easy to hang from cables or mount on a tall stand. "One SASS-

Punit, one stand, and a Panasonic Pro 255 DAT make a complete but amazingly portable recording system with very satisfying performance," reported PWM. BS found the original version very dry-sounding and rather grainy, but Mk.II is said to be much improved in these areas. SASS-B accommodates two B8cK 4006 mikes (not sup-plied) and costs 8869. (Vol.15 No.7) Fostex M22RP/S M-S microphone: $1095 * Integrated ribbon M-S stereo microphone. While not quite as open at the top as the best capacitor mikes, and pos-sessing a lightweight bass, the M22RP/S captures the orig-inal soundfield extremely accurately. Stripped-down ver-sion, the M2ORP, costs $700. (Vo1.11 No.3) Panasonic Pro 255 portable R-DAT recorder: $2700

Good sound, with MASH A/D and D/A encoders. Less flexible than 3700, and lacks digital inputs. Amazingly tiny for what it does—far and away the best-sounding recorder small enough to carry in a coat pocket—but not rugged enough to be trouble-free when subjected to abuse. Built-in mike preamp, while not the ultimate, is good enough for serious use. (NR) Pioneer Elite CT-93 cassette recorder: $1200 A Dolby-C machine that SS enthusiastically recommends, particularly at a 8900 street price. Eats up Nakamichis that cost more used, he says. Good ergonomics, all the bells and whistles imaginable, and rich, well-balanced sound make for a great piece of gear. (NR) Sony TC-D5M: $750 * This decade-old portable will handle metal-particle tape but offers only Dolby-B noise reduction. It's probably still the best location cassette recorder available short of an R-DAT, says JA. (NR, but see "Letters" in this issue.)

D Sony WM-D6C Pro Walkman cassette deck: $400 * A pocketable stereo recording system of surprising quality and versatility. Alvin Gold feels that to spend more on a cassette deck would be a waste of money. Less expen-sive WM-D3 ($270) is half the size but keeps most of the quality. Higher wow & flutter, however. (Vol.7 No.6, Vol.10 No.6) Any cheap Dolby-C cassette deck Buy the cheapest with the longest manufacturer's war-ranty; don't expect to get high-end sound quality from it; use it to make tapes for your car or Walkman until it breaks; throw it away; buy another one, advised ST in Vol.10 No.9. Still good advice today.

Pygmy AD1 A/D converter, AMS 250 SoundField micro-phone, Manley microphone preamplifier, Arcam Delta 100 Dolby-S cassette deck.

ACCESSORIES Adcom ACE-515 AC Enhancer: $180 ier Effective AC power-line filter with RF and spike sup-pression, five accessory outlets (300W capability), and two heavy-duty outlets (1500W). Does not seem to limit current demands of power amplifiers. (Vol.11 No.4) Allsop CD Stabilizer: $14.95/dozen Sumiko Reference Band: $17.95/dozen Molded, non-adhesive Navcom band that fits around the periphery of a CD to produce the same aural benefit as CD Stoplight, including an increase in the amount of reproduced reverberation and improved bass quality.


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"The already great-sounding bass got better, the mid-range became the aural equivalent of chocolate truffles, and the treble sparkled even more brightly than before. I was elated. for I felt I'd found the just right' cable for my needs." —Guy Lemcoe. Stereophile. November 1992 Vol. 15. No. 111

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STEREOPI111.E, OCTOPF.R 1993 WorldRadioHistory

(Vol.14 No.11; see also ST's column in Vol.13 No.9.) Arcici Quad speaker stands: 5265/pair * Available in versions for both the ESL-63 and the original Quads, these elegant stands enable the speakers to perform as God and Peter Walker intended. Clamps them in a rigid embrace, raising the panels the optimal height off the ground. Now includes Super Spikes. (Vol.10 No.1) Arcici Lead Balloon Turntable Stand: $375 * The opposite approach to that of the Sound Organisa-tion table, with lead bars on top of the structure providing sufficient internally damped mass so that nothing short of an earthquake will disturb the tranquility of the groove/stylus interface (provided the stand rests on a solid floor, points out TJN). Supports may be filled with user's choice of material-sand, lead shot, or some combina-tion. Shelves may be added to latest version, though rear pillar restricts their utility. Price includes three Super Spikes. (Vol.14 No.11) Arcici Superstructure I 8c II: from $177.50 * Basic price includes one shelf. Versatile, well-made, metal equipment-rack system. Our experience from two samples of the Il indicates that the shelves can be a little under-sized, however. (Vol.14 No.11; see SS's review in this issue.) ASC ibbe Traps: $189 to $579 depending on size and style * Relatively inexpensive but remarkably effective room-acoustics treatment. Tube Traps soak up low-to-high bass standing-wave resonances like sponges. The $315 Studio Trap provides easily tuneable upper-bass absorption that JE found to be a boon with the Martin-Logan CLS IlAs. RH is currently working on a review of the Tower Traps, which cost from 5459/pair to $569/pair, depending on sizc (Vol.9 No3, original Traps; Vol.15 No.2, Studio Traps)

Audio Advisor Elfiz AC Polarity Tester: $29.95 Components tend to give the best sound with the lowest potential between their chassis and signal ground. JGH found using the Elfix to be an easy, non-contact method of optimizing this aspect of performance in conjunction with AC "cheater" plugs. (Vol.15 No.6) AudioControl Industrial SA-3050A Analyzer: $995 * Portable (battery-powered) and inexpensive 1/2 -octave analyzer with pink-noise source, ANSI Class II filters, accurate calibrated microphone, and six non-volatile mem-ories. Parallel port can be used with any Centronics-compatible printer to print out real-time response (Vo1.11 No.6, Vol.12 No.3) Audio Power Industries Power Wedge Model 116 AC Line Conditioner: $569 Featuring RF filtering, three isolation transformers with dual secondaries feeding six AC outlets, and MOVs to absorb voltage spikes on the AC line, the Power Wedge also offers four filtered outlets to plug your power ampli-fier(s) into. Highly recommended-"Makes the silences more silent," says JA (though LL cautions that in some systems it may detract from overall dynamics). Actual model reviewed was the very similar Model 1. Other models are available with fewer outputs. (Vol.14 No.11) AudioPrism Iso-Bearings: $49/three Squishy, non-reactive polymer balls with plastic cups are recommended by CG for effective acoustic isolation. (NR, but see Vol.15 No.9, p.162) AudioPrism CD Stoplight: $14.95 •er

Green water-based acrylic paint for coating the edges of CDs. The green color-it absorbs the laser's infrared wavelength-is presumably significant, but at present we have no idea why this tweak should so improve the sound of CDs. That it does so, however, seems to be beyond

doubt to anyone with ears to hear (though no one sin-gle product has raised greater guffaws from the main-stream press). "This stuff works!" report JE, PvW, and JA, who feels that it increases soundstage definition, improves the solidity of bass reproduction, and usefully lowers the level of treble grain so typical of CD sound. PvW and MC report that a water-based poster pen, the Uniposca from Mitsubishi, has a very similar effect. MC also notes that the CD should first be destaticized and its edges degreased before the green paint is applied. (Vol.14 No.11; see also DO's and TJN's WCES reports in Vol.13 No3 and ST's and RH's articles on CD tweaks in Vol.13 No.5.)

AudioQuest DM-I000 cartridge demagnetizer: $95

Effective, but be sure to remove the stylus assembly when using any of these devices to demagnetize a moving-magnet cartridge. (NR, but the similar and more expensive Sumiko FluxBuster was reviewed in Vol.9 No.4, Vol.10 No.5, Vol.12 No.4.) AudioQuest Laserguide: $20 "If you're into glossing up your CDs, this is the best stuff I've come across:' says CG. (With all CD treatments, take care not to scratch the playing surface.) (NR) AudioQuest Sorbothane Feet itr One of the best means of isolating components from vibration. A set of four big feet costs $50, four CD Feet $30. (NR) AudioQuest Sorbothane "Ibbe Dampers: $15/set of four Used two to a tube, these Sorbothane rings reduce micro-phony. Take care not to allow them to melt, however, warns SS. (Vol.16 Nos.2 & 5) AudioStrearn Premier R-series rack system: from $169 System consists of R-30 Expandable Rack, $169; R-ES Expansion Shelf, $49; R-CC Cable Channel kit, $35; and R-10 Amp Stand, $69. (See SS's review in this issue.) Bright Star Audio Rack of Gibraltar equipment stand: $1495-$1595 Bright Star Audio Big Rock Isolation Platform: $149-$175 Bright Star Audio Little Rock Isolation Pod: $99-$114 An effective isolation system for control of unwanted vibrational energy. Individual components float on a sand bed for energy dissipation. Sonically, the payoff is enhanced resolution of the music's nuances, says DO. (Vol.16 No.5) CD Greenbacks: $1.98 each St $1.50 S8cH for first 5, $2 for up to 10 Green plastic disc that sits atop a CD's label side that JE called "the real steal of the digital age." Improves the music's microdynamics, with a lowering of the appar-ent noise floor, also rescues discs that have too many errors to play without dropouts. (Vol.16 No.2) CD Saver tr Eliminates scratches from CDs and laserdiscs, rendering the unplayable playable. (Vol.10 No.8, Vo1.11 No.8, Vol.14 No.11; see also Vol.13 No.9, p.11.) Combak Harmoniz RF-56 'Furling Bases: $220/8 It's hard to see how these little rectangles can affect the vibrational behavior of anything to which they are attached. MC, however, found them to significantly clean up the sound of speakers when attached to the drive-unit mounting-bolt positions. He also recommends trying them on the circuit boards of electronic components. SS found that they improved the sound when he applied them to the pcb of his beloved DennesenJC-80 Mk.2 preamp. "If you have a component that you wish to extract every


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iota of performance from, you should seriously think about Combak dots, no matter how silly they seem?' he says. (Vol.16 No.7) Combak Harrnonbc RF-65/RF-66 'Busing Insulators (feet): $39014, $47014 Combak Harrnonix TU-201 large-size Insulators (feet): $650/4 Complex feet that MC found to improve the sound of some CD players and preamps but not others. Some com-ponents may need mass-loading to bring the feet into their effective range. (Vol.16 No.7) Combak Harmonix RF-413 Timing Cable Rings: $120/4 Rings fit over RCA plugs and speaker cable terminations, offer small improvement in clarity and dynamic contrast, found MC. (Vol.16 No.7) Combak Hartnonix RFA-78 Room Tuning Devices: $595116 Quarter-sized metal discs which the user fixes to the ceiling and floor of the listening room. The (surprising) effect was to improve the sound's dynamic shadings, cleaning up reverberant decays to the benefit of intelligibility. MC found that this was apparent on live speaking voice as well as on reproduced sound. (Vol.16 No.8) Compact Dynamics CD Upgrade: 57.95/five, $49.95/ fifty Self-adhesive polyester disc, with centering system, that is stuck to the CD's label side to produce subjective improvements similar to those from CD Stoplight and CD Greenbacks. Note that the disc is not removable. (Vol.16 No.2) Crarnolin Contact Conditioner: $29.95 * The right stuff for cleaning up dirty and/or oxidized plugs and contacts. Available from Old Colony Sound Lab. (Von° No.6) DB Systems DBP-10 Protractor: $30 * Fiddly but accurate guide for setting cartridge tangency. JA's and JG H's preferred alignment protractor. (NR) Discwasher CDU CD Laser Lens Cleaner: $21.95 PvW found this CD fitted with six tiny brushes in a spiral to be effective at improving the sound ofhis 18-month-old Marantz CD-80. (Vol.14 No.11) Ensemble Tubesox: 558/pair Small one-size-fits-all sleeve made from a weave of Kevlar and copper wire that is said both to lower a tube's oper-ating temperature and minimize microphonics. DO con-firmed the latter but not the former. (Vol.16 Nos.2 & 5)

Finyl CD treatment: $11.95 (treats 100 CDs) This surface treatment made CDs sound more "open, direct, and dynamic," determined PvW. A larger bottle ($23.95) treats 200 CDs. (With all CD treatments, take care not to scratch the playing surface.) (Vol.14 No.11)

German Acoustics Steel Cones: $11 each These effective brass-colored steel cones have removable hardened tips. (NR, but see Vol.15 No.9, p.162.) Laser Illusions Spatial Filter: $79.95 Basically an optical aperture disc that fits over the laser lens in a CD player, resulting in lower measured jitter in the recov-ered data stream. Both RH and CG found that the improve-ment in sound quality was offset by the player becoming much more fussy about which discs it could read. (Vol.15 No.6) LAST StyLast Stylus Treatment: $2211/4 -oz bottle * StyLast won't make a difference every time you put it on, but it will help provide smoother high-end sound, and is claimed to extend stylus and cantilever life. (NR) Merrill Stable 'Bible Atlas II turntable stand: $1097 *

Exceptionally stable support but too massive for sprung floors unless some means-jacks, for example-is found to support the floorboards. An appropriate amount of lead shot will cost around 5100. (Vol.12 No.10) Microscan TM-8 ft TM-6 vibration dampers: $120/pair, $110/pair Complex absorbers that fit to the sides or rear of a loud-speaker cabinet using a removable magnetic sheet. (This is supplied in two forms: one for wood surfaces and the other for plastic) JE found that they did clean up the sound of speakers, though this was not always an improvement. RD also found them to work well on the Unity Audio Pyramid Signature speakers, though ST found that the original b-8s fell off the back of his Advents. Measure-ments show that, when used optimally, the Microscan units significantly damp the resonant behavior of the speaker cabinet. (Vol.16 Nos.8 8c 10) Microscan TD-24 Transfer Deck: $180 RD found the Transfer Deck to work well under the PS Lambda CD transport and the CAT SL-1 Signature pre-amp, in both cases producing a general cleaning up of the sound, especially in the bass. (NR) Mondial MAGIC video ground isolator: $69.95 Provides effective antenna isolation for those with hum problems in their video systems. (Vol.15 No.2) Monster Cable Footers: 530-$100/four, three different sizes Effective Navcom isolation feet. (NR, but see Vol.15 No.9, p.162.) Music And Sound POWER masTER AC cord: $125/6' cord, $142/8' cord, $170/10' cord Replacement AC power cord that AB found to make a worthwhile difference to the sound of power amplifiers. LL had some concerns about the mechanical integrity, but a recent examination by 'IJN revealed that these cords are about as well-made as it is possible for a non-encapsulated design to be. (NR, but see "Industry Update," Vol.15 No.9, p.61.)

Nestorovic Labs Moving-Coil Cartridge Network: $300 * Passive network intended to optimally load an MC car-tridge. An "Audiophile" version is available for an extra $250. (Vol.13 No.9) Noiséfrapper 2000 AC Line Conditioner: $1155 Available by mail order, this unit effectively filters RF from the AC line and features a 2kVA isolation transformer. (Vol.14 No.11) Noisarapper Power Strip: $157 AC outlet extender, offering eight hospital-grade Leviton outlets, that CG can't recommend highly enough. (Vol.14 No.11) PEARL 'Babe Cooler: $5.50 each (small), $11.25 each (large) Finned metal heatsink available in two sizes to cool both small-signal and power tubes. (Vol.16 No.5) Perfectionist Audio Components IDOS AC Line Conditioner: $150 ST raved about the effect of this patented AC line RF filter on the sound of his Audio Alchemy DDE. But it's a some-what system-dependent effect, noted CG, who recom-mends trying before buying, seeing if the sound gets worse when the IDOS is removed. RD finds plugging the ener-gizing leads for his old Quads into the IDOS to be worth-while. Otherwise similar IDOS II ($200) offers three "dig-ital" and six "analog" outlets. (Vol.14 Nos.10 & 11) Perfectionist Audio Components DIF Digital Interference Filter: $250 Small RCA-equipped box that accepts a CD player's ana-


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log outputs and feeds the preamp with RF-filtered and ground-isolated signals. Makes the sound smoother, more listenable, said ST, CG also liked the DIF's effects. (Vol.14 Nos.10 & 11) RF Engineering RC-8-PS power sequencer: $625 (See JGH's review in this issue.) Room/lime AmpClamp: $149 GL found that it holds your amplifier in an iron embrace to reduce the level of chassis vibration and benefit the sound. May restrict cooling of tube amps, however. (Vol.15 No.3) Roonflimes: 8229/pair (8239/pair in black) Room/lime Comeffimes: $79/set of four Roonffime Echdlimes: $39.50/pair Idiosyncratic and effective "less-is-more" acoustic treat-ment for your listening room. GL was much impressed, though others point out that care should be taken to not overdo things. The "Basic" room treatment set of 4 Tune-Strips, 4 CornerTunes, and 2 EchoTunes costs $287.50; the Deluxe room treatment set (4 ComerTunes, 2 Echo-Tunes, 3 RoomTunes) costs $462. Four TuneStrips cost $169. (Vol.15 No3, Vol.16 No.1) Roonfflme Deluxe JustaRack: $279-$559 (See SS's review in this issue.) RPG Diffusor Systems "Acoustic lbols for Audio-philes" er Effective method of adding diffusive and absorptive treat-ment to a listening room. RPG Diffusor Systems Inc offers complete room-treatment packages, called "Acoustic Tools for Audiophiles I & II," which can be installed in a matter of hours. RPG also offers its "SoundTrac" package for no-compromise Home Theater installations, working directly with the client, architect, and/or acoustic con-sultant. (Vol.11 No.4, Vol.16 No.5; see also TJN's arti-cle on listening rooms in Vol.14 No.10.)

Sanus Systems CF-35 component stand: 8324 (See TJN's "Follow-Up" in this issue.) Signet SK-302 Contact Cleaner Kit: $25 * Contains abrasive plastic tools for effective inner cleaning of phono plugs and sockets in combination with Cramolin or Kontak. (Care must be taken not to twist the cleaner and break the RCA socket's internal center connection.) The RCA phono plug and socket cleaners alone cost $10. (Vol.10 No.6) Sumiko Analog Survival Kit: 850 "On a good 'table, makes kilobuck digital processors cry in their EPROMs!" was CG's verdict of this set of turn-table and arm tweaks consisting ola paper-thin mat and a high-tension plastic strip to damp tonearm resonances. (NR, but see CG's "Follow-Up" on the WTFtP in this issue.) Sumiko Kontak: 850 Far and away the best contact cleaner CG has used. "The gains in transparency and purity are startling," gusheth he. (NR, but see "Industry Update," Vol.15 No.5, and "Manufacturers' Comments:' Vol.15 No.9.) Sumiko Navcom Silencers: $70/four Robert Deutsch finds these damping feet to provide iso-lation superior to that of Mission's Isoplat. (NR) Sumiko Tweek Contact Enhancer: 819 * This contact enhancer for use on plugs and terminals actu-ally does improve the cleanness and resolution of the sound of an already excellent system. Keeps freshly made contacts fresh by excluding air. (Vol.10 No.6) ihrget ri' series equipment racks: 8150-8325 * Finished in basic black, these useful but inexpensive racks feature rigid, welded rectangular-steel-tube construc-tion, price dependent on height and number of shelves

(from two to five). Spiked feet supplied, with top shelf resting on upturned, adjustable spikes to optimize it for turntable use. Target's wall-mounting turntable shelves ($95-$200) are possibly the best way of siting your turn-table out of harm's way, says JA. (NR) TDK NF-009 Digital Noise Absorber: $14.95/pair ST found these ferrite rings to improve the sound from CD when damped over the interconnects between player and preamp. He also found the sound improved-less grit-when a ring was clamped over the coaxial data lead between transport and processor, though we would have thought that this would increase jitter. (Vol.14 No.1) Theta Optigue: 850 Refractive-index-matching goop which LL recommends for use with ST-type glass-fiber data links. "Must be used on the Theta's internal connections to get the full ben-efit:' he cautions. (See LL's Theta review in Vol.15 No.10.) Tice Power Block/Titan Series II: $1350/$1100 Superb if expensive AC conditioning system. Series II models differ from the original in having a TPT-treated AC cord (!) and specially designed capacitors. RD finds the Series Il to give a significantly extended top end. Updates cost $300 (Power Block) and $125 (Titan), including return shipping in original packing. A "DPI" Series II parts upgrade kit costs $180. The new expanded-scale voltmeter for the Power Block costs $85. (Vol.13 No.4) Tiptoes: $11.50 each * The Mod Squad's greatest invention. The least expen-sive way of improving the bass and midrange definition of virtually any loudspeaker when used to couple the speaker or stand to the floor. Version with thread or screw costs $16.50 each. Win RCA plugs: 850/pair tr The best, although original steel locking collett, now replaced by brass, gave rise to neurosis. (NR, but see "Industry Update," Vol.12 No.9.) Good Speaker Stands There are too many possibilities, but, briefly, a good stand has the following characteristics: good rigidity; spikes on which to rest the speaker, or some secure clamping mechanism; the availability of spikes at the base for use on wooden floors; if the stand is steel, provision to keep speaker cables away from the stand to avoid magnetic interaction; and the correct height, when combined with your particular speakers (correct height can be anything from what you like best to the manufacturer's design height for best drive-unit integration). Though Stereo-phile has neglected to review speaker stands, it doesn't mean we think them unimportant-for speakers that need stands, every dollar spent on good stands is worth $5 when it comes to sound quality. Brands we have found to offer excAlent performance are Chicago Speaker Stand, Arcici Rigid Riser, Celestion SLSi, Merrill, Sound Anchor, Tar-get, Sanus Systems Steel and Ikfai..nce, and Linn. (Sound Anchor also makes an excellent turntable stand, reports TJN.) Interface material between the speaker and the stand top plate is critical: inexpensive Blu-Tack seems to reduce the amplitude of cabinet resonances the most (see Vol.15 No.9, p.162).

MIT Z-1 Z-Stabilizer, Z-2 Z-Strip, Z-3 isolation trans-former, Shun Mook Cable Jackets, Shun Mook Mpingo discs, Versalab Red Rollers 8c Wood Blocks, Solidsteel equipment stands. Deletions Watkins Echo-Muffs not auditioned in many a year; orig-inal Sound Organisation Turntable Stand discontinued.


How Much Should This Cartridge Cost ? Because the sound of a cartridge is determined by its quality, not by what you are charged, please compare it to cartridges costing up to $2000. Even the esteemed Clavis might feel a few moments of apprehension. But since we believe a product should represent good value, even when it's the best, the Lydian costs $895. And please don't send us anyone elses broken cartridges, CD players, toasters, or other garage sale items. Just give your dealer $895 for a fine cartridge, with a clear set of instructions and plenty of screws. And relax about the future, because when you decide to exchange a LYRA cartridge you get an entirely new cartridge, not just a needle. Canadian and US distribution by IMMEDIA Ph.(510)654-9035 Fax(510)654-9039

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((n STEREOPHILE, OCTOBIER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

RECORD-CARE PRODUCTS

A Gruv-Glide H: $21.95 * Record destaticizing agent that ST found to give better sound. Apparently doesn't leave a film or grunge-up the stylus. (Vol.9 No.8) LAST record-preservation treatment: $26 er Significantly improves the sound of even new records and is claimed to make them last longer. A 2-oz bottle contains 60 treatments. (Vol.5 No.3) Nitty Gritty Mini Pro 2 record cleaner: $725 er This semiautomatic wet cleaner cleans both disc sides at once. Slightly less rugged than the VPI, but both do an excellent job, and the Nitty Gritty Pro II is faster. Sig-nificantly better design than earlier Nitty Grittys. You may be surprised that the main sonic effect of cleaning LPs is not primarily a reduction in surface noise but a cleaning-up of midrange sound. (Vol.8 No.1) Nitty Gritty 2.5FI record cleaner: $519 * Instead of a vacuuming "tonearm" as on the professional Keith Monks machine, the NG cleaner uses a vacuum slot. Cleaning is efficient and as good as Nitty Gritty's Pro, at a significantly lower price, though it takes twice as long, deaning each side of an LP in turn. (Vol.7 No..5, Vol.8 Nat) Nitty Gritty Hybrid 2 Record/CD cleaning machine: $629 * Basically a Nitty Gritty 2.5Fl with an adapter that allows CDs to be buffed dean in a non-tangential manner. (Vol.12 No3) VP! KW-17 record cleaner: $760 * Clearly an industrial-quality machine of reassuring quality, the VPI does one side at a time, semiautomatically, and is slower than the Nitty Gritty. "A highly functional and convenient luxury." Latest version has a heavier-duty vacuum system. (Vol.8 No.1)

VP! HW-I6.5 record cleaner: $450 er Manually operated version of HW-17 (above), noisier motor; less money. Adjusts automatically to thickness of record. (Vol.5 Nos.7 & 9, review was of earlier but sub-stantially identical HW-16.) Nitty Gritty Mini Model 1.0 record cleaner: $229 $$$ Audio Advisor Record Doctor II: $190 $$$ Both of these machines (the latter is manufactured for Audio Advisor by Nitty Gritty) are manual units that offer the least expensive way to effectively clean LPs. The Record Doctor Il differs from the original in having a roller bear-ing to make turning the LP easier when the vacuum-cleaning motor is on. The earlier model can be fitted with a roller-bearing accessory, available for $16 including S&H from KA13 Electroacoustics, P.O. Box 2922, Plainfield, NJ 07062-2922, which fits beneath the existing platter. The Nitty Gritty 1.0 is also available as the oak-finished 2.0 for $279. (NR)

D Decca, Hunt-EDA, Goldring, or Statibrush record brush * Properly used (held with the bristles at a low angle against the approaching grooves and slowly slid off the record), these are the most effective dry record-cleaners available. UGH disagrees, feeling that they leave the dust on the record.) No substitute for an rec.,ional wet wash. (Vol.10 No.8) Discwasher record brush er

If you don't have a cleaning machine, the DW system will do an adequate job on relatively clean records, but won't get out the deep grunge. If you begin to accumulate lots of gunk on your stylus after cleaning your record with an older DW brush, the bristles are worn out; send it back for resurfacing or buy a new one. A high-torque turn-table is required. (NR)

LOUDSPEAKER CABLES & INTERCONNECTS Editor's Note: Rather than classify cables into the usual four "Recommended Components" classes, we have just listed those cables that members of the magazine's review team either have chosen to use on a long-term basis or have found to offer good value for money. They are there-fore implicitly recommended. Where a cable has been found to have specific matching requirements or an iden-tifiable sonic signature, these are noted in the text. Jack English supplies a cogent essay on the whole sub-

ject of cables in Vol.14 No.10, but bear in mind that, to a far greater degree than with any other component, the sound of cables depends on the system in which they are used. Before parting with possibly large sums of money for a cable, it is essential to audition it in your own sys-tem. "Drinking by the label" is always a bad thing to do in hi-fi, but it is both unforgivable and unwise when it comes to speaker-cable purchases. In addition, what is the "best" in absolute terms may not necessarily be the best for your system. AB points out that mixing'n'matching interconnects

and speaker cables is a well-worn route to sonic disap-pointment. Always use interconnects and speaker cables from the same manufacturers, is his advice. PWM strongly makes the point that less is more when it comes to speaker cable, recommending that a mono power amplifier be placed as closely as possible to the speaker it drives. This does pass the buck, however, to the preamplifier, which must then be capable of driving long lengths ofintercon-nect. Peter uses Canare Star Quad microphone cable for interconnect, a cable available from pro-sound outlets that CG feels to be the best of its type for live-balanced record-ing work.

INTERCONNECTS Acrotec 6N-A2010: $400/1m terminated with 6N copper RCA plugs with gold-plated pins "Very, very good," according to LL. AudioQuest Lapis Hyperlitz: $425 Ina/pair terminated with RCA plugs, $505 1m/pair with AQ custom XLRs .k direct gold-plated FPC sockets and pins * Tonally, the latest version of Lapis (which uses RCA plugs made from Functionally Perfect Copper, or FPC, with the gold plating applied directly to the copper) seems to fall midway between the "mellow" cables—MIT, Monster —and those that are rather upfront in the treble, such as Madrigal HPC and Straight Wire Maestro. JA feels, how-ever, that its outstanding virtue is a lack of grain that allows correct instrumental textures to flow freely and a deep, well-defined soundstage to develop. Auditioning of current-production Lapis (as of 2/91), which uses Teflon insulation and long-grain, solid-silver conductors, sug-gests that this is the best AudioQuest interconnect yet, apart from their even-more-expensive Diamond ic2. Audi-


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toning of identical lengths of Lapis fitted with Neutrik XLRs and AudioQuest's own custom XLRs suggests that the latter represents a useful step forward in sound quality(!). AudioQuest Diamond x2: $625/1m pair, $705/1m pair with AQ custom XLRs with direct gold-plated FPC sockets and pins Superb resolution of detail coupled with a musically nat-ural midrange and excellent low-frequency weight. New Diamond x3 ($900/1m pair) is said to offer improved per-formance as balanced interconnect. Cardas Hexlink Golden Five C: $650/1m unbalanced pair Golden-section-stranded, PTFE-insulated interconnect needs an immense break-in period but then has a glorious bass and an excellent sense of pace and dynamics. JE found that upper mids can be a bit forward. (Vol.15 No.12) Cello Strings: $320/1m pair terminated with RCA plugs $368/1m pair terminated with XLRs $476/1m pair terminated with Fischers "Remarkably good for the price said LL, "and 'faster'-sounding than the Acrotec interconnect." Expressive Technologies IC-1: $60011m pair terminated with RCA plugs * RH gets excellent results from this interconnect with the same company's SU-1 step-up transformer. "Despite the fact that these cables are bigger around than a garden hose, ridiculously bulky, unwieldy, and stiff, the musical rewards they offer are well worth the trouble," he says. A DO favorite also. Less cumbersome IC-2 is close in sound qual-ity. (Vol.15 No.7) Finestra Argento Signature Mk.II interconnect: $1795/1m pair Unbelievably expensive cable uses "six-nines" silver con-ductors, each insulated with Teflon. JE found that it offered exceptional clarity with line-level signals, though he couldn't eliminate hum when it was used as a phono lead. (Vol.16 No.5) Jerrold RG-6 * $$$ DAS fits this inexpensive generic cable (available from radio supply shops) with Radio Shack plastic-shell RCA plugs modified to fit the wire diameter, and feels that the result is remarkably uncolored.

Kimber KCAG: $350/han pair terminated with RCA or XLR plugs * Unshielded but astonishingly transparent, and offering improved image focus and even better clarity when com-pared with Kimber's PBJ. AJE and TJN favorite. (NR, but see Vol.16 No.7) ICirnber KC-PBJ interconnect $62/1m pair ($14/addi-tional meter pair plus $48/pair RCA or XLR termi-nation) in Unshielded cable that CG found to come very close to KCAG in his system, citing its HF detail, air, clarity, and tonal accuracy. For those with RFI problems, 'Umber's KC1 ($76/1m pair terminated) is the same cable with a grounded shield, but doesn't sound quite as good. (Vol.16 No.7) Magnan Type Vi: $595/4' pair, $695/4' pair balanced

"A masterful ability to simultaneously achieve state-of-the-art levels of both musicality and accuracy!' said JE. Combines a rich, full-bodied sound with excellent retrieval of detail. (Vol.15 No.12) Magnan Type Rik $195/m, $295/4' pair balanced Bearing a strong family resemblance to the more expensive Type Vi, the Type Illi is less impressive at the frequency extremes, according to JE. (Vol.15 No.12)

MIT MI-330 CVT Plus Terminator: $180011m pair terminated with MIT CVT RCA plugs Extremely expensive interconnect uses patented networks but gives an extremely palpable, musically natural sound, said JA. (Did he say it was extremely expensive?) RCA plug center-pins a very tight fit with some jacks. Monster Cable MS2K Sigma: $750/1m pair terminated with RCA plugs * Used by both LG and AB, the latter said that the Sigma interconnect, when used with Classé and Rowland elec-tronics, gave low frequencies "proper weight and exten-sion, the overall sound being very open and detailed" and with excellent timbres. The Sigma cables also threw a soundstage of "vast proportion, the results being alive and musically involving!' AB also noted that the Sigma works superbly with a wide range of equipment. Siltech MC,4-24: $460/first meter w/WBT 0101 RCAs, $320/additional meter or unterrninated * Astounding transparency and imaging, said JA. Siltech MC4-80: $1630/first meter with WBT 0150, $1470/add, meter Even better than Siltech 4-24, the very expensive 4-80 competes with AudioQuest Diamond with its combi-nation of smoothness and retrieval of detail, JA found, but is overall a little brighter-balanced. Straight Wire Maestro: $275/1m pair terminated with RCA plugs (MSI) or balanced (BMI) with Neutrik gold XLRs; $80/additional meter * Less laid-back than AudioQuest Lapis or MIT 330, with superb presentation of detail. May be too bright in some systems. TARA Labs Rectangular Solid Core: $395/1m pair terminated with RCA plugs An RD favorite, with a clear, open, uncongested qual-ity. He hates the stiffness, however. 'fransparent Audio MusicLink Ultra: $800/1m pair terminated Similar in broad terms to the mrn that Transparent Audio used to distribute, the Transparent interconnect works well in a WATT/Puppy-based system, said JA. van den Hul The First: $23310.6m pair, $333/1m pair, $500/2m pair Unique cable with carbon-fiber conductors. MC enthuses about its detail and linearity at low listening levels, and rates it very highly overall: "rhythmic, dynamically im-pressive, pure, and transparent." Very mellow balance, however, may be a problem in some systems. High imped-ance can result in terminal hum problems in some systems —try before you buy. (Vol.15 No.11, Vol.16 Nos3 & 5) van den Hul D-102 Mk.III: $141.11/1rn pair terminated with RCA plugs * Excellent treble but not as good image focus. AJE rec-ommendation. Latest version has different jacket color and refined metalwork but is otherwise identical. XL0 Type I interconnect: $20011m pair plus $75 termination JE found that in the right system, XL0's Type 1 can sound marvelous, with an improved sense of dynamic contrasts. Soundstaging is a little flattened, however, compared with Cardas and Magnan Vi. (Vol.15 No.12) XL0 Type 4: $150/1m, $50 additional 0.5m Ltis current reference: "Very transparent, slightly smooth, harmonically honest!'

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LOUDSPEAKER CABLES Acrotec 6N-S1030: $19/rn This "six-nines" pure copper cable is recommended by DO as good value for money, while LL feels it is clearly the best speaker cable he has heard. AudioQuest F14: 85C/ft * Inexpensive fiat-twin solid-core cable that RH enthusiasti-cally recommends as excellent value for money. AudioQuest Type 4: $2.25/ft $$$ "The best cheap speaker cable on the market, and much better-sounding than F14," see CG. "Try this stuffbefore laying down long green for expensive cables." AudioQuest Clear Hyperlitz: $1095110' pair terminated $89Vs' pair terminated (most common length) * Very expensive but solid bass reproduction with a clear (ha!), open rnidband and treble. Can sound rather light-weight in some systems, but almost defines the term "neu-trality," says JA. Uses "6N"-pure copper bundles in a complex lay that brings every conductor to the surface to the same extent. AudioQuest Midnight Hyperlitz: $275/10' pair Almost as good as Clear at a much lower price. AudioQuest Sterling: $1795/10' pair terminated, $145W pair terminated AudioQuest Dragon: $3095110' pair terminated, $249s/e' pair terminated Two silver-conductored speaker cables that are maximally smooth and maximally transparent, according to RH and JA. JA also finds the powerful bass performance of Sterling to be its strongest suit. Audio Research Litzline 2:$520/1m pair, $640/3m pair JE found this under-promoted speaker cable to perform well in a diverse variety of systems, working especially well with ARC's own amplifiers. Gerdes Hezlink Golden Five C: $840/1m pair, $1360/10' pair Very similar in character to the Cardas interconnect. A JE reference cable. (Vol.15 No.12) Kimber 4AG: $100Ift * An expensive hyper-pure silver cable that can offer a glimpse of audio heaven. Significant system sensitivity, points out DO, so be sure to check for compatibility before you buy. Kimber 41'C: $4.60/ft * $$$ Kimber 8TC: $8.60/ft * $$$ A double run of 8TC greatly improves the sound, feels DO. Excellent bass. Kimber 4PR: $1/ft * Least expensive cable from Kimber was found to have good bass, but a "zippy" treble and poor soundstage, according to DO. With inexpensive amplifiers, however, its good RF rejection, compared with zipcord or spaced-pair types, will often result in a better sound. MIT MH-750 CVT Plus Shotgun lerminator: $45001 8' pair terminated with MIT CVT spade connectors Extremely expensive cable that forms a synergistic com-bination with Wilson WATTs and Puppies. Monster Cable MS2 Sigma: $1000/12' pair termi-nated, $750/8' pair terminated * Excellent detail, attack, and delineation of space, found AB. Not as transparent as XL0 Type 5, but takes the honors for presence, pace, and harmonic integrity. Naim NACA5: $12.951m * $$$ Inexpensive cable that ST found to work well with the Spendor S100 loudspeaker. Worth investigating as a good-value cable, thinks JA. OCOS cable: $8/ft plus $75/pair termination US

Distributed by Surniko, this idiosyncratic cable was found by LG to have a speed and clarity he hadn't heard from other cables. He found the bass to be a little lightweight, but votes it a "three-star" design. Purist Audio Colossus: $1180/1.5m pair, $200 each additional Vi meter The famed "water" cable with a fluid-filled insulating jacket. AB found "resoundingly open staging with a remarkably distinct lower-midrange/upper-bass presen-tation which lends music a great sense of pace." Radio Shack 18-gauge solid-core hookup wire: lle/ft * $$$ Ridiculously cheap way of connecting speakers, yet ST reports that this cable is okay sonically. You have to choose for yourself whether to space or twist a pair for best sound (or even whether to double up the runs for less series impedance). Siltech FT-12: $575/first meter with spades, $530/additional meter MC's reference cable, but high inductance mandates care-ful amplifier choice. Straight Wire Maestro: $56018' pair with gold spade lugs or pins; $30/additional foot The cable that LA found to work best between the Krell KSA-250 and Thiel CS5s. SYMO LS5SX: $30/fl with gold-plated spade connectors Distributed by Apogee Acoustics, this relatively inex-pensive cable works well with, you guessed it, Apogees. MN's reference for use with the Stages. TARA Labs Space & Time Rectangular Solid Core: $45/fi plus $90 termination RD found that these cables have wonderful lucidity and a top-to-bottom coherence that's truly heavenly: "The Almighty sure knows His cables." AB found it to have an endearing smoothness, "but without obvious loss of detail due to softness." TARA Labs Space 8c Time Phase II cable: $6.95/ft •Cr $$$ Featuring twisted solid-core construction and "Australian copper," this inexpensive cable is DO's workhorse speaker cable. (Vol.11 No.3) van den Hid Revelation cable: $87312m pair, $149514m pair The best speaker cable MC has used at any price. (Vol.16 No.5) 7CLO Type 5: $55/ft, plus $100 termination "This is the real gem of the XL° line."—JE. "Very trans-parent and detailed?'—AB. Perhaps a touch of midrange prominence makes it less suitable for speakers that are already balanced too forward in this region. Not as expan-sive as TARA RSC or Monster Sigma; works well with tube amps. (Vol.15 No.12)

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DIGITAL DATA INTERCONNECTS Editor's Note: Extensive auditioning by RH suggests that all the coaxial data cables listed below are better than conventional, TosLink-fitted, plastic fiberoptic cables, which in general don't give as tight a bass or as focused a soundstage. "You don't get that essential sharpness of image outlines, the sound becomes more homogenized," quoth he, which is why we no longer recommend any


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of the TosLink interconnects. JA feels that coaxial inter-connects generally fall short of the sonic standard set by the "AT&T" ST optical data connection. He also points out that the specific character of any particular cable will depend heavily on the transport and processor it connects.

Altis Altitnate Glass Fiber: $150/1m, $55 each additional 'lam "Four stars," says JE of this ST-type datalink. AudioQuest OptiLink Pro 2: $295/1m with AT&T-ST termination Expensive ST datalink that JA and JE recommend highly. Excellent bass performance, with power, clarity, and dynamic contrast, says JE. (NR) AudioQuest Digital Pro: $150/1m single cable with welded RCA plugs A top-rated coaxial data link, though perhaps a little behind the Kimber KCAG in absolute terms. AudioQuest Video Z: $75/1m single cable with welded RCA plugs RH felt that the tonal balance was tilted upward in the tre-ble, while midrange textures were less velvety-smooth than some of the other data cables, with a softened sound-stage focus. DO found this relatively inexpensive cable to work well with the Bitwise One D/A. Aural Symphonies Digital Standard: $19511m, $2923011.5m single cable Neutrik RCA connectors with a sliding shield make ground before signal connection. Vivid and forward ren-dering, with sharp soundstage focus.

Ensemble Digiflux 75: $210/1m "Positively the best-sounding 75 ohm digital interconnect I've found," DO wrote in February '93. Smooth, good focus, and harmonically correct. Goldmund Lineal digital interconnect: $49511.5m single cable "More air, more bloom, more music," said ST of this very expensive, true 75 ohm cable. (Vol.15 No.6) HAVE (Carutre) DFlex Gold 75 ohm digital data link: $35/3ft Before you try any of the expensive coaxial links, you should try this inexpensive, true 75 ohm cable, advises CG, who rates it as his first choice in a digital cable at any price, even preferring it to the Kimber AGDL. (Vol.16 No.7) Kimber AGDL DigitalLink: $17511m with RCAs or 7CLIts Best coaxial data link ST had tried until he heard the ex-pensive Goldmund. JE found it to excel in the retrieval of detail, while it also featured an extended and powerful bass. (Vol.15 Nos.2 & 6; see also CG's HAVE/Canare review in Vol.16 No.7.) The Mod Squad WonderLink Digital I: $195/0.5m, $225/1m single cable Exceptionally transparent presentation, thought JA, with excellent soundstage depth and natural midrange. Clunky gold-plated plugs are actually old-fashioned RF connec-tors with RCA and BNC adaptors. TARA Labs Space & Time Digital Reference: $195/1m terminated Laid-back, relaxed presentation, excellent resolution of soundstage depth. Smooth treble adds to pleasing analog-like warmth. Silver-plated RCA plugs slightly undersized, making connection difficult. TARA Labs Space &Time Digital Master: $595/1m Very stiff, awkward to handle, and a silly price, notes RD, but it does sound exceptionally transparent. RH also recommends it highly. van den Hul D-102 Mk.III interconnect: $141.11/1tn pair terminated

Although not specifically intended for use as a datalink, JE found this interconnect to be useful in systems that are too bright overall, too forward. (Vol.15 No.2) "MO Type 4 Reference Series digital interconnect: $150/1m, $50 additional 03m JE found this unshielded cable to excel in soundstage pre-sentation, while being warmer and filer than the Kimber AGDL. "The best digital cable I have yet heard in re-creating a believable soundstage with layers upon layers of width and depth, ample ambience, and pinpoint locali-zation:' he announced. (Vol.15 No.2)

Omega Mikro-D coaxial cable, NBS Signature, Madrigal MDC-1 AES/EBU balanced cable. Deletions California Audio Labs HD Optical Cable, Furukawa FO-1310, due to limited bandwidth of TosLink interface lead-ing to excessive word-clock jitter.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE CALSOD loudspeaker system optimization pro-gram, standard version 130: $69.95 (51/4 " or Ph" disks) User enters measured drive-unit response, impedance and sensitivity, and target response; program designs appro-priate crossover filter networks. Available from Old Colony Software, P.O. Box 243, Peterborough, NH 03458-0243. Tel: (603) 924-6371/6526. Fax: (603) 924-9467. (Vol.13 No.11)

LEAP 4.5 loudspeaker design program: &395-$1195 Highly recommended by DO and much used by profes-sional designers, LEAP imports raw drive-unit data (it accepts Audio Precision and MLSSA files as well as data produced by Audio Teknology's own LMS system) and optimizes a speaker system's crossover network to meet the user's target specifications, either on- or off-axis. (It will also average responses to give a speaker's power response.) The fully loaded LEAP 4.5, which includes a SPICE-type passive network analyzer and an Active Filter Library, costs $1195; a basic version, to which modular upgrades can be made (each one is $175), costs $395. Available from Audio Teknology Inc., 7556 SW Bridge-port Road, Portland, OR 97224. Tel: (503)624-0405. Fax: (503) 624-0194. (Vol.13 No.11)

The Listening Room: $4730 (IBM version only) U, Inexpensive but excellent computer program for PCs that allows an audiophile to move simulated loudspeakers and a simulated listening seat around a simulation of his or her room (m three dimensions) to find the position giving optimal performance below 200Hz or so. The sugges-tions made by TJN in his review have been incorporated in the latest version, which can also store different setups as separate files. Upgrades are available for $15, inc. post-age. Available from Sitting Duck Software, P.O. Box 130, Veneta, OR 97487, Tel: (503) 935-3982. (Vol.13 No.12)

SPEAK loudspeaker design program: 1395 DOS program effectively calculates loudspeaker low-frequency performance-frequency response, impedance, excursion, even pipe resonances-for sealed-box, reflex, and even transmission-line alignments. Available from DLC Design, 24166 Haggerty Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48335. Tel: (313) 477-7930. (Vol.16 No3) Deletions XOPT loudspeaker crossover optimization program no longer available.

STEREOPHILE, OcrortErt 1993 173 WorldRadioHistory

BACK ISSUES WHILE THEY LAST! Issues each

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EQUIPMENT R EPORTS

MARTIN-LOGAN QUEST Z LOUDSPEAKER Dick Olsher

Hybrid loudspeaker system. Drive-units: 12" cone woofer in a sealed enclosure; electrostatic panel, 15" W by 44.5" H. Crossover frequency: I25Hz. Crossover slopes: second-order, 12dB/octave. Frequency response: 28Hz-22kHz, ±2dB. Presence control switch: +2dB, I-5kHz. Bass control switch: -5dB, 60-150Hz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (minimum 2 ohms). Phase angle: less than 45°. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m (2.83V). Recommended amplifier power 80-200Wpc. Weight: 125 lbs each. Dimen-sions: 72.75" H by 19" W by 13" D. Finishes available: light oak, dark oak, black; other custom-painted finishes are avail-able to order. Serial numbers of units tested: QEEA000/1-Z (bases), QSEA000/1 (panels). Price: $3995/pair (custom finishes, $4500/pair). Approximate number of dealers: 65. Manufacturer Martin-Logan Ltd., P.O. Box 741, 2001 Delaware, Lawrence, KS 66044. Tel.: (913) 749-0133. Fax: (913) 749-5320.

Martin-Logan's Gayle Sanders has almost single-handedly raised the electrostatic/dy-namic hybrid loudspeaker to a position of prominence in the High End. First, there was the Martin-Logan Monolith (reviewed in Vol.8 No.3 and Vol.9 No3), followed by the much more affordable Sequel (reviewed in Vol.11 No.12, Vol.12 Nos.8, 9, and 12, and Vol.14 No.2). Then came the subject of this review, the Quest, and most recently the diminutive Aerius, reviewed by JA elsewhere in this issue. Looking at the progression from Aerius

to Quest, a definite trend is apparent. First, the woofer increases in size, as does the elec-trostatic panel's radiating area. Second, the crossover point is approximately halved each step of the way, from 500Hz for the Aerius, to 250Hz for the Sequel, and 125Hz for the Quest. Third, the price increases by about a thousand dollars for each step upward in size. The Quest's transparent electrostatic panel

is curved in the horizontal plane (a M-L trademark) to give increased HF dispersion. The constant-charge diaphragm is seg-mented, using horizontal foam strips, to break up the inevitable LF drumhead reso-nance. The perforated stators (another M-L trademark) are finished in a black insulating paint. The woofer is a 12" moving-coil unit

—identical, in fact, to the woofer used in the Monolith—and is mounted in its own sealed enclosure. The woofer and panel crossover networks, each 12dB/octave, are individu-ally accessible via dedicated binding posts so that bi-wiring, or even bi-amping, is easily accomplished. The "Z" version of the Quest differs from

its predecessor in having a more benign impedance magnitude, making it an easier load for most amplifiers. For example, the dip around the crossover frequency to below 2 ohms has been significantly reduced to about 3 ohms? Two frequency-contouring switches are

located on the interface plate on the back of the speaker. The bass-contour switch pro-vides a -5dB cut (more extreme than the -3dB cut provided on the original version of the Quest) below 200Hz, to give a mea-sure of room-placement flexibility? As the speaker-wall distance decreases, the bass becomes more prominent. Thus, if you're

1 Apparently, the Quest was doing so nicely in the market-place that dealers were alarmed when word got out that Martin-Logan was about to modify the speaker. I'm told that there is absolutely no need for concern. The "Z" crossover modifications in no way impacted the frequency response or the sound of the speaker. 2 The crossover may be modified in the field to vary the degree of bass cut. This requires changing out a couple of resistors in the crossover network. If you wish to experiment in this regard, contact your dealer for details.

STEREOPHILE, OCIDBER 1993 175 WorldRadioHistory

forced, because of domestic considerations, to place the speakers closer to the wall behind them than is optimal, the bass-contour switch offers some hope of restoring a rea-sonable bass balance. The presence-contour switch is also a two-

position switch that gives you some control over the upper midrange and is useful for taming the brightness of under-damped rooms or for taking the edge off a bright front-end. Said to effect a 2dB change cen-tered around 2.5kHz, measurements of my samples showed a 1-2dB increase in response from 1.5-4kHz with the switch set to " +2dB." However, the response is actually flatter with the switch in this position, so I prefer to think of it as actually giving a 2dB-deep valley in the "flat" position.

HYBRIDS: THE PROMISED LAND The obvious promise of a hybrid loudspeaker is that it combines the best of two worlds— the bass extension and punch of a dynamic speaker with the midrange transparency, speed, and detailing oían electrostatic panel. However, the hidden promise is a speaker that does much more. For example, a full-range ESL suffers from poor sensitivity due to the need to space the stators far enough apart to allow the diaphragm sufficient ex-cursion to reproduce bass frequencies at high levels. The size of the panel also escalates to intimidating proportions to maintain decent bass extension in the face of dipole or front-to-back cancellation in the lower octaves. Relieving the panels of responsibility for reproducing bass frequencies allows the designer to optimize the design for greater sensitivity. It also makes it possible to use a curved diaphragm for increased high-fre-quency dispersion. However, there are three basic problems

standing in the way oía successful integration of two disparate technologies. The first has to do with driver "speed." The

common (mis)conception is that a dynamic driver isn't fast enough to keep up with an electrostatic panel, the overall presentation lacking cohesiveness. The disparity in speed constantly calls attention to itself, giving the impression of a sea of upper-range detail emerging from a sluggish low-frequency foundation.

Such a picture, while useful for a taste or flavor of the problem, is technically mislead- Martin-Logan Quest Z loudspeaker


ing. Dynamic woofers have received a bum rap in audiophile circles. There is no reason that a cone woofer's acceleration or risetime could not equal that of a lightweight dia-phragm. It's a question of force over mass— as Newton discovered three centuries back —and M-L proudly makes mention of its woofer's risetime in its literature. But this is all a red herring. Woofers don't need speed. Yes, Virginia, tweeters do, but, most emphat-ically, woofers don't. Spending their time in the basement, as it were, reproducing a band-width limited to just the first several hundred hertz or so, woofers don't require large accelerations. What they do need is control. It's both boxy

resonances and high-Q bass alignments that ring like a doorbell that have given box speakers and, by extension, dynamic woofers, bad reputations. It is the lack of pitch defi-nition, precision, and detail in the bass range that is often confused with the issue of woofer speed. Start with a rigid, well-damped enclo-sure, then add a suitable woofer to give an alignment with good transient response and an in-band response that's free of resonances, and you have a bass system worthy of part-nering an ultra-light and speedy stat panel. The sealed woofer enclosure of the Quest does not operate as a boomy bass reflex; with a well-damped, closed-box alignment, its transient response is stat-ready. The second problem involves the cross-

over region, where the dynamic woofer and stat panel overlap in output. When the units speak in tandem, their different sonic signa-tures tend to detract from the illusion ola sin-gle voice. The cohesiveness of the soundstage can be seriously compromised by mixing different types of transducers or even differ-ent cone materials. Martin-Logan has min-imized such problems in the Quest by keep-ing the crossover frequency below the critical frequency of 200Hz and by using second-order slopes to narrow the region of driver overlap. The third obstacle to the optimal integra-

tion of woofers and electrostatics involves the inherently different radiation patterns of these transducers. While the woofer acts as a point source, the panel—at least within a listening distance of 15' or so—acts more like a line source. A practical consequence of this is that the tonal balance of the hybrid changes with distance. This is because the bass inten-

sity falls off as the square of the distance from the woofer (ignoring room modes for the moment), while midrange intensity only falls linearly with distance from the panel. As you back away from the hybrid (at least in a large room), the woofer loses loudness much more quickly than does the panel. What this means is that you must be willing and able to adjust the listening seat to hit that zone where the bass and mids are in proper balance.

SETUP Setting up and moving the Quests is defi-nitely a two-person job. With help from my 17-year-old son, Danie1,3 they entered the reference room. ESLs need a lot of room to breathe properly, and the Quests proved to be no exception. About a third of the way into the room is where they ended up, toed-in toward the listening seat and with the Sound-Lab SALLIE absorber panels located about three feet to their rears. I picked the optimal listening position while listening to a reproduction ola double bass. The key was to move in and out until the rnidbass popped into balance with the lower midrange. Because the Quest is so easy to bi-wire,

there's no excuse not to do so. The sonic pay-off is worthwhile. I used TARA Lab's RSC speaker cable. Interconnects were primarily the Expressive Technologies IC-1. I tried a host of power amps, including the Jadis JA-200 monoblocks, the Air Tight ATM-3, and the Classé 700 monoblocks.

SONIC IMPRESSIONS Young DO (that's Daniel) settled onto the sofa next to me for what was really his first exposure to the Quests. He liked them immediately, and in a big way: "Better than the Sound-Labs!" he quipped, referring to the Sound-Lab A-ls that had recently vacated the reference room. What a first impression! Was this true?

Were the Quests, at a third the price, indeed superior to the A-ls? That observation stuck in the back of my mind, and for the next sev-eral weeks I digested its significance. You know, young DO was right—in some re-spects the Quests were better than the A-ls. We were listening to Harry Belafonte (Bela-

fonte at Carnegie Hall, RCA 6006-2-R), and it was clear that while the width and depth

3 I want to acknowledge Daniel's help, because we often take for granted the good things that teenagers do.


of the soundstage were well-portrayed, the soundstage opened up more than it did with the A-ls. The impression of hall decay and low-level detail was clearer. It was easier to immerse oneself in the acoustic of Carnegie Hall via the Quests. We both found it eas-ier to transport ourselves into the original space and mood of the event. We laughed at and applauded Harry's infectious humor.

Eric Clapton's Unplugged (Reprise 45024-2) was another example where the magic of the moment and the honesty of the music were communicated more effectively. Our feeling that the Quests offered heightened soundstage transparency remained constant throughout the evaluation period. The reso-lution of hall ambience was uniformly excel-lent, and, combined with a wealth of low-level detail, gave me the strong impression that I was peering at my favorite records through a high-powered microscope.

These differences in transparency and reso-

lution between the two speakers very likely had a lot to do with the room itself. The A-ls, being such large planar radiators, involve more of the room simply because their rear-radiation pattern is harder to break up, at least in smaller rooms. So they yield a stronger reflected-sound signature that obscures some of the original ambient information and fine detail.

In common with other planar speakers, the Quest eclipsed box speakers in the portrayal of image size. In my experience, painting a convincing illusion of instrumental outlines with concert-hall realism is best accom-plished with planars. The pinpoint localiza-tion sought by many minimonitor afi-cionados is an artifact that doesn't exist in the concert hall, and I find it distracting. The end result is akin to watching a bunch of tiny peo-ple crowding onto a stage with toy-sized musical instruments. The basic problem with box speakers is,

THE SONIC QUEST Martin Colloms's discussion last year of some of the imponderable elements of loudspeaker reproduction (Stereophile, November '92, Vol.15 No.11, p.76) re-minded me of something written nearly a quarter-century ago (in Wireless World, November '70) by metal-cone speaker pioneer Ted Jordan. Ted asked the rhetor-ical question: "What is the aim of a loud-speaker?" He then proceeded to examine a number of possible answers. The most objective answer possible, and one that would surely impress our engineering alter egos, was: to reproduce the electrical input signal as accurately as possible. Jordan quickly rejected this definition

on the following grounds: No loud-speaker is perfect, and all are subject to some degree of distortion, whether of fre-quency, transient, harmonic, intermodu-lation, phase, or waveform. However, it's often possible for the designer to trade an increase in one kind of distortion for a reduction in another. The true art of loud-speaker design resides in striking the proper balance. As we all know, that's not easy. The auditory system is much more sensitive to some kinds of distortion than to others, and sensitivity varies with the

individual. This paves the way for a subjective

answer: that the aim of the loudspeaker is to reproduce the original sound as realistically as possible. In the final anal-ysis, the illusion of "live" is what counts. Unfortunately, as Ted pointed out, many modem loudspeakers rarely allow the lis-tener to escape from the fact that the sound is "canned." My first objective dur-ing the evaluation process is to determine whether the loudspeaker is able to cross that magical line to reconstruct a viable illusion of a live event. The critical param-eter here is emotional involvement with the power and drama of the music. With-out a notepad in hand, and with my mind uncluttered (or at least in a semi-Zen-like state), does the loudspeaker elicit an emo-tional response? Am I tapping my foot in tune with the music? Am I forgetting tomorrow's chores? Or am I, instead, sufficiently underwhelmed that unrelated thoughts start creeping into my con-sciousness? After this initial phase comes the really hard part of having to analyze just why I was, or was not, swept away by the music.

—Dick Olsher


I believe, their inherent inability to reproduce musical instruments with the proper surface loudness. Practically speaking, there's no such thing as a point source of sound. Every musi-cal instrument has a sounding board or body which contributes sound power. A piano, for example, puts out a lot of power, but it radi-ates over a large area. Surface loudness is defined as the ratio of sound power to sur-face area, and would appear to be responsible, at least in part, for the impression of size. Because a planar has a large radiating area, it can duplicate the surface loudness typical of a piano. A typical box speaker, however, has to squeeze the piano through an 8" cone. The fit is poor and the resultant surface loud-ness is all wrong. Through the Quests, the spatial impression

of a singer standing in front of me—or the proportions of a piano occupying real estate within the soundstage—were extremely believable, surpassing, in this respect, all box speakers I have heard. Just as important was the Quest's ability

to maintain a realistic image size over the entire spectral range of an instrument. Many box speakers cross over from a 6"-8" cone to a 1" tweeter in the low treble. In the cross-over region, the woofer/midrange output is beaming like a flashlight (because the dia-phragm size is approaching the wavelength the unit is reproducing), while the tweeter exhibits wide dispersion. These differences in dispersion appear to contract and expand the image size as the instrument's overtone structure moves through this region. Because the Quest speaks with one voice through the midrange and treble, and because dispersion is controlled by its curvilinear panel, image size remains stable with frequency. The Quest proved capable of fleshing out

dynamic contrasts from soft to loud, and from loud to very loud. Of course, this ability depended strongly on the front-end and partnering amp. Every improvement in the front-end was clearly revealed by the Quest. In no way was it the weak link in the chain. As the dynamics of the front-end improved, the Quest was able to keep up. It proved to be of reference quality in its ability to readily resolve preamp and cartridge differences. Not only was the delicate bloom of harmonic tex-tures preserved, but the force and impact of a loud-to-very-loud crescendo were left undiminished. It was possible to cleanly reach

peaks in excess of 100dB at the listening seat. (The amplifier had to be capable of delivering at least 100W into a 4 ohm load; otherwise it simply ran out of steam and clipped.)

In terms of tonal balance, the Quest was not entirely accurate. The extreme treble was extended and transients were delineated effortlessly and cleanly. But in the mid-treble —from about 31cHz upward—the sound was a bit laid-back and too polite. The effect was natural, in the sense that it would be a bal-ance one would experience from the rear of a concert hall. While it wasn't something that bothered me, it was noticeable. The upper registers of female voice lacked bril-liance. Trumpet (eg, Baroque Duet with Kath-leen Battle and Wynton Marsalis, Sony SK 46672) sounded a bit too rounded and lacked proper bite. More serious was the paucity of weight in

the upper bass, in the octave from about 80Hz-160Hz. This was most evident in the reproduction of double bass. The harmonic content of the instrument's lower registers is quite high, but the Quest failed to fully flesh out the body and weight of the double bass. Rather than sounding full and intimi-dating, a closely miked double bass sounded as if it had gone on a diet. Mind you, I'm not complaining about the deep bass, or even the rnidbass. The Quest sounded subjectively flat to about 30Hz in my listening room. And with the right amp, the quality of the lower octaves was quite detailed and defined. It was just that there was not enough output through the upper bass, which slighted any music with a strong bass foundation. The Quest routinely sounded lean with orchestral music and jazz, and was no match in this respect for the opulent-sounding A-1.

AMPLIFIER CHOICES Over a period of several months, I used the Quests with amplifiers as different in design as the Fourier Components Sans Pareil OTL and the Classé 700 monoblocks. This speaker showed a remarkable degree of latitude in accommodating all comers. The best traits of each amp were highlighted. It was not very fussy, except in the areas of power output and bass definition. Tubed amps, in general, excelled in re-creating a palpable soundstage, but failed to exercise tight control over the bottom octaves. Considering the lean bal-ance of the speaker, it's hardly permissible

STEREOPHILE, OCIDBER 1993 179 WorldRadioHistory

to sacrifice bass control. The best bass per-formance by a tubed amp was turned in by the Jadis JA-200. The solid-state Classé 700s did a fabulous job in tightening up the bass and effortlessly revving the Quest to full vol-ume. Of course, if you're extravagant enough, you might want to consider bi-amping with tubes on top and transistors on the bottom.

—Dick Olsher

_IA MEASURES THE QUEST Despite the Z modification making the Quest easier to drive, it's still a demanding load for an amplifier, the impedance dropping to 2.7 ohms in the midbass and lower midrange and dropping below 2 ohms above 16kHz (fig.1). The minimum value is a punishing 1.4 ohms at 25k1z---fortunately, there is no high-level musical information up there. Note the mod-erate phase angle, however, which ameliorates matters. With the bass set to -5dB, the im-pedance does become a little kinder in the bass, staying above 4 ohms below 160Hz. The woofer tuning is revealed by the peak at 32Hz. The Quest's B-weighted sensitivity appeared to be in the region of 85dB/W/m, which is significantly lower than specified.

Fig.2 shows the individual responses of the woofer and panel with both controls set to "Flat." The woofer's trace was taken in the nearfield, while the panel trace is a composite of the nearfield response below 355Hz and the quasi-anechoic response at a distance of 45" on an axis level with the center of the panel. Unusually, the woofer seems to have a bandpass response centered higher than its electrical tuning frequency, in the 50-55Hz region. This will still result in reasonably good extension in-room. However, there will be a lack of upper-bass energy resulting from what appears to be a too-early low-pass woofer characteristic and a too-high panel high-pass characteristic. This presumably correlates with DO's listening impression that the speaker was "lean," overall. Turning to the panel, it's possible that the

narrow peak at 275Hz is a nearfield measure-ment artifact .4 The sharp notches at 1.2 and 23kHz, too, are presumably due to interfer-ence effects at the close measuring distance, and would be inconsequential at a more typi-

4 I suspect that it is due to the local "drumhead resonance" of the panel segment. As the panel is divided into many different-area segments, the resonance of each will be differ-ent, resulting in a much lower Q for the speaker as a whole

cal listening distance. Note, however, the panel's steep high-pass rollout below 180Hz and a generally higher level in the midrange than in the treble. The response shelves down by some 10dB from lkHz to 20kHz, which, on the face of things, will tend to make the speaker sound laid-back, with a rear-of-the-hall presentation. Remember that this, indeed, was what DO found.

In part, however, this measured response trend will be a function of the standard 45" microphone distance that I use. As explained in Martin Colloms's High Performance Loud-speakers textbook ,5 the "proximity effect" comes into play when measuring physically large loudspeakers. With a panel loudspeaker, the necessary assumption that the measuring microphone is in the loudspeaker's far field becomes increasingly invalid with decreasing frequency. For measuring distances that are not very much larger than its panel dimen-sions, therefore, the response of the Quest

5 Fourth Edition, pp.148-150, published by Halsted Press, a division ofJohn Wiley & Sons. Available from Old Colony Sound Lab Book Service, P.O. Box 243, Peterborough, NH 03458-0243. Tel.: (603) 924-6371 & 652E, Fax: (603) 924-9467.

5..4,611e 11-LCIEST MAY/ I 11183114.40 n 13102014) MI II.

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Fig.2 Martin-Logan Quest Z. anechoic response of electrostatic driver halfway up panel at 45", averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with nearfield responses of panel below 350Hz, and of woofer.


absolutely wor ent as anything are well-integ with the mids, contour switd the highs to b: The Quest':

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STEREOPHILE,

will appear tilted down in the treble (above about lkHz for a 45" distance). To confirm this hypothesis, I performed

a different kind of measurement. The one used to derive the fig.2 traces was performed by feeding the speaker under test what is called a "Maximum-Length Sequence" signal —which sounds like noise—calculating the speaker's impulse response from that signal, windowing out reflections of the impulse from the room boundaries, and calculating the amplitude response using the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm. My alternate technique was to leave the microphone in the same 45" position, feed the speaker with pink noise, and capture just over half a second's worth of the speaker's output. Applying the Fourier Transform to the digital data representing that noise gave the lower power spectrum shown in fig3. Repeating the measurement with the microphone three times as far away, at 135", gave the upper trace shown in fig.3. The difference between these curves will

be to some extent due to the different effects of the room at the two microphone positions, particularly in the midrange and below. (Both are 1/s-octave smoothed to minimize the effects of room resonances.) Nevertheless, as predicted, moving the microphone back to three times its normal distance brings up the Quest's mid-treble level by up to 6dB. Both

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Fig.3 Martin-Logan Quest Z, 1/5-octave smoothed in-room responses at 45" (bottom) and 135" (top).

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Fig.4 Martin-Logan Quest Z, effect of presence control, assuming flat on-axis response.

curves, however, still shelve down above 4kHz, and the farther-away spectrum has significantly less top-octave energy. I assume that such proximity-effect changes

apply to the ear as much as they do to a microphone. If you do listen to the Quests in a small room, therefore, setting the speak-ers' presence switches to " +2dB" will add a mild presence-region hump to the on-axis response (fig.4), exactly as specified, which will slightly counteract the proximity effect.

Turning to dispersion, fig5 shows the man-ner in which the Quest's response changes as the listener moves to the speaker's side. (just the changes are shown, which means that the on-axis response is represented as a straight line.) The entire treble region stays in balance up to 60° to the speaker's side, but increasingly shelves down past the 15° angle. At 15° laterally off-axis—the limits of the speaker's specified 30° dispersion window —there is a little more high-treble energy and

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Fig.5 Martin-Logan Quest Z, horizontal response family at 45", normalized to response on mid-panel axis, from back to front: reference response; differences 15° off-axis, 30° off-axis, 45° off-axis, 60° off-axis, 75° off-axis, and 90° off-axis.

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SYSTEMS As with all the Real World gear I review, I listened to both amps in my Real World sys-tem, which is affordable, and my He-Man rig, which is not. The He-Man rig tells me exactly what the gear under review is doing, while the Real World system tells me how much of that info is transportable to a sys-tem that's more like the one the gear is likely to be mated with. My Real World system featured, at one

time or another: Sumiko Project One turn-table and Oyster cartridge (reviews comin' up); JVC XL-Z1050 CD player; Rotel RCD-955AX CD player; NAD 502 CD player (also to be reviewed soon); Cobalt by Theta 307 digital processor; Conrad-Johnson PV10A tube preamp; Adcom GFP-565 pre-amp; McCormack Line Drive passive pre-amp; Acurus DIA-100 integrated amp (to be reviewed in December); Vandersteen 1B speakers; Spica Angelus speakers; NHT Super Zero satellite speakers and SW2P active subwoofer (more reviews, ay vey); Kimber PBJ interconnect; and 10' pairs of either Kimber 4TC or AudioQuest Type 4 speaker cables. The He-Man rig featured: Well-Tempered

Record Player and Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge; Theta Gen, III and Data II digital combo; Exposure XVII for the phono stage; Aunt Corey's Buffered Passive Preamp for the line-stage; NHT 3.3 oui! oui! oui! loud-speakers; Kimber PBJ and KCAG intercon-nects; and a 4' bi-wire set of Kimber 4AG speaker cable Everything, including both the Adcom and Rotel amps, was plugged into the latest Power Wedge AC line-conditioners. My usual Aragon Mk.II 200W solid-state muscle amp served as duh He-Man reference for duh two girlie amps.

ADCOM GFA-535 II I'll get the tecimo-jizz out of the way so you can enjoy the rest of the review in comfort. The Adcom's circuit features a discrete-transistor front-end and voltage-gain stage,

both class-A biased, and a high-current triple-Darlington-follower output stage The signal path is AC-coupled before the input stage, a small series polycarbonate capacitor and a shunt resistor providing high-pass fil-ter action down 3dB at 1.9Hz. There's a sin-gle op-amp in the circuit per channel, used in a servo circuit to correct for DC at the speaker outputs. No series output inductor is employed, causing long lines at the induc-tor unemployment office.

Internally, the GFA-535 II's build quality is up to Adcom's usual high level. Low-noise, metal-film resistors and precision film caps populate the printed circuit board, while the pcb layout minimizes long wiring runs throughout. The two-transformer dual-mono power supply is quite a bit beefier than nor-mally seen in this price range, with each transformer's 50VDC supply rails smoothed with a 6800µF/63V electrolytic cap bypassed with a 0.22uF film cap. Okay, so Extreme Dual-Mono fetishists

will bitch that the Adcom's supply isn't truly dual-mono 'cuz of the single AC power cord, but do me a favor, guys—a little deodorant now and then, hey?

Surprisingly for such a budget-minded design, the Adcom's input RCA jacks are high-quality, Tiffany-style, gold-plated types, but the output posts are a bit lower in outlook—raised plastic ridges at their bases preclude the use of spade lugs, and the round knurled plastic nuts mean that you can't use a hexdriver to tighten them down. You'll have to use bare wire stuck through the post's hole, or perhaps speaker cables terminated with either banana plugs or Deltrons. The front panel features three LEDs: one

to indicate that the thermal-protection circuit has been tripped, and two to indicate "instan-taneous distortion alert"—in all my head-banging with the Adcom, I never saw any of these lights come on, and I drove this amp hard!

Adcorn GFA-535 II's sound: The littlest

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Adcom was a pretty forward-sounding amplifier, with a brightish balance that always called immediate attention to itself in my two systems. The Adcom's low treble had a per-sistent edge which produced a fairly piercing sound that made Rock-Approved listening levels a bit hard to take. Unfortunately, this type of tonal balance does not tend to flatter the kind of budget gear you're likely to mate with an amp in this price range. When you get down into the Lower Reaches with hi-fi gear, the first thing to go is usually a clean midrange and high end. The most common characteristic I keep hearing while reviewing budget gear is a gritty coarseness through the mids and highs that tends to make music sound more synthetic than with the higher-end gear. And unfortunately for the Adcom GFA-535 II, it seemed to accentuate this hardness, adding a bit of bite and roughness of its own to the overall sound. The Adcom did have a pretty good bottom

end—a little light and restrained in absolute terms, but tight and well-defined. Music with strong bass lines, like the Masters of Reality's Sunrise on the Sufferbus CD and DCC's (the label, not the data-compressed format) reissue of Cream's Wheels ofFire, came across as less balls-out slammin' with the Adcom in the chain than with the Acurus DIA-100—but then the Acurus does cost almost three times as much moolah. I found the Adcom's bass to be better suited to slower pieces that throb, like Masters of Reality's "V.H.V. (Blues for Eartha)," rather than 4-2-the-floor blasters like MOR's "She Got Me" from the same disc. The Adcom just didn't have the speed and attack of the Acurus in the low end, or, for that matter, Adcom's own GFA-555 II. It was also slightly bettered in this regard by the Rotel RB-960BX, though the Rotel's low end wasn't really any-thing to get jazzed about, either. I don't think you can expect Bass O'The

Gods from a li'l $350 amplifier, and I cer-tainly didn't get it from either the Adcom or the Rotel: Tickets to the Big Bass Ball just cost more than $350, that's all. With budget designs like these, corners have to be cut, and it's the smart designer who can best hide his compromises when trying to deliver high-end sound for a few hundred clams. But it was that ever-pervasive sense of

hardness and grain that kept me from get-ting too worked up over the Adcom's sound.

In my opinion, if budget gear can't achieve the same level of cleanliness and clarity that even most mid-priced gear seems to possess these days, it's better that it err toward soft-ness rather than hardness. (I have to assume that most listeners fishing around in this low-dollar pond would rather listen to somewhat softened, rounded-off sounds than ones whose coarseness keeps calling attention to their inexpensive origins. I know I do.)

Replacing the Adcom GFA-535 II with a good mid-priced amplifier such as the $1200 Muse Model One Hundred or the $600 Rotel RB-980BX1 pretty much banished this midrange congestion, transforming the sound of the Real World system into some-thing much more akin to a true high-end rig.

Here's what I'm talking about: When I played the Fairfield Four's Standing in the Safety Zone CD with the Adcom in the chain, I heard a raspier, grainier sound from this gospel quartet than the kind of stunning clar-ity and openness I regularly experience when I plop this amazing CD into my He-Man rig. The music's clean-headed vibe is normally stuff you want to sit back and drink in like fresh-squeezed orange juice, but the Adcom's congestion through the midrange made the sound much less satisfying, with a trace of hash surrounding the whole ensemble. I found the $995 Conrad-Johnson PV10A tube preamp to go a long way toward smoothing the Adcom's rough edges, but a thousand-buck preamp is a bit out of place in a Real World budget rig. Using the excel-lent, passive McCormack Line Drive wasn't a good choice, either, because this unit's extreme transparency didn't balance the Adcom's bite in the way that the PV10A did.

I'd have to rate the Adcom GFA-535 II as average in terms of re-creating a believable sense of space on well-recorded program material. My Real World system isn't really a champ at throwing up a wide, palpable soundstage, but the sense of 3D space was much better when the system was driven by the Rotel RB-960BX. The 535 II tended to flatten the depth of images and the sound-stage, making for a shallower presentation overall than the RB-960BX. The Adcom did seem to have sharper image focus, but I'm not sure that this wasn't mostly due to its much brighter and more forward signature. The

1 Favorably reviewed by TJN in Vol.15 Nall, p.171. I second his emotion that the Ftotel 980 is a really good amp for $600.


Rote!, with its softer-focus rendering, none-theless had a bigger, more accessible sound. I think that pinpoint imaging and that nth degree of soundstage width are thangs that the Real World music lover needs to forget when trying to assemble a system like this. At these prices you just can't have it all, and I'll trade Ultimate Space Trippin' for a more relaxed and less hashy sound.

Perhaps the most telling moments came for the Adcom when I had it and the Rotel running in the He-Man room, alternating them to drive the big NHT 3.3 loudspeakers. When friends came by, it was always the Rotel that I'd hook up to show my pals what a good el-cheapo amplifier could do. When it was time to lay it on the line, the Adcom just wasn't up to the challenge. It's a decent little amp, but it didn't really juice my lizard the way Adcom's bigger GFA-555 II or the similarly priced Rote! RB-960BX did.

—Corey Greenberg

TJN measures the Adcom GFA-535 II: Following its one-hour preconditioning at V3 power, the Adcom was hot to the touch. Its input impedance measured a comfort-ably high 93k ohms, and its gain measured 27.2dB. The output impedance was under 0.04 ohm from 20Hz to lkHz, and under 0.06 ohm at 20kHz. DC offset measured OmV in the left channel, 3mV in the right. Wide-band signal/noise (ref 1W into 8 ohms) measured 88.2dB, unweighted. The GFA-535 II was noninverting from input to out-put.

Fig.1 shows the GFA-535 II's frequency response—essentially flat across most of the spectrum, with rolloffs at the extremes. The response in the bass was down 0.6dB at 20Hz. The 10kHz squarewave response is

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shown in fig.2. The gradual high-frequency rolloffis reflected in its slightly rounded lead-ing edges. The 11d-lz squarewave (not shown) is distinguished only by a slight downtilt on the top of the waveform (and a mirror-image uptilt at the bottom), caused by the extreme low-end rolloff. The crosstalk (fig3) is nearly perfectly symmetrical (the same from either channel to the other) above lkHz, with the left-right crosstalk slightly higher below this frequency. As is typical in most two-channel components, there is a gradual increase in

Fig.2 Adcom GFA-53511, 10kHz squarewave at IW into 8 ohms.

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Fig.3 Adcom GFA-53511, crosstalk (from top to bottom at 100Hz): L—R, R—L (5dB/vertical div.).

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Fig.4 Adcom GFA-535 II, THD+nese vs frequency at (from top to bottom): 4W into 2 ohms, 2W into 4 ohms, IW into 8 ohms (right channel dashed).

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crosstalk as frequency increases—usually the result of inter-channel capacitive coupling. The manner in which the Adcom's small-

signal THD + noise varies with frequency into various loads is plotted in fig.4. The rise in distortion as frequency increases is com-mon to most amplifiers; the absolute level of distortion here remains low, even in the worst case. The waveform of the residual THD+ noise with a lkHz signal, taken at an 11W output into 4 ohms, is shown in fig.5. The distortion here is primarily second harmonic with noise—as is also the case into both 2 ohm and 8 ohm loads (not shown). The distortion spectrum of the GFA-535

II with a 50Hz input and an output of 67W into 4 ohms (2/3 rated power into that load) is shown in fig.6. There is some power-supply hum visible (120Hz at lower than -85dB). The distortion components are well down in level, the second harmonic at 100Hz

Fig.5 Adcom GFA-535 II, IltHz waveform at 11W into 4 ohms (top), distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out (bottom).

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Fig.6 Adcom GFA-535 II, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC—I kHz, at 67W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale). Note that the second harmonic at 100Hz is the highest in level, 78dB below the level of the 50Hz fundamental (0.012%). followed by a 120Hz power-supply component.

being the largest by far at -78dB, or about 0.012%. Fig.7 shows the spectrum resulting from a combined 19+ 20kHz input—the intermodulation of these two frequencies—at 67W output into a 4 ohm load. The largest artifact here is at lkHz, -76.8dB or about 0.015%, followed closely by a slightly lower -77.7dB (0.14%) at 17kHz. The spectrum for 40W into 8 ohms (not shown) has slightly lower distortion components, but is not dra-matically different. The lkHz THD+ noise vs level curves for

the Adcom are shown in fig.8. The power output does increase with decreasing im-pedance, but—as one might expect with a modestly priced amplifier—does not double with each halving of impedance. The results are good otherwise, with low distortion up to the break-point, or knee, of the curve. The discrete clipping levels (1% THD + noise) were measured at 80W (19dBW) left and right, 113V line, both channels driven, and 80.8W (19.1dBW), 113V line, with a single channel driven into 8 ohms; 114W (17.6dBW) left and 113.2W (17.5dBW) right, 114V line, both channels driven; and 113.6W (175dBW), 114V line with a single channel driven into 4 ohms. The separate power supplies for each

Fig.7 Adcom GFA-53511. HF intermodula ion spectrum, DC-22kHz, 19+20kHz at 67W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).

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Fig.8 Adcom GFA-535 II, distortion vs output power into (from bottom to top) 8 ohms, 4 ohms, and 2 ohms.


channel are evident in the nearly identical readings for one or both channels driven. Blowing fuses defeated attempts to measure the power output at dipping into 2 ohms, but the THD +noise vs level curve of fig.8 indi-cates that this should be just over 150W (15.75dBW) with one channel driven.

Altogether, the measured performance of the Adcom GFA-535 II gives no cause for complaint. It is clearly not too comfortable with sustained delivery into very low imped-ances, blowing fuses when forced to drive 2 ohms for more than a few seconds. But it will drive significant power into these imped-ances for brief periods. And sustained per-formance into very low impedances is not, in any event, normally expected in this size and price class. Overall, the GFA-535 II lives up to its reputation, and is a solid performer on the test bench. —Thomas J. Norton

ROTEL RB-960BX Circuit-wise, the Rotel RB-960BX is similar to the Adcom GFA-535 II. There are differ-ences in parts values, layout, etc., but these are not two radically different designs. What is pretty radical, though, is the differ-

ence in build quality. While the Adcom is built to a standard that suggests higher-priced components, the Rotel is built more like. . .well, an amp that only costs $369. The input RCAs, for example, appear to be lower-grade than the Adcom's, though the speaker posts appear to be identical—you can't use speaker cables terminated with spade lugs with this amp, either. And overall, the board work is fairly sloppy, with some parts that were apparently assigned to the board after the design had been finished. While none of this somewhat "relaxed" workmanship is cause for real concern—the Rotel ran strongly, with no problems whatsoever—its build quality wasn't as high as the Adcom's. Like the Adcom, the Rotel is an AC-

coupled design. But where the Adcom uses a small-value polycarbonate film cap in series

with the signal, the Rotel uses a 10µF/50V electrolytic cap, this a Modlcateer-Approved "Black Gate" type from Rubycon. Shunted to ground by a 27.4k resistor, the Rotel's DC-blocking filter has a response of -3dB at around half a hertz. There is no additional DC-servo circuit as with the Adcom. The RB-960BX is also similar to the

Adcom in having dual-mono power supplies, with each channel having its own beefy power transformer and two 10,000µF/50V reservoir caps, one for each 47VDC power-supply rail. The Rotel sports a triple-Darlington push-

pull output stage, with two pairs of bipolar output devices per channel. And, again like the Adcom, the Rotel employs no output inductors—so if you see an output inductor on the side of the road with a "will, ISOLATE CAPACITIVE LOADS FOR FOOD" sign, help the poor guy out, okay? Times is tough.

Unlike the Adcom, the Rotel is bridgeable to mono configuration by flicking a switch on the back panel, in which case it's rated at 180W into 8 ohms. Because the Rotel is capa-ble of bridged-mono operation, I also tried two of 'em as monoblocks.

Rotel RB-960BX's sound: If you've read my description of the Adcom GFA-535 II's sound, then you know I preferred the Rotel BB-960BX's. The Rotel isn't a perfect ampli-fier, but I found it much more forgiving of the typical budget gear it's likely to be matched with.

For starters, the Rotel had a much softer and easier character. Voices were clearer and less congested, and the system sounded much more musical and pleasant overall with the RB-960BX. While the Adcom sounded very forward and aggressive, the Rotel was more laid-back and relaxed. Yes, there were slight traces of grain and bite through the mids and highs, but the Rotel had much less of this than the Adcom, and was much easier to listen to and live with in the long term,

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I should put this into perspective, though. If you're more accustomed to the higher-end gear in Stereophile's "Recommended Com-ponente you'll be far more sensitive to what both the Adcom and Rotel amps "do" to the sound of a hi-fi rig than most entry-level audiophiles. But you also probably won't be shoppin' for no $350 amplifier, neither! On the other hand, if you're movin' on up

from a cheap mid-fi Japanese receiver, you'll probably find that either of these amps sounds vastly better than what you've been listening to music with. Of course, then you'll be off n'running down that long, strange High End Trail, but there are plenty of worse ways to spend your time while waiting to die (Such as writing angry letters to Stereophile's editor demanding to know why a bunch of repressed, middle-aged white guys don't review Public Enemy and Ice Cube.) The Rotel's mellower balance really gave

it the edge when it was inserted into the Real World system. The budget-king CD players —even the cool-man JVC—have at least a trace of hardness and grit to their sounds, and the 960BX was of great help in smooth-ing out this tizz. Standing in the Safety Zone sounded much smoother and more natural via the Rotel, and while the individual voices weren't as clearly focused as with the Adcom, the overall sound was much more enjoyable and musical. I found that I could, and did, spend long listening sessions with the Rotel, in either the Real World system or the He-Man rig, without the urge to switch back to a "real" amplifier. I usually got that urge when spending time with the Adcom GFA-535 II. The Rotel had a faster, more rhythmically

involving bass range. It wasn't a serious threat to the Aragon and Muse brutes, but the Rotel's low end was really deep and grooving for such a cheap amp. Whether driving the Spicas or even the big NHT 3.3s, the Rotel was consistently more comfortable with groove-heavy music than the Adcom. Nei-ther amp would probably make Martin Col-loms shake-it-till-he-break-it, but in the context of a budget system, the Rotel was more than up to the hardest-rocking music I could throw at it. The Rotel also did a fine job of throwing

up a good-sized soundstage with more than a hint of real depth. I hate myself for listening

to it each time I grab it off the ruck, but Roger Waters's Amused to Death does have the widest, most vividly detailed soundstage of any CD in my collection—it's got QSound processing splashed all over it with about as much subtlety as I displayed when splash-ing on the Old Spice at age 15. With the Rotel, the razor-sharp imaging I'm used to hearing from this disc was dulled a bit, blur-ring the image outlines together to make for a less distinct sense of soundscape. But in terms of sheer size, the Rotel had a much big-ger sound than the Adcom GFA-535 II, which tended to flatten image depth. Nei-ther amp could really do justice to real spacemeisters like the Ry Cooder/Vishwa Bhatt A Meeting by the River CD, but the Rotel did enable the Real World system to approx-imate the sheer size of the soundscape that I hear from my He-Man rig, if not the image focus. The Rotel's ability to render the somewhat

black'n'blue sound of my budget system into a listenable, enjoyable rig was far and away its most important achievement. I repeat: This was hardly the most accurate amplifier I've ever heard, but the RB-960BX had a rather soft-focused sound that, while not really reminiscent of classic tube gear, was laid-back and relaxed. The Rotel's tendency toward softness could really spell the differ-ence between a low-budget system you gotta force yourself to like and one whose musicality surprises you every time you sit down to listen.

Incidentally, using the McCormack Line Drive improved the sound vastly more than two entry-level solid-state preamps Rotel sent me to try, the RP-960BX and RP-980BX. I highly un-recommend that you go the route of assembling a Real World system around the inexpensive Rotel preamps, which pretty much obscured component differences when used in my Real World system. I'll be the first to tell you about a sub-$500 preamp that doesn't muck up the sound, but, so far, it ain't got here. Because the Rotel allows for bridging

operation into a 180W mono amp, I tried two of them in bridged mode to drive the NHT 3.3s.

Forget it. Yes, the power went up and the amps played louder, but the sound pretty much fell apart, especially in the bass. Over-all, the sound got more congested, with an


added bit of wiriness on top that isn't there in standard stereo operation. I wasn't nearly as impressed with the Rotel in bridged mode as in its normal stereo configuration—if you need more power than the 960BX's 60W, I strongly recommend that you go ahead and buy Rotel's 100W RB-980BX instead of using two 960s in bridged mode. I got a much more coherent and convincing sound from the 980 than with the bridged 960s, and the single 980 is even a little cheaper to boot.

—Corey Greenberg

TJN measures the Rotel RB-960BX: The Rotel RB-960BX was also hot to the touch after preconditioning at 1/3 power. Its input impedance measured 28k ohms, its 8-ohm gain 27.4dB. The output impedance was be-low 0.04 ohm from 20Hz to lkHz, and rose just slightly to under 035 ohm at 20kHz. DC offset measured 2mV in the left channel, lmV in the right. Signallnoise (unweighted at 1W into 8 ohms) measured 903dB. The Rotel is noninverting, a positive-going signal at its inputs remaining positive at the outputs.

Fig.9 shows RB-960BX's frequency re-sponse at 1W into 8 ohms—virtually flat above 100Hz and with only a negligible rolloff at the low end. The response at 2W into 4 ohms (not shown) was virtually the same, the only difference being a 0.1dB rolloff at 50kHz with the lower impedance load. This extended high-frequency response is reflected in the 10kHz squarewave (fig.10), which is virtually flat on top with only a hint of overshoot. The lkHz squarewave (not shown) deviates from a textbook result only in having a slight tilt at the top and bottom, reflecting the amplifier's extreme low-end rolloff. The crosstalk (fig.11) is nearly symmetrical

between the two channels. The channel sepa-ration, while not exceptional, is unlikely to cause any audible degradation. The gradual increase in crosstalk as frequency increases is typically due to capacitive coupling be-tween channels, and is common in most stereo components where the two channels are in close proximity. The Rotel's low-power THD + noise

(fig.12) remains low across the frequency range, with a modest rise in the upper octaves and with decreasing load impedance. The waveform of the THD +noise residual at a 5.5W output into 4 ohms, with the lkHz

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fundamental notched out, is shown in fig.13. While the main component of the distor-tion is clearly second-harmonic, the uneven nature of the curve also indicates higher harmonics, along with the inevitable noise components. The waveform is slightly more erratic into a 2-ohm load and slightly smoother into 8 ohms (neither shown), but the main component remains second-harmonic. The distortion spectrum of the RB-960BX

with a 50Hz input and an output of 67V./ into 4 ohms is shown in fig.14. There is power-supply-related noise visible (120Hz at about -80dB, and again at 240Hz at about -95dB). The distortion components are low, how-ever. The second harmonic (100Hz) is the highest at -72.4dB or 0.025%. The third har-monic (150Hz) is -82dB or 0.008%. Fig.15 shows the response to a combined 19+20kHz signal—the intermodulation of these two

Fig.I3 Rotel RB-960BX, IkHz waveform at 5.5W into 4 ohms (top), distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out (bottom).

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sinewave, DC—I kHz, at 67W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale). Note that the second harmonic at 100Hz is the highest in level, 72.4dB below the level of the 50Hz fundamental (0.024%), followed by the third harmonic (150Hz) at —82dB (0.008%).

frequencies—at 57W output into a 4 ohm load (the maximum power output available with this signal into 4 ohms without clip-ping). The highest-level artifact here is at 21kHz-61dB down, or about 0.09%. The distortion decreases in the mid-treble, increasing again at lower frequencies and reaching a peak at 2kHz of -67dB, or just over 0.04%. The equivalent spectrum at 36.7W into 8 ohms (not shown, and, again, the highest power output short of clipping with this signal at this impedance) shows the same pattern with marginally lower distor-tion in some regions (particularly the higher treble) and higher distortion in others (the mid-treble). The changes, however, are actu-ally very small on an absolute basis. The lkHz THD +noise vs level curves for

the Rotel are shown in fig.16. Discrete clip-ping (1% THD+ noise) occurred at 63.2W (18dBW) left and 64.4W (18.1dBW) right, 114V line, both channels driven, and 68.2W (183dBW), 117V line with a single channel driven into 8 ohms; 84.4W (16.25dBW) left and 84W (16.2dBW) right, 110-112V line, both channels driven, and 89.6W (165dBW), 113V line, with a single channel driven into 4 ohms; and 108.9W (143dBW), 115V line,

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Fig.I5 Rotel RB-960BX, HF intermodulation spectrum. DC-22kHz, 19+20kHz at 57W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).

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power into (from bottom to top) 8 ohms, 4 ohms, and 2 ohms.


with a single channel driven into 2 ohms. The Rotel's power output was slightly

lower than that of the Adcom GFA-535 II. Unlike the Adcom—and despite the fact that both have separate power transformers for each channel— the Rotel's power out-put with a single channel driven was slightly higher than it was with both channels driven. Like the Adcom, however, the Rotel blew fuses during the testing, though not dur-ing the clipping-level tests; the blown fuse was discovered the next time the amplifier was switched on. (Thus a second sample was used for the squarewave, distortion wave-form, and 50Hz spectrum tests.) The Rotel can also be used as a monoblock

in bridged configuration. The frequency response in this mode (not shown) was vir-tually unchanged from the unbridged mode. The distortion increased marginally over that for the normal stereo configuration, but the change is not significant. The bridged THD+ noise vs level results shown in fig.17 indicate that the Rotel will put out over 150W into 8 ohms in the bridged mode (21.75dBW) before its distortion heads north, and that it will also do at least as well into 4 ohms, though at generally higher levels of dis-tortion. The Rotel's maximum power de-livery was not checked in the bridged mode into 2 ohms; using a conventional solid-state amplifier in a bridged configuration into low impedances is generally undesirable?

Like the Adcom GFA-535 II, the Rotel RB-960BX could not match the doubling of output with each halving of load imped-ance, something that's achieved by much larger and more expensive power amplifiers that have power supplies capable of driving an AC distribution network. But the Rotel's test-bench performance, though not really exceptional in any particular area—what would have been exceptional performance a few years ago is today taken for granted— displayed no measurable weaknesses that might audibly limit its performance when the amplifier is used within its power rating.

—Thomas J. Norton

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS The Adcom GFA-535 II will appeal more to

2 A good rule of thumb to follow is that if your stereo ampli-fier is rated for use into loads down to 4 ohms, bridging the two channels for use as a monoblock will mean avoiding loudspeakers that dip below twice that value; it, 8 ohms.—JA

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0031

10 100

Fig.I8 Rotel RB-960BX in bridged mode,

distortion vs output power into (from

bottom to top) 8 ohms and 4 ohms.

listeners looking for a forward-sounding amp to give an otherwise wimpy system a sharper character. The Adcom's high end has a fair amount of bite to it, so careful system-matching is needed in the case of shrill-sounding speakers and/or rough-sounding budget CD players and preamps. Of the two manufacturers, I think Rotel

made the more realistic "voicing" tradeoffs. The Adcom tries hard to be a He-Man full-range amplifier, but it winds up sounding hard, too. The Rotel, however, sounds wisely rolled-off on the top, and as a result doesn't get into as much trouble with less-than-perfect ancillary gear. The Rotel is not the amp to buy if you're

trying to go for a really analytical, high-rez budget system. It did not resolve the last snippet of detail from my records and CDs when compared with good mid-priced amplifiers like the $1200 Muse Model One Hundred or the $995 Acurus DIA-100 integrated amp. No, the Rotel is for the budget-minded music lover who wants a good, solid little amplifier that's not going to make listening to music a trying experi-ence. And for $370, that's a pretty fair trick.

—Corey Greenberg $

192 Í STEREOPHILE, °CM:OBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

BRYSTON 7B NRB-THX MONOBLOCK POWER AMPLIFIER

Thomas J. Norton

""—

• • • - ---",...._

• • % •• • ` ‘ ' • ‘ ‘ •

Bryston 78 NRBTHX monoblock power amplifier

Solid-state monoblock power amplifier. Class of operation: AB2. Balanced and unbalanced inputs. Rated power output: 500W continuous sinewave power into 8 ohms (27dBW), 800W continuous sinewave power into 4 ohms (26dBW). Distortion: less than 0.01%, 20Hz-20kHz at 500W. IM or THD. Rated slew rate: greater than 60V/gs, parallel mode, 120V/µs, series mode. Sensitivity: IV for full output. Rated input impedance: 10k ohms. Rated full-power bandwidth: 1Hz-100kHz. Damping factor over 300 at 20Hz, ref. 8 ohms. Dimensions: 19" W by 5.25" H by 15.5" D. Weight: 42 lbs. Price: $4690/pair (non-THX version available at $4390/pair). Serial numbers of units tested: 7703361770337. Approximate number of dealers: 60. Manufacturer Bryston Limited, 57 Westmore Drive, Rexdale, Ontario M9V 3Y6, Canada. Tel.: (416) 746-1800. Fax: (416) 746-0308. US: Brystonvermont Ltd., RFD 4, Box 2255, Montpelier, VT 05602. Tel: (800) 673-7899, (802) 223-6159. Fax: (802) 229-2210.

The Canadian audio industry has been mount-ing a challenge to other high-end manufac-turers over the past few years. Ask any audio-phile about Canadian audio manufacturers and chances are that he or she will have no trouble rattling off a string of respected names —Classé, Museatex, Sonic Frontiers, Mirage, PSB, Paradigm, Energy. And Bryston. Bryston may be the most senior of the

bunch. Founded in the early '60s, it has been manufacturing continuously ever since, ex-porting a good proportion of its wares to the US. Unlike most high-end manufacturers, however, it targets the professional market at least as heavily as the consumer market. This pro orientation lends a certain distinc-tiveness to its designs. Its amplifiers, in par-ticular, can be easily moved around by one

person. Its cosmetics are attractive but in no way ostentatious. There are no half-inch-thick front panels or brushed gold anodizing —just solid but simple black casework. The Bryston 7B NRB-TFIX amplifier, has,

in addition to the above characteristics, a complete set of inputs and switches occupy-ing its back panel, some of them familiar, some unusual. There are the now-expected unbalanced and balanced inputs (with an unexpected two of the latter, one for a three-conductor phone plug and one for the more common XLR), two pairs ofloudspeaker ter-minals (why there are two pairs on a mono-block will be explained shortly), and four toggle switches. One of the latter selects between the balanced and unbalanced inputs, another inverts the polarity of the output sig-


nal, and a third disconnects the chassis ground (the power cord's third or round prong) from the signal ground. The latter eliminates the ground loop which is some-times formed when the preamp also has a three-pronged power cord, a situation that most often occurs when preamp and power amp are plugged into different outlets—not unheard of these days with power amplifiers located near the loudspeakers. But, unlike the situation when using a "cheater" plug to accomplish the same end, the Bryston's ground lift switch retains the ground con-nection between the wall socket and the amplifier's chassis. The fourth toggle switch—mechanically

shielded to make it difficult to engage because it should not be thrown with the amplifier turned on—selects between two operating modes, "series" or "parallel!' This feature is unique, in my experience, among high-end amplifiers. Each 7B monoblock is composed of tu internal modules, each having its own independent power supply with ± 55V rails, and each driven from the main amplifier input. The series/parallel toggle switch, used in combination with the two pairs of output terminals (one pair connected to the output of each module), enables the modules to be connected in either a series or parallel mode. The toggle switch configures the module

inputs; the user takes care of the module out-puts by the manner in which he or she hooks up the loudspeaker to the four output terminals—one pair driven from each internal module. The parallel mode of operation optimizes the 7B for loads as low as 1 ohm, connecting both modules in parallel at their inputs and outputs. In the series mode—the type of connection commonly used when amplifiers are bridged—the mode switch reverses the phase of the input to one module and the loudspeaker is connected to the two positive output terminals. With this arrange-ment, the amplifier is optimized for loads of 3 ohms and above. Hookup in either config-uration is actually a very simple matter, harder to describe than to perform.

This two-module, bridged design simpli-fies the amplifier designer's task in compar-ison with what is faced in designing most all-things-to-all-loudspeakers amplifiers, but somewhat complicates the user's task. Since most loudspeakers' impedances vary signifi-cantly across the frequency range, no one

mode will be absolutely optimal at all times. But the situation is manageable; the most dif-ficult task for any amplifier is driving low-impedance loads—those demanding the greatest current capability. If your loud-speakers measure below 3 ohms for a sub-stantial portion of the frequency range (a good example is the Thiel CS3.6), you should use the parallel mode. If they dip below 3 ohms here and there, you should probably use the parallel mode, but can likely exper-iment safely with the series connection. Ste-reophile prints impedance measurements in its loudspeaker reviews; if your loudspeaker has not been reviewed, you should be able to get appropriate guidance from the loud-speaker manufacturer. The internal circuitry of the 7B is com-

pletely symmetrical. The output section of each module is composed of multiple pairs of PNP and NPN bipolar output transistors, each pair controlled by a single driver tran-sistor. Each of these sets—output pair and driver—is treated as a composite output device with a very linear transfer function; Bryston refers to this as its "Quad-Complementary" configuration, and although other fully com-plementary designs are similar, Bryston argues that its particular implementation is unique and proprietary, yielding high overall linearity and mainly low-order distortion products. Feedback is primarily local in nature, and the open-loop distortion is said to be on the order of 0.05%.

Utilizing dual toroidal power transformers —one for each internal amplifier module— the 7B's power supply is said to incorporate circuitry which rejects radio-frequency inter-ference and minimizes the effects of line spikes. The use of external line conditioners is discouraged by Bryston. The front-panel, power-on LED, while normally glowing green, will turn yellow as clipping is approached and red when the amplifier is driven into overload (I experienced nothing but green during my time with the 7Bs). The Bryston uses internal protection circuitry, but it's designed to protect the amplifier while still allowing it to drive even highly complex loads without complaint. One potentially useful feature of the Bryston's power sup-ply is its "soft start" circuit, which prevents an immediate drain on the power line when the unit is turned on. It's potentially useful because this is not likely to be of great impor-


tance to a user with a conventional stereo rig. But for the owner having racks of equipment and multiple pairs of 7Bs in, say, a profes-sional or Home Theater installation, it might just keep start-up from shutting down the whole neighborhood. The Bryston 7B NR13-THX is, as its name

indicates, a THX-certified product. For those who may have recently returned from Alpha Centauri, the folks from Lucasfilm who bring you THX movie sound have estab-lished a set of standards for various audio components which these products must meet to wear the THX label and be used officially in THX systems—home or theater.' Bryston also manufactures a non-THX version of the same amplifier (the 7B NRB) which, the company claims, differs from the THX ver-sion only in that it has ldB more gain and lacks the THX front-panel logo. It also costs $300 less per pair.

Either amplifier, of course, can be used in either an audio-only system or an audio/ video setup. I would like to be able to relate what sort of special characteristics an ampli-fier must have to qualify for the THX seal of approval, but that information is kept con-fidential by Lucasfilm, and, at Lucasfilm's insistence, by its THX licensees. One charac-teristic which, deduced from circumstantial evidence, seems to be part of the THX ampli-fier specifications is a high dynamic head-room—the ratio of instantaneous to continu-ous power output.

ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Auditioning began in a system consisting of a C.E.C. TL 1 transport, Mark Levinson No.35 D/A converter, Rowland Consum-mate preamp, and Immedia RPM1 turntable with Wheaton Triplanar III tonearm and Lyra Parnassus cartridge feeding an Audio Research PH2 phono stage. The loudspeakers were Wilson Audio WATTs/Puppies. Inter-connects were AudioQuest Lapis (balanced) from phono preamp stage to Consummate, TARA Labs Master RSC from D/A converter to Consummate, and Cardas Hexlink from Consummate to power amps (the latter two interconnects were unbalanced). TARA Labs RSC loudspeaker cables connected the power amps to the loudspeakers. The transport-

1 Use ola non-official amplifier in a home THX system will, as we all know, bring down the wrath of the THX Police. JGH, you're in big trouble.

converter link was Ensemble Digiflux coax.

SOUND My first exposure to the sound of the Bryston 7Bs was during my recent auditioning of the Mirage M-lsi loudspeakers for the June issue (Vol.16 No.6, p.192). I had been very im-pressed by the combination's ease and lack of irritating qualities, its smooth, palpable midrange, and its sweet, silky highs. I had also found the bass and midbass to be deep and rich, leaning more to fullness than to tightness. The pair of Bryston 7Bs used with the no

longer in-house Mirages were a different set from those which I now had hooked up to the WATTs/Puppies in my listening room. The earlier pair were non-THX, while the newer pair had the THX logo tastefully emblazoned on the front panel. "A sign of the times," I thought, though Bryston had assured me that the two pairs of amplifiers were otherwise essentially identical. With the Mirages I had driven the Brystons in their serial mode. The WATTs/Puppies, however, have a sharp but brief flirtation with 1.75 ohms at about 2200Hz, and retain a relatively low (but not that low) impedance at other points above about 150Hz. I therefore followed the guidance in the

7B's owner's manual and drove the Wilsons with the Brystons in their parallel mode. Later auditioning in the series mode revealed no particular change—positive or negative —in performance, but, with no lack of power in the parallel connection, there was no rea-son not to adhere to Bryston's recommen-dations for the bulk of my listening. I was feeling in need of a bit of Christmas

in July—Santa Fe having a hotter than usual summer—so I began by playing Christmas Time with TheJudds (RCA 6422-2-R), a re-cording most notable for its clean, open detail and well-chosen perspectives. The result was striking, with a tight image, well-defined soundstage, and plenty of natural, unexag-gerated detail. There seemed to be just the right degree of richness, especially in the three-dimensional vocals. The breath sounds from the children's chorus on "Away in a Manger" sounded like real breathing, not pink noise, and the guitars combined warmth and detail in just the right amounts.

Resisting the strong temptation to hitch ol' Betsy to the sleigh and wassail Stereophile's

STEREOPHILE, OCMBER 1993 195 WorldRadioHistory

neighbors, I switched to something a bit more summery—the terrific new orchestral soundtrack fromfurassic Parle (MCA MCAD-10859). It begins with three powerful drum strokes (use caution with this if your loud-speakers lack power-handling capability in the deep bass). The drum strokes were powerful and solid through the Brystons, definitely on the full side of neutral but not unnaturally so. The drums were also placed at a convincing depth. Later in the record-ing the full orchestra enters, and there was a natural lushness to the strings (especially on the lower strings as they echoed the first strains of the compelling main theme). The brass and high strings tend to dryness and thinness on this recording (made in the old MGM, now Sony, Scoring Stage in Culver City, California, site of the late-'70s Sheffield/ Leinsdorf direct-disc recordings with the LA Philharmonic). But, overall, the reproduction engaged me enough that I had to fight the urge to run out and see the film again. But both of these recordings are a shade

lean in the midbass area—in fact, both could be considered a bit dry in this region. Over the Brystons/Wilsons they sounded about right—neither too full nor too lean. Further listening to a wide variety of recordings led me to confirm my earlier observation, gleaned during those Mirage M-lsi sessions, that the Bryston 7Bs do tend to a rather full, warm low end, lacking that last word in hair-trigger bass-transient response. No problem on the quantity, but the quality of the Brystons' bot-tom end left me scratching around for answers. The vocals on the Fairfield Four's Standing in the Safety Zone (Warner Bros. 26945-2), while rich and full-bodied, were a bit too rich and full-bodied, needing a bit more fleetness of foot to really move along. Switching to ICimber Kable's KCAG digi-tal interconnect tightened and opened up matters a bit, but did not completely elim-inate the problem. The acoustic bass on King and Moore's "Man in the Oven," fromJus-tice Records Sampler, The First Year Gustice JR#0002-2), was rather furry and ill-defined. The Brystons' midrange and top end re-

mained their strong suit. I got the impres-sion over the course of time that the 7Bs' very highest frequencies were somewhat restrained —on "I Was Glad" from Magnum Mysterium (Chesky CD83) I wished for more of a sense of air and transparency. However, the con-

sistent lack of any nasty surprises at the top were strong compensation. The Brystons' three-dimensional, natural midrange repro-duction continued to be a delight. The sound bloomed in an almost tube-like fashion. And while I would not confuse the sound of the Bryston 7Bs with that of a good tube amp —it did not have the lively openness of the best of that breed—it still had some of that soft, sweet high end, glowing midrange, and, yes, overwarm bass that defines (and limits) the sound of tubes. With analog program material (the above

observations were made with Compact Disc as a source) the picture changed rather sig-nificantly. Much of the excess warmth dried up. This was a rather surprising observation, inasmuch as analog is often credited with being warmer-sounding than digital. My experience with a Clavis cartridge—a close relative to the more expensive Parnassus in the present system—does indicate, however, that this family of cartridges tilts more to the lean and tight than to the rich and full. As I am still scoping out the sound of the analog front-end used here, it's a bit early to totally pin down its inherent sound, but in fairness I cannot ignore the fact that the Brystons def-initely sounded lighter on their feet with this particular analog front-end. I used the digital front-end for the remain-

der of the evaluation because I am more familiar with its performance. The C.E.C./ Levinson is a first-rate combination, but the C.E.C. transport is also slightly rich rather than analytical. A brief trial of the setup with the yet-to-be-reviewed California Audio Labs Delta transport did indicate a slightly cooler sound with the latter, though with a slight but noticeable sacrifice to that three-dimensional, grainless midrange heard with the C.E.C. To settle the matter—if not once and for

all, then at least to my present satisfaction—I pulled out2 our Krell KSA-250 for a side-by-side comparison with the Bryston 7Bs. This particular Krell model was discontinued earlier this year, but it's a Class A amp with which I have had a great deal of experience. The listening room took on a toastier ambi-ence with the KSA cooking on all burners (the Brystons, unlike the Krell, run relatively cool), but I proceeded with the comparison

2 Actually, one does not ever "pull out" a Krell.


regardless. Somebody had to do it, and all that. I began with unbalanced inputs to both

amplifiers, and the Brystons still in the par-allel mode. With the Krell, the sound tight-ened noticeably. It was not quite as sweet-sounding overall as the Brystons, but was in no way lean'n'mean, either. The ICrell's bot-tom end was tighter and more detailed, its potency a bit less obvious than that of the Brystons, but certainly not seriously lack-ing in that respect. "Man in the Oven" on the Krell definitely had a more defined, trans-parent quality, with a less warm but better focused acoustic bass. The extra warmth of the Brystons added a welcome warmth to the vocal, however, pulling it slightly more for-ward and imparting immediacy. The Bryston did display a touch of occasional brightness in the low treble here. This hadn't been evi-dent when I auditioned it alone, but it was audible next to the more laid-back Krell. This was quite minor, however. On the strikingly recorded "Under the

Boardwalk" from Rickie Lee Jones's Girl at Her Volcano (WEA International WPCP-3710)—which is an early RU J album that's not, to my knowledge, generally available on CD in this country—the Bryston brought a good sense of space and openness with its characteristically clean top end. The vocals were solidly set in space, both in width and depth. The sound was very dynamic and slightly forward, which suits this music per-fectly. The bottom end here had solidity and drive. Only a slight hardness was noted at the conclusion.

Surprisingly—based on my experience with the two amplifiers to that point—the Krell only finished a strong second here, with the lead-in voices less spacious and differen-tiated, the highs a bit drier and less clean. The bottom end on the Krell, as before, remained tighter and leaner than that of the Brystons. This tended to open up the overall sound somewhat, but the bigger bottom end of the 7B was put to good use on this recording. Both amplifiers turned in first-rate perfor-mances here, but the Brystons took the checkered flag.

Overall, however, the balance of strengths on the WATTs/Puppies slightly favored the Krell, particularly with its more tightly controlled—if not always as big or impressive —bass. But the strengths of the Brystons continued to impress, and they presented a

strong challenge to the more expensive Krell. To gain an additional perspective on the

7Bs' performance, I also auditioned them driving a pair of Acarian Alón IVs. The Alóns, still in their break-in stage, were less neutral through the midband and a bit more potent in the deep bass than the WATTs/Pup-pies. They also had a less finely rendered (though still very good) soundstage, and, I felt, a smoother though no less detailed top end. The Alóns are considerably less pricey than the Wilsons, though hardly cheap, and are more likely to be found at home in a sys-tem with the comparably priced Brystons. My observations on the 7Bs through the

Alóns were little different. The Brystons remained in the parallel mode. Their top-end response was still clean and detailed, yet at the same time silky and sweet. That bloom to the midrange remained. Imaging was excellent, though the Alóns were, as I noted above, a bit less holographic than the Wit-sons, particularly in defining front-to-back-depth. The Brystons' slight lack of top-end air and more obvious low-end softness remained. My notes comparing the Bryston 7Bs (still

in parallel) with the Krell KSA-250, this time on the Alón IVs, also look like near copies of my earlier notes with the WATTs/Puppies. The Krell continued to have the less rich, more open sound. On the Rickie Lee Jones "On the Boardwalk" cut, the Krell came out ahead. At the very beginning of the piece, there is a hard-to-identify sound in the far background. On the Krell, it was more shar-ply defined, and while I still could not make out exactly what it was, it sounded like a young child saying something that prompts a chuckle from one of the musicians. With the Brystons it was still audible, but less clearly focused. The Krell also gave a more immediate sense of the recording space.

Listening to both the Krell and the Bry-stons with a balanced connection, I initially thought that the Brystons, if anything, were now a bit softer and looser—not a plus. But further listening indicated that the sound was essentially similar to that with the unbalanced link, consistent with my ongoing observa-tions about balanced vs unbalanced connec-tions when used for short runs in home audio. In another environment, perhaps, balanced operation might make more of a difference.


Despite some of my reservations, however, the Brystons were always a pleasure to lis-ten to. That sweet top end and palpable mid-range were powerful attractions, counter-balanced only by a slightly too rich balance and the lack of that last iota of transparency.

MEASUREMENTS Following its one-hour, 1/3-power precon-ditioning, the Bryston 7B was hot all over— heatsinks, top, back, and front panel. Too hot to touch comfortably for more than an instant, it nevertheless continued to operate without malfunctioning. I should point out that this preconditioning test is a worst-case operating mode for a class-B output stage. In normal use, the 7Bs ran cool enough that

tu could leave a hand on them all day long. As noted above, the Bryston 7B is actu-

ally two different amps, depending on whe-ther it's hooked up in its series or parallel con-figuration. Though much of the auditioning was done in the parallel mode, I ran a com-plete set of measurements on each. Most of the measurements were made through the unbalanced input, though the input imped-ance, frequency response, signal/noise ratio, and THD + noise vs frequency were also nieasured using the balanced input. Those esults are presented below. Beginning with the series mode, the input

impedance of the Bryston measured 9.9k olin Is at the unbalanced input. Though this is to the THX spec—the non-THX amp has a 50k input impedance—it could present a problem with the occasional preamp having an unusually high output impedance. These are no longer all that common, but are more likely to be tube units (where unbalanced outputs are still the norm) than solid-state ones (where balanced outputs are becoming more and more common above a certain price point). In the balanced mode, the input ipedance of the Bryston measured a more

comfortable, though a lower than specified, 33k ohms. The gain was 29dB in both unbal-anced and balanced modes. The output impedance was low-0.06 ohms up to lkHz and 0.2-0.23 ohms at 20kHz, depending on load. This suggests a very consistent perfor-mance, at least with respect to overall ampli-fier/loudspeaker frequency response, with a wide range of loudspeakers. The Bryston's DC ofSet in this mode was non-existent—or at least too low to measure. S/N (unweighted,

wideband ref. 1W into 8 ohms) measured 111dB with an unbalanced input, and virtu-ally the same with a balanced one. The 7B was noninverting, a positive impulse at the input remaining positive at the output. In its balanced mode, XLR pin 3 was positive, pin 2 negative, the opposite of the AES standard.

Continuing with the series mode of oper-ation, fig.1 shows the frequency response of the 7B with both balanced and unbalanced inputs into both 4 and 8 ohm loads. Note that the response is flattest at the higher imped-ance with an unbalanced input, but the differ-ence below 20kHz is small. The 10kFlz square-wave response is shown in fig.2. The Bryston has a good risetime, with only a slight round-ing of the leading edge resulting from the top-end rolloff above the audible range. The

squarewave—not shown—shows only the hint of a slope at the top and bottom "plateaus" of the trace (indicative of very low frequency rolloff), and a barely perceptible overshoot.

STEPEPPMILE 8,10.78 erp,uncy mpeon. «du me.

0000

, 0000

50,00

000

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Ap

.100 101,

Fig. I Bryston 7B series mode, frequency response (from top to bottom at 50kHz) at: I W into 8 ohms, unbalanced input; I W into 8 ohms, balanced input; 2W into 4 ohms, unbalanced; 2W into 4 ohms, balanced (0.5dB/vertical div.).

Fig.2 Bryston 7B series mode, 10kHz squarewave at IW into 8 ohms.


The low-power THD + noise vs frequency results in fig3 are consistently low regardless of load, slightly but not appreciably higher above 2kHz at the lower impedances. Obser-vation of the waveform indicates that much of the "distortion" measured at these low power levels was actually noise. This was also evident in the equivalent results from the balanced input, where the THD + noise— mostly the latter—was actually higher than that for the unbalanced input. Bryston's dis-tortion measurements for our samples, fur-nished with the amplifiers, show slightly lower THD + noise, a difference most likely attributable to slight setup differences. At these low THD +noise levels, a minuscule difference in the noise can double the readings.

This very low level of distortion, substan-tially buried in the noise, made it a challenge to resolve the Bryston's distortion waveform. To get the plot shown in fig.4, it was neces-sary to increase the power output substan-

M.... Bfl,00 00 1510. DIAreggiMr. *De 11.0011

0.001

Fig.3 Bryston 7B series mode, unbalanced. THD+noise vs frequency (from top to bottom) at: 4W into 2 ohms, 2W into 4 ohms, I W into 8 ohms.

Fig.4 Bryston 7B series mode, unbalanced, 'kHz waveform at 96W into 4 ohms (top); distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out, 32 samples averaged (bottom).

tially (96W into a 4 ohm load was selected here) and average 32 samples to minimize the noise. (The 'scope was triggered on the out-put signal itself to keep the distortion wave-form from averaging to zero!) This plot shows that the main distortion component in the series mode is second harmonic.

Fig.5 shows the response of the Bryston to a 50Hz input at an output of 590W into a 4 ohm load. Even at this prodigious power output (causing me some concern for the safety of our test-bench load) the distortion artifacts are negligible. The largest—the sev-enth harmonic at 350Hz—is at -92dB, or about 0.0025%. Fig.6 shows the artifacts (1M distortion) in response to a combined 19 + 20kHz signal at 405W output into 4 ohms, a level just below visible signs of clipping with this test signal. The highest artifact here —at 18kHz—is -80.6dB or about 0.01%. The lkHz difference signal is buried in the noise. The response (not shown) to the same signal into an 8 ohm load at 246.5W—again, just prior to clipping with this signal—had

STEREOPHILE Bryeten 70 50. speclrurn »del 55.

0 0

2000

1000

,D. 0 ilk h Li it 1 I it I Fig.5 Bryston 7B series mode, unbalanced,

spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC—I kHz, at 590W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale). Note that the seventh harmonic at 350Hz is the highest in level, 92dB below the level of the 50Hz fundamental (0.0025%).

SIEREOPHILE 1.1.n 713 10,05. W... 5.55 5

0 0

Fig.6 Bryston 7B series mode, unbalanced, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC-22kHz, 19+20kHz at 405W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).


no artifacts above 0.007% (occurring at 18kHz and 21kHz), with the lkHz difference signal similarly difficult to see. The THD +noise vs level curves for the

series-operated 7B are shown in fig.7. Since this is for the series mode, measurements were only taken at 4 and 8 ohms—a 2 ohm load is not advisable in this configuration. The output here is impressive, almost 400W into 8 ohms (26dBW) and 600W into 4 ohms (24.8dBW) at the break-point, or knee, of the distortion curve, with significant additional power available up to the 1% distortion point. The actual discrete clipping-point measurements (clipping point here conven-tionally defined as the 1% distortion point) were 499W (27dBW), 111.5V line, into an 8 ohm load, and 759W (25.8dBW), 109.5V line—the wall voltage sagged a bit at this power output!—into a 4 ohm load. It's not at all uncommon for amplifiers, particularly moderately priced ones, that are putting out this kind of power to blow fuses while these measurements are being made. No fuses blew in the Bryston at any time,

511.0101110 0,000 /a 1,10•no...01.00000 r00.01

Fig.7 Bryston 7B series mode, distortion vs output power into (from bottom to top) 8 ohms and 4 ohms.

111/101100101112000. 71,1101.0ney Men. 00.1011.11000

I 5000

1 0000

0 0

Fig.8 Bryston 7B parai el mode, frequency response (from top to bottom at 50kHz) at: I W into 8 ohms, unbalanced input; 2W into 4 ohms, unbalanced; I W into 8 ohms, balanced input; 2W into 4 ohms, balanced (0.5dB/vertical div.).

even though it was occasionally necessary to hold these high powers for a few seconds to allow the test set to stabilize enough to take a reading. A compartment on the outside rear holds two powerline fuses. The internal fuses I saw—additional line fuses in series with the outside ones, only one amp larger in value— are designed to prevent someone from put-ting an overvalued fuse in the outside com-partment. There are no B + fuses. Moving to the parallel operating mode, the

Bryston's input impedance remained virtu-ally unchanged from the series mode-9.9k ohms unbalanced, 33k ohms balanced. (Both here and in the series results, the impedances were rounded to the nearest 100 ohms.) The gain was also unchanged at 29dB. The output impedance remained below 0.05 ohms up to lkHz and under 0.09 ohms at 20kHz, de-pending on load. The Bryston's DC offiet in this mode was lmV, its S/N ratio (unweighted at 1W into 8 ohms) measured around 111dB

IIW11110011.111.0 10.0•10n 71111,10.0 re 1000.0ncy 00.01 me. , 7_ •

I

300 . _

Fig.9 Bryston 7B parallel mode, unbalanced, THD+noise vs frequency (from top to bottom) at: 4W into 2 ohms, 2W into 4 ohms, IW into 8 ohms.

Fig.I0 Bryston 7B parallel mode, unbalanced, I kHz waveform at 96W into 4 ohms (top); distortion and noise waveform with fundamental notched out, 32 samples averaged (bottom).


with both unbalanced and balanced inputs. Fig.8, still in the parallel mode, shows the

frequency response of the 7B with both balanced and unbalanced inputs into both 4 and 8 ohm loads. Here the response remains flattest with the unbalanced input, though there is little significant difference within the audible range. The parallel-mode square-waves are not shown because they are little changed from those in the series mode—a very slightly more perceptible, but still insig-nificant, overshoot of the waveform at both lkHz and 10kHz being present. As was the case in series operation, the

unbalanced parallel-mode, low-power THD + noise vs frequency result in fig.9 was still largely noise—with, as before, a level higher for the balanced input. The averaged distortion waveform for the parallel mode in fig.10 now shows a primarily third-order component as contrasted with the second-order result for the series-connected 7B.

Fig.11 plots the response of the Bryston to a 50Hz input at an output of 207W into

ISTER0014111.0 Mys.O. IS 00.t •14.040 04•04 4 . 4 4. 44

0.0

4044

40.00

40 00

-L

11. A ...AL— À . i1.1 LILA_

Fig. Il Bryston 7B parallel mode, unbalanced, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC—IkHz, at 207W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale). Note that the third harmonic at 150Hz is the highest in level, 96dB below the level of the 50Hz fundamental (0.0015%).

STEREOPIOLE byslon 70 1040 It 14, spettru. Pà,•.4, M.* ..•

0 0

Fig.I2 Bryston 7B parallel mode, unbalanced, HF intermodulation spectrum, DC-22kHz, 19+20kHz at I47.6W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).

a 4 ohm load. The artifacts remain negligible, the largest being the third at -96dB, or 0.0015%. Fig.12 shows the intermodulation artifacts caused by a combined 19 + 20kHz input signal at 148W output into 4 ohms (just below the level at which this signal causes the output to clip). The largest artifacts here—at 18kHz and 21kHz—are at just under -83dB, or 0.007%. The lkHz difference signal, hard to spot in the series connection, here is a clearly measurable (if still very low) -89.4dB, or about 0.003%. The response to the same signal into a 2 ohm load at 249W (again just prior to clipping with this signal) is shown in fig.13. While clearly less pristine than the result into 4 ohms, the largest artifacts here —at 15kHz and 17kHz—are still at about -80dB, or 0.01%. (Note that we normally take these measurements at 8 and 4 ohms, but because of the specific low-impedance load capabilities of the Bryston in its parallel con-nection, we judged 4 and 2 ohm loads to be of more interest here.) The THD +noise vs level curves for the 7B

in the parallel mode are shown in fig.14. Here, although the parallel mode 7B is recom-mended for low-impedance loads, an 8 ohm 194E0E0410LE Ilryston II 10 • 00100 • p.4.0\ • 00 0000 0.04

0 0

Fig.I3 Bryston 7B parallel mode, unbalanced. HF intermodulation spectrum, DC-22kHz, 19+20kHz at 249.4W into 4 ohms (linear frequency scale).

STERE001014 Boyston le II. .0 rs tere.reallel lodO

' • • •'•••• • • •

Fig.I4 Bryston 7B parallel mode, distortion vs output power into (from bottom to top) 8 ohms and 4 ohms.


reading was also taken. And, unlike the case with the series mode where we omitted the low-impedance 2 ohm load, using a higher than optimal impedance should not cause any undue strain on a solid-state amplifier. While less power is available here than in the series mode, at the lower impedances for which this mode is designed the power output is still substantial. While I would be inclined to use the series connection for a 4 ohm load if the additional power available in that mode were needed, any significant dip of the loudspeaker impedance curve below 4 ohms would likely prompt me to use the parallel mode. The parallel-mode, discrete clipping-point

measurements (defined here as the 1% dis-tortion point) were 156W (21.9dBW), 112.5V line, into an 8 ohm load; 295W (21.7dBW), 115V line, into a 4 ohm load; and 478W (20.8dBW), 112V line, into a 2 ohm load. The measured performance of the Bryston

7B, particularly its tremendous power output at very low distortion, is first-class in every respect. It refused to be tripped-up in any way.

CONCLUSIONS & FURTHER THOUGHTS While they don't quite equal, in my judg-mcnt, the sonic performance of the very best amplifiers in Stereophile's "Recommended Components," a pair ofBrystons will take a smaller bite out of your bank account. The Krell KSA-250, for example, is both less powerful than the Brystons (though this did not have audible consequences in my listen-ing) and about $2000 more expensive. And the most powerful Krell stereo replacement

for the KSA-250, the new KSA-300S, which I have not yet heard in familiar circumstances, will cost over $3000 more than the Brystons and still have a lower rated power output. While I felt that the warm, full quality of

the Brystons was their main limitation, others aspire to this quality in their systems, pro-vided it is not taken to unnatural extremes— which the 7Bs certainly do not. When DO heard the Brystons in my system—though admittedly with an additional variable in the form of the California Audio Labs Delta transport and new Alpha D/A converter—he remarked that the WATTs/Puppies sounded better than he ever recalled hearing them in the Swreophile listening room. That's certainly not to be ignored, considering that Thermi-onic Dick heats his room with tubes. Nor can I ignore the fact here that the Ste-

reophile listening room tends to a warm sound. The Brystons' inherent warmth would likely be less of a problem—perhaps even a benefit—in a larger and/or cooler-sounding room or system. And its rich, tactile mid-range and clean high end would be a benefit anywhere. A Class B call here, in my opinion. Among

the strong contenders in this class, both the Aragon 4004 Mk.II and the Hafler 9500 will, I believe, give you a more lively, immediate sound, but one that is less sweet and subtly refined. Our recommendation that you listen to

any high-end amplifier you arc considering in your own system holds truc here as much as ever. But if the 7Bs lock into your room/sys-tem, you won't regret their purchase. $

AUDIO FILE DISCLIFT CD TONGS Steven Stone

Accessory for those intimidated by the Compact Disc. Price: $4.99. Approximate number of dealers: undisclosed. Manufacturer. Audio File, P.O. Box 18070, Phoenix, AZ 85005-8070. Tel: (602) 272-2809. Fax: (602) 272-2626.

The accessories market is full of stories of American ingenuity that feature fearless entrepreneurs who identified a need, created a product to fill that need, marketed their product, and whistled all the way to the bank. The Disclift from Audio File is an example ola product that would like to partake of this heritage. We all drop, scratch, or in some way mis-

handle CDs on occasion. For me, those occa-

sions are usually when Demon Rum has taken up residence in my body, and my reflexes are less than 100%. An informal poll of fellow audiophiles revealed that all of them had experienced similar loss of motor skills while under the influence, the result being physical damage to audio software. If the Disclift was a useful product, it would be able to reduce the rate of dropped CDs for the LUI brigade (those Listening Under the

202 STEREOPHILE, OC1OBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

Audio File Disclift CD tongs

Influence). The Disclift's user picks up the CD from

wherever it's lying by inserting the tongs into the center hole, spring action then holding the precious disc safe. It is also possible to remove the disc from its jewelcase with the Disclift rather than with old-fashioned fingers, by gripping the edge of the disc. (The Disclift has profiled recesses on the inside edges of its "fingers" to make this easier.) I tested the Disclift one night while in the

throes of a six-pack of Pete's Wicked Ale and a pint flask of Martell VS. cognac. I had tried the Disclift while sober, finding it relatively easy to use—but not as easy as simply using my hands to pick up a CD. Just to be scien-tific, while sober I compared the Disclift's performance with my manual technique on 50 CDs. Three beers and three chasers of cognac

later,' I conducted the same test. Using the Disclift (which should probably be renamed "the Drunken CD Flipper"), I dropped all 50 CDs. I'd grab the CD with the Disclift

1 Steven, Steven... serious imbibers never mix grape and grain. —JA

and lift it, after which it would sort of wrig-gle off the Disclift (or so it seemed to me at the time). With my manual method of disc removal

and insertion, however, I achieved a 94% success rate, dropping, scratching, or smear-ing only three of the 50 disks. So I guess the Disclift is not the panacea

for drunken audiophiles that I hoped it might be. Unfortunately, the Disclift does nothing to improve its user's hand-eye coordination, so it's of little value to those whose abilities are impaired and are thus most in need of some sort of aid while handling CDs. Per-haps an improved version of the Disclift could be reintroduced with its own bionic arm to ensure consistent physical dexterity. While $4.99 is certainly not an exorbitant

price, the Disclift is not a great value. If you know you're going to "go for a really liquid sound" during a particular listening session, perhaps you should designate a CD handler for the evening (to be certain that nobody cheats, everyone else must wear mittens all night)—or hire a neighborhood out-of-work teenager to change CDs for you.

PS AUDIO LAMBDA CD TRANSPORT Robert Harley

CD transport with one coaxial (RCA jack) output as standard. Optional outputs: AT&T ST-type optical and AES/EBU (each adds $200; both are available for an extra $400). Dimensions: 17" W by 3.25" D by 15" H. Warranty: 3 years parts and labor (electronics), I year parts and labor (drive mechanism and laser). Price: $1695. Approximate number of dealers: 125. Manufacturer PS Audio, P.O. Box 1119, Grover City, CA 93483. Tel: (805) 481-4844. Fax: (805) 481-6892.

STERFOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 203 WorldRadioHistory

PS Audio Lambda CD transport

It's easy for reviewers to become jaded by the high prices of some audio products. We get the products in our listening rooms—albeit temporarily—without having to part with our own money. Consequently, we get enthu-siastic about products that offer real break-throughs without, perhaps, fully considering their cost.

Reviewers should consciously try to avoid this tendency. Although we should report on cost-no-object components, the bulk of our readers want high musical performance at an affordable price. That's why I get most ex-cited about reviewing sensibly priced com-ponents that offer sonic performance that is exceptional by any measure. These products may not be state-of-the-art, but they come very close—and for a lot less money. Some of the best examples of such high-

value products are the CS3.6 and CS2 2 loudspeakers from Thiel ($3900 and $2750), Audio Research LS2 and LS3 preamplifiers ($2500 and $1500), Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 phono stage ($1095), McCormack DNA-1 power amplifier ($1995), and the PS Audio UltraLink digital processor ($1995). While not inexpensive, all these products offer very high performance/price ratios.

I've just discovered another high-value product we can add to this exclusive list: the new PS Audio Lambda CD transport. Just as the UltraLink redefined what we can ex-pect from a $2000 digital processor, the $1695 Lambda sets a new benchmark in afforda-ble transport sound quality. In fact, ill had to name the five best transports I've heard— regardless of price—the Lambda would eas-ily make the list. As we shall see, the Lambda easily outperforms much more expensive

transports—and nips at the heels of the state of the art.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION The Lambda is a very attractive, sturdy-looking component. It shares similar cos-metics with other PS Audio products: black faceplate, large PS Audio logo in the center, and an engraved line around the faceplate perimeter. Closer examination reveals the Lambda to have a thicker front panel than previous PS Audio products (uh" compared to the UltraLink's 1/4 "), and a more solid build quality. The Lambda's larger height and deeper chassis further convey the impression of a higher-end product. Although the remote control is standard Philips issue, it does say "Lambda CD Drive" on it. The front panel is well laid out, making the

Lambda easy to use. A large display shows track time, track number, and the other usual stuff. A row of buttons beneath the display provides transport control. In a nice but sim-ple touch, the Skip forward and backward pair are linked by a line, as are the Scan but-tons. This makes finding the needed button easier. PS Audio's traditional touch-sensitive

switches have been replaced by identical-looking pushbuttons. The older switches operated by sensing 60Hz hum picked up by a person's body. They didn't always activate immediately, and, in the SuperLink proces-sor's case, shut down the unit under certain signal conditions. The new mechanically activated buttons are much more reliable. The rear panel has coaxial output as stan-

dard, with AT&T ST-Type optical and AES/ EBU available as $200 options. A rear-panel

204 STEREOPI4ILE, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

switch powers up the unit; the front-panel On switch merely turns on the display. This way, the LamScla is always warmed up and ready to go.

Inside, the Lambda is impressive. It uses the new Philips CDM9 Pro transport mech-anism, a device designed for high-reliability data retrieval. The lens is fitted with an ASM Spatial Filter, a newer version of the Laser Illusions Spatial Filter I reported on in Vol.15 No.6. Incidentally, if you try to remove the Spatial Filter to judge its effect, the lens will probably come og thus voiding the warranty. The power supply, particularly large for

a transport, includes three transformers, more than 19,000g of supply capacitance, and 13 regulation stages. The Lambda started out with a much smaller supply, but adding more transformers, filter caps, and regulation stages kept improving the sound, according to designer Bob Odell. One transformer sup-plies the front-panel display, another the servos, and yet another the digital circuits. Each servo system (focus, rotational, track-ing) is separately regulated, with nearly one regulator used per chip. Similarly, the dig-ital section uses eight regulation stages, vir-tually one for every chip. The regulators are the quieter 317 and 337 devices (all three-pin TO-220 types), instead of the ubiquitous 7800/7900-series parts. The massive power supply and narrow isolation are aimed at preventing interaction between circuits through the power supply. The transformers, AC line filter, and a few

filter caps are on a 5" by 7" printed circuit board behind the transport mechanism. The other filter caps and regulators are on the main pcb next to the circuits they supply. This board contains the Philips decoder and servo chips, AT&T optical transmitter, and the output driver. Three chips, apparently in the output driver stage, have had their part numbers painted over.

Chassis construction, build quality, and execution are all first-rate. I was impressed, particularly considering the Lambda's $1695 price.

LISTENING I auditioned the Lambda driving PS Audio's new Reference Link digital processor and "preamp" (see review elsewhere in this issue), a Mark Levinson No.30 Reference Digital Processor, and the Meitner IDAT. Digital

interconnects included an AudioQuest Opti-cal Pro II glass fiber, and Aural Symphonics and WonderLink coaxial types. My review sample was fitted with ST-type glass fiber, but not with AES/EBU output. An Audio Research LS2B line-stage drove

VTL 225W monoblocks via a 20' run of AudioQuest Lapis. Alternately, the power amplifier was a Mark Levinson No.23.5 hooked up with 20' runs ofEacpressive Tech-nologies IC-1 balanced interconnect. Loud-speakers were Thiel CS3.6es, connected with 3' runs of AudioQuest Dragon or 8' runs of AudioQuest Sterling. Analog interconnects included AudioQuest Lapis (balanced), Dia-mond, and Monster Cable Sigma. Power to the system (except the power amplifiers) was conditioned by a Tice Power Block and Titan. The excellent Proceed PDT 3 transport

served as a reference near the Lambda's price. The $2495 PDT 3 sets a benchmark level of performance among mid-priced transports. Also on hand for reference was the $8500 Mark Levinson No31 Reference CD Transport.

Starting with the Lambda driving the No. 30, I was pleasantly surprised by the Lambda's performance in head-to-head comparisons with the excellent (and $800 more expen-sive') PDT 3 (with coaxial connection on both). The Lambda had many of the qual-ities heard from the Mark Levinson No.31. In fact, I was taken aback by how good this moderately priced transport sounded. The first thing that struck me about the

Lambda was its tremendous punch and dy-namic drive. The bottom end was powerful, extended, and tight. Kick drum had a weight and power not heard from any other trans-port on hand except the No31. The bass was taut, deep, articulate, and driving. The com-bination of superlative dynamics and terrific bass reproduction imbued music with a pow-erful rhythmic intensity. I've recently discov-ered the Speaking in Melodies CD by Michael Ruff (Sheffield Lab CD-35), a record with a terrific bottom end—drums and bass really work together to drive the rhythm. "Wishing Well" is particularly revealing of a compo-nent's pace, drive, and rhythmic abilities. The Lambda conveyed this track's powerful rhyth-mic drive better than the PDT 3, and came 1 Although the Lambda appears to cost $800 less than the PDT 3, remember that the Proceed transport includes all four interfaces (coax, AES/EBU, TosLink, and ST-type optical) as standard. The Lambda has only coax output, with AES/EBU and ST-type optical each adding $200 to the price.


very close to the No.31. The No.31 still had the edge in speed and tautness, the Lambda sounding a little fatter and slower in the bass. But not by much. Not only did the Lambda have a thrilling

sense of slam, it also reproduced micrody-namics extraordinarily well. Transients were sharply defined, quick, and delineated. This is a transport that makes you sit up and take notice. The presentation was the antithesis of slow, laid-back, soft, or blurred. Instead, the music was infused with detail and infor-mation. Despite the Lambda's high resolu-tion, the presentation wasn't etched or unnat-urally forward. The Lambda walked the fine line between presenting plenty of musical information and becoming overly etched or aggressive. In fact, the treble was a little smoother than the PDT 3, yet contained more information—much like the No.31. The treble performance was superb in

other ways. The top octaves were refined and tidy, without grain and hash. Although the Lambda didn't have the sense of ease, smooth-ness, and liquidity of the C.E.C. TL 1, it was musical and enjoyable nevertheless. As I mentioned in a response to a reader's letter in September (Vol.16 No.9, p.25), the TL 1 has a beautiful presentation, but one that errs on the side of smoothness at the expense of detail and dynamics. The Lambda struck a good balance between detail and smoothness. As good as the Lambda was in all these

areas, it was even better at soundstaging. The system driven by the Lambda threw a huge, three-dimensional soundstage in my listening room. Not only was that vast soundstage transparent, but image focus was tight and sharp. Each instrument seemed to exist apart from the presentation, surrounded by a cush-ion of transparent air. The instruments and voices had room to breathe and exist, rather than sounding squashed together in a syn-thetic continuum. The Lambda's imaging was the antithesis of what JA calls "cardboard cutouts." Music had a life, air, and palpability

that were stunning. It was clearly better than the excellent PDT 3 in this respect, and came very close to the No.3 l's spectacular sound-staging. To find fault with the Lambda, I must com-

pare it with the $8500 Levinson No.31. The reference No.31 had tighter, deeper, and leaner bass. The Lambda was a little slower and fatter, particularly in the midbass. The No.31 also had more bottom-octave punch. As good as the Lambda's ability to differen-tiate instrumental images was, it didn't match the No31's extraordinary soundstaging and impression of air and space between image outlines. Soundstage depth was also better through the No.31. Finally, the No.31 had finer resolution of detail, conveying more music to the listener. Despite these differ-ences, the Lambda's sound was very similar to the No.31: smooth yet detailed, tight, pun-chy, with terrific soundstaging and a solid bottom end. The PDT 3 had many of the No.3 l's and the Lambda's attributes, but to a lesser degree than either one.

CONCLUSION The PS Audio Lambda is a terrific transport regardless of price. Considering that it costs $1695 in its basic form—much less than its-competitors—the Lambda is simply a steal. It was significantly better than any transport I've heard, except for the $8500 Mark Levin-son No.31 Reference CD Transport and the $4650 C.E.C. TL 1. The Lambda had bet-ter bass tautness, depth, power, rhythmic drive, and dynamic slam than the TL 1, but the latter was smoother and more liquid.

It's difficult to find fault with the Lambda, particularly considering its price. Though not quite up to the standards set by the Mark Levinson No.31, at $1695 it comes far closer than you'd expect.

In short, the Lambda sounds terrific, is well-made, ergonomically friendly, and very affordable. What more could one ask? II

PS AUDIO REFERENCE LINK DIGITAL PROCESSOR/PREAMPLIFIER

Robert Harley Remote-controlled digital/analog converter with integral preamplifier and analog/digital converter. Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz ±0.3dB. DIA decoding: 8x-oversampling digital filter and 20-bit UltraAnalog DAC. A/D encoding: I8-bit oversampling ADC.

206 STEREOPHII E, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

PS Audio Reference Link DIA processor

THD: <0.01%. SIN ratio: 98dB. Inputs: 5 analog at line level, 4 digital (coaxial, TosLink, AES/EBU and AT&T ST-type glass-fiber are all standard), plus 1 analog and 1 digital tape loop. Outputs: 2 pairs balanced line-level analog outputs (XLR connectors), 2 pairs unbalanced analog outputs (RCA jacks), 1 digital tape output (RCA jack), I stereo pair analog tape outputs (RCA jacks). Dimensions: 17" W by 3.25" H by 16.5" D. Weight: 29 lbs, shipping. Price: $4795. Approximate number of dealers: 125. Manufacturer: PS Audio, P.O. Box 1119, Grover City, CA 93483. Tel: (805) 481-4844. Fax: (805) 481-6892.

As technology advances at a dizzying rate, we cling to names and descriptions of the past to help us cope with the future. The new con-cepts are so foreign that we need old arche-types to bridge the gap between the known past and the uncertain future.

For example, computer-based digital audio-editing systems have a feature called "loop" that lets you repeat a chunk of audio over and over. It's handy for making a long segment of "room sound" from a short one. The term comes from the days of analog tape, when "looping" was done by splicing the ends of a short piece ofanalog tape together to make a loop. Now, there's no "loop" inside the computer, only an instruction to repeat a chunk of data. But the term helps us relate the known (a piece of analog tape) with the unknown (arcane computer instructions).

So it is with the Reference Link, a new dig-ital processor and "preamplifier" from PS Audio. The Reference Link is called a pream-plifier not because it is one, but because it replaces the preamplifier's role in a music playback system. There's really no name for what the Reference Link does. The preamp of the future—of which the

Reference Link is a harbinger—functions very differently from traditional preampli-fiers. Most sources today are already at line level: We don't need amplification. And with LP playback becoming less common, many users don't need RIAA phono equalization.

Consequently, our new breed of preamp would do away with RIAA equalization and gain, accommodating digital recorders (MD and DCC are just the beginning) and ana-log sources by including digital tape loops and high-quality A/D and DIA converters. This new component would provide mul-

tiple digital inputs, analog inputs, and remote-controlled volume performed in the digital domain. It would be the interface where ana-log and digital merge, and the master con-trol center for signal routing and control. The Reference Link does all these things,

making it the first product in a whole new category of audio components.' The best name I can think of for this product is the ungainly term "controller/codec" ("control-ler" for the switching and volume-adjust-ment functions, "codec" for A/D encoding and DIA decoding). Maybe we'd better stick with "preamp."

FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION In its most basic form, the Reference Link can be used as a DIA converter; it accepts digi-tal data inputs and its analog output drives a preamplifier. But because these analog out-puts are variable in level, the Reference Link is intended to drive a power amplifier directly, bypassing your preamplifier. The Reference Link also has five analog

inputs: a tuner, an outboard phono stage, and a tape deck, for example. These signals are converted to digital with the Reference Link's on-board A/D converter, then converted back to analog before the final output. This conversion is required because the Reference Link's volume and balance controls operate in the digital domain. A digital tape loop is also provided, allow-

ing the Reference Link's A/D and DIA conver-ters to replace the stock converters in digital recorders. The digital loop can also accom-

I The Vimak DS-2000, reviewed by RH and Amis Balgalvis last December (Vol.15 No.12), offers digital volume control, tape loops, and source selection, but has no way of accept-ing analog inputs. —JA


WorldRadioHistory

modate DSP devices of the future, such as loudspeaker and room-correction boxes.

In its fully realized form, the Reference Link would have multiple digital sources connected to it, a digital recorder on the Ref-erence Link's digital tape loop, an analog cas-sette deck plugged into the analog tape loop, a tuner and outboard phono stage driving the analog inputs, and the Reference Link's out-put connected to a power amplifier. With this configuration, any source could be recorded on either tape deck, or from one deck to the other. To assess its functionality, I briefly used the Reference Link in this "fully loaded" con-figuration. Now that we know what the Reference

Link does, let's look at what it is. A large, sturdy-looking unit with a 3/8"-thick alumi-num front panel, the Reference Link's size, appearance, and even front panel are iden-tical to PS Audio's Lambda transport, making them a good-looking combination. The front panel has a large fluorescent display that shows the selected analog or digital input by name (Tape, Tuner, Coax, Optical, etc.). The display also shows a number from 0 to 60 that represents the output volume. The bal-ance display is either the > or < symbol and a number from one to nine, with nine being full left or full right. The legend "CTR" is displayed when the balance is centered. When the unit is turned on, this display shows "PS Audio Reference Link LS" scrolling past. Output volume and balance are adjusted

by two pairs of gold-plated buttons beneath the display. Though these buttons look like those on previous PS Audio products, they are actually mechanically activated switches rather than the touch-sensitive buttons used in the previous products—a big improve-ment. A fifth button beneath the display scrolls through the analog and digital inputs, displaying the input name in large letters. Another button selects the digital or analog tape monitor, and the last turns the unit off. When in the Off position, the display is deac-tivated and the output is muted, but the cir-cuitry remains powered. The Reference Link's front panel is iden-

tical to the Lambda transport's. Where the drawer goes in the Lambda, the Reference Link has a panel with LEDs, indicating data lock, tape-monitor status, sampling fre-quency of the incoming digital data, polarity inversion, and whether the digital source has

been pre-emphasized. The remote control duplicates the front-panel functions, and adds polarity inversion and display-intensity ad-justment.

There are lots of gold-plated RCA jacks and digital inputs on the rear panel. All four digital inputs (TosLink, coax, AES/EBU, and AT&T ST-type optical) are included as stan-dard. Five pairs of analog line-level inputs are provided, their names corresponding to the names shown in the front-panel display. Although one of these inputs is labeled "phone it's actually a line-level input iden-tical to the other four. No RIAA equalization or gain is provided; an outboard phono stage is required for LP playback with the Refer-ence Link.

Line output is provided on two pairs of balanced XLR connectors and two pairs of single-ended RCA jacks. All these line out-puts are in parallel, and variable in level by the front panel and remote controls. The only fixed-level analog output consists of the "Analog Monitor Output" jacks for driv-ing an analog tape recorder. The variable-output feature provides the

potentially huge sonic improvement reali7ed by getting a line-stage preamplifier out of the signal path. This is particularly true when the Reference Link is used with signals already in the digital domain—CD transports, DAT machines, or digital recorders. By removing a pair of interconnects, jacks, wires, pcb traces, active devices, passive devices, potentiom-eters, and switches from the signal path, the Reference Link should sound better than many processor/preamp combinations. The degree to which the Reference Link's vari-able-output feature improves the sound is highly dependent on the preamp with which it's compared. With a very transparent pre-amp such as the Audio Research LS2 or LS2B, the difference will be marginal. But if you've got a highly colored preamp, get-ting it out of the signal path should make your system sound a lot better. When used with analog sources, however,

the Reference Link's A/D and D/A conversion will likely offset any gains. We'll assess this aspect of the Reference Link in the audi-tioning.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION Opening the Reference Link reveals a huge and densely packed pcb—not surprising in


WorldRadioHistory

light of its extensive functions. At 16.5" by 15.5", the board is the largest I've seen in an audio product—fully 40% out is power sup-ply. Although PS Audio products have al-ways used large supplies, the Reference Link's supply is massive. Three large transformers, providing nearly 100VA of power capability, supply 14 regulation stages. A row of eleven 2700g filter caps flanks the transformers, and more filter caps are distributed through-out the board. The regulators also have much larger heatsirdcs than are generally found on TO-220 regulators. Each main circuit block and critical circuit is supplied by its own regulation stage. Analog input signals are selected by a relay

bank controlled by the front input-selector switch. A microprocessor on a board behind the front panel controls both analog and dig-ital input switching. The selected analog in-put is directed to the analog/digital converter section (ADC), where it's buffered by a pair of OP-275 op-amps and converted to digital with 18-bit resolution. An extremely low-jitter sampling clock—reportedly lower than lOps jitter—controls the oversampling ADC. Two power-supply regulation stages are located next to the ADC. The digital output signals (audio data and clock) are isolated with custom-pulse transformers. These tiny, hand-wound transformers have extremely low capacitance. When an analog input signal is selected,

the ADC output drives the UltraAnalog-based digital/analog converter (DAC) stage, then the final analog output. Simultaneously, the digital signal is encoded into the S/PDIF format and appears at the "Digital Monitor Out" jack for driving a digital recorder. The ADC is electrically isolated from the DAC stage by opto-couplers. When the AJD stage isn't being used (ie, when a digital input is selected), its clock is automatically turned off. The selected analog signal also appears at the "Analog Monitor Output" jacks; an analog output for driving a cassette deck, for exam-ple. This fixed-level output, which has never been converted to digital (when fed from an analog source), is buffered by a pair of OP-275 op-amps and a discrete class-A output driver.

Digital input signals from a CD transport or other digital sources are terminated, buf-fered, filtered, and selected, then isolated by a custom transformer before being input to

the Crystal CS8412 input receiver. The dig-ital input stage is supplied from a dedicated 5V supply. As with the selected analog input source, the selected digital input signal is routed to the "Digital Monitor Out" jack. Whatever input you select, it will appear in digital form at the digital output jack. Ano-ther custom pulse transformer isolates the digital output signal, preventing ground loops and noise from getting back into the circuit. The DAC stage is a strip of circuitry run-

ning down the board's left-hand side. Its heart is an NPC5803 8x-oversampling dig-ital filter driving a custom UltraAnalog 20-bit DAC. The DAC is unique in that it com-bines the refinements of UltraAnalog's new DAC 20 with the volume- and balance-control functions of the company's D20400A DAC. I'll talk about how the DAC provides volume and balance control later. Inciden-tally, de-emphasis is performed in the digital domain by the NPC filter. The DAC drives an output stage that's

very similar to that used in the UltraLink. A pair of OP-275 op-amps works in conjunc-tion with a class-A discrete output stage. The op-amp outputs are biased into class-A by JFET current sources. The output stage can reportedly drive difficult impedances, a requirement for a processor intended to drive a power amplifier through long cables. The Reference Link's OP-275 op-amps replace the 5534s used in the UltraLink.2 The OP-275 is a new op-amp, one that was report-edly designed to "sound good"—an unu-sual design criterion for a semiconductor manufacturer. The output filter is a so-called Frequency

Dependent Negative Resistor (FDNR) topology, which doesn't subject the signal to active or passive parts in the signal path. All output-stage caps are film types, and resistors are metal-film. An output relay dis-connects the signal from the output jacks when not locked to a source, or if the front-panel On/Offbutton is in the Off position.

There's another part of the circuit that I haven't described: How an analog signal

2 The op-amps in the UltraLink had been painted over so no one would know they were 5534s—the device has that bad a reputation. The 5534 has, however, been used successfully in other designs, notably the Meridian 203 and 263. [In a care-fully implemented circuit with limited voltage-gain requirements, the 5534 can still deliver good performance with very low distortion. It is also supposed to be able to better cope with capacitive loads than some of the more recent, premium op-amp chips.—JA]


appears at the analog tape-out jacks when a digital source is selected. We can't use the main (UltraAnalog) DAC output because we want to adjust the volume without affecting the level sent to the analog tape deck. The solution is to include a whole separate D/A stage for just the analog tape-out signal. This stage, which consumes a small square on the pcb, is virtually identical to the D/A stage in PS Audio's SuperLink processor—an NPC 5803 digital filter feeding a pair of Analog Devices AD1860 18-bit DACs. This stage should be more than good enough for its intended purpose of driving a cassette deck to make tapes for the car

In regard to the digital-domain volume and balance controls, the Reference Link is uniquely equipped to avoid the limitations of other volume-control techniques. One traditional technique is to shift all the bits in each 16-bit word down one place, lowering the volume by 6dB. The MSB thus becomes the next bit to the MSB, with half its previous value (halving a voltage represents a decrease of 6dB). Adjustments finer than 6dB aren't possible with this technique.

Another solution is to multiply each digital word by a number less than one. If we wanted 6dB of attenuation, for example, we would multiply each sample by 0.5. This takes large amounts of DSP (Digital Signal Processing) power, particularly for fine volume steps. The down-and-dirty way of attenuating a digital-domain signal is to use the attenuator built into the NPC 5803 digital filter. This feature is never used in high-end products: It report-edly sounds horrible. Finally, remote volume control can be accomplished with a motor-ized pot. The Reference Link uses none of these tech-

niques. When its front-panel (or remote-con-trol) volume or balance controls are activated, a microcontroller sends a digital signal to a logarithmic DAC (an AD7118). The DAC converts the digital word representing the volume change to a DC voltage (with the help of an OP-27 I/V converter). This DC voltage becomes the reference voltage to the main UltraAnalog 20-bit DAC's external DC reference input. The UltraAnalog DAC's output is multiplied by this DC reference voltage. Decreasing the DC reference voltage

3 I've wondered how many audiophiles record cassettes for the car stereo. I really enjoy music in the car. Have we been remiss in not reporting at least superficially on cassette decks?

decreases both the maximum analog output level and the size of the individual quantiz-ing steps. Two separate log DAC circuits and refer-

ence voltage inputs provide independent control of the left and right channels—the balance control. Balance is adjusted over 18 steps: > 9 on the balance display is full right, <9 is full left. (The creation and handling of the reference voltage is exacting. Any noise, drift, or glitches in the reference voltage is bad news. Consequently, the log DAC and its associated circuits arc right next to the main 20-bit DAC.) Though electrically isolated from the D/A

path, the microcontroller is completely shut down when not in use. lithe microcontroller receives no input (a front-panel or remote-control button being pushed) for half a sec-ond, the entire circuit, including its oscillator, is turned off. This ensures that RF noise doesn't pollute the audio circuits, and that the microcontroller clock doesn't beat with the other clocks inside the Reference Link.

I've always been concerned about digital-domain volume controls; many of the early ones sounded extremely bad. The Reference Link's volume control has a better shot at sounding good, both because of its unique topology and the DAC's extremely low noise floor. The 20-bit UltraAnalog DAC's noise floor is -112dB, a full 16dB below the noise floor of 16-bit digital audio. The first 16dB of attenuation, therefore, involves no noise penalty. This corresponds to a front-panel volume readout between 60 (maximum) and 49 (at 1.5dB per step, readout number 49 is 16.5dB below maximum output). An obvious question is how the Reference

Link differs from PS Audio's breakthrough UltraLink converter. Can it sound as good as—or better than—the UltraLink? There is optimism that the Reference Link

can surpass even the UltraLink's perfor-mance. First, the Reference Link uses the lower-jitter Crystal CS8412 input receiver instead of the Yamaha YM3623 found in the UltraLink. In addition to the input receiver's lower intrinsic jitter, PS Audio and UltraAna-log have learned more about preventing jitter from the clock signal being corrupted on its way to the DAC. Next, the DAC is a newer (and reportedly improved) version of the UltraLink's D20400 converter. Finally, the Reference Link's output stage is said to offer


better sonic performance than the UltraLink's output section. Taken together, these changes may indeed improve on the UltraLink's sound. We'll find out in the listening room. Another question is how good the A/D

converter can sound. Is the fact that analog signals must be converted to digital and back to analog too high a price to pay for the Reference Link's obviously attractive func-tionality? When the product was conceived, PS Audio wasn't convinced it could make the Reference Link because of this potential sonic limitation. After experimenting with some A/D converters, however, the company was encouraged by the results. Although no one wants to subject analog signals to digital conversion—particularly phono signals—the Reference Link's A/D converter has the potential to sound far better than digital audio from Compact Disc.

Here's why: First, the A/D converter itself is reportedly of higher quality than that found in most CD mastering rooms. Second, it's driven with an extremely low-jitter clock, a significant factor in sonic performance:' Third, the converter has full 18-bit perfor-mance, significantly better than the 16-bit resolution of CD. This 18-bit A/D conver-sion and 18-bit data path offer a 12dB improvement in noise and dynamic range over the CD's 16-bit format. Finally, the digitized signal is input directly to the DAC, without the sonic limitations of S/PDIF for-matting or the degradation imposed by stor-age and transmission media. Conversion of analog sources to digital may not be ideal, but the Reference Link would appear to minimize the compromise with a high-quality A/D implementation.

Note, however, that no input-level con-trols or meters are provided on the A/D sec-tion; the A/D will quantize the analog input signal at whatever level it comes in. Low-level signals will suffer from reduced dynamic range and a higher noise floor; every bit of the A/D converter that isn't used results in a 6c1B reduction in dynamic range and sig-nal/noise ratio. For example, a low-level sig-nal may be quantized with only 14 of the 18

4 Jitter at the A/D converter is just as bad sonically as jitter in a digital processor at the D/A converter. Once a signal has been converted to digital with antlered A/D clock, however, there is no way of knowing how badly the signal has been cor-rupted by jitter. The data samples appear perfectly valid, though they represent misplaced time points on the origi-nal waveform.

available bits. Conversely, very high output analog sources could overload the A/D con-verter, resulting in severe distortion. I didn't encounter this problem during actual use, but potential purchasers should be aware of this limitation. A gain control, and even two LED indicators (at -6dB and overload), would have allowed the user to fully exploit the A/D converter's potential. You can, however, check the A/D converter level simply by looking at the meters on a digital recorder. I did this with a Marantz DCC machine. The A/D gain must have been chosen very carefully: With my Vendetta Research phono preamp, none of the LPs overloaded the A/D con-verter (seen as the meters pegging on the DCC machine), and all were very close to the maximum (optimal) level. In fact, the dig-ital output level produced by most LPs was perfectly set, with peaks just reaching about -2dBFS (2dB of headroom before digital clipping) Different combinations of phono cartridges and phono-stage gain will, how-ever, produce different digital levels. The Reference Link's overall build qual-

ity, user interface, design, and implementa-tion are first-rate. I was particularly impressed by the pcb's clean layout and fully thought-out implementation, particularly in such a complex product. I enjoyed the Reference Link's functionality, especially the ease with which I could bypass the ND and DIA con-verters in the DCC machine. I also got hooked on being able to adjust the volume from my listening seat.

LISTENING Evaluating the Reference Link proved quite a challenge In addition to judging it as a DIA converter driving an Audio Research LS2B preamplifier, I listened to the Reference Link connected directly to a pair of VTL 225W tubed monoblock power amplifiers through the unbalanced outputs, and to a Mark Le-vinson No.23.5 in balanced mode. I also evaluated the A/D converter's quality by comparing LP playback through the Refer-ence Link and through the LS2B line-stage.

5 Digital clipping is when the converter runs out of bits and outputs the maximum digital code for several consecutive samples. This makes the waveform peaks flat, just as in analog clipping. With digital clipping, however, the maximum limit is like a brick wall, producing sharp-edged waveforms that sound very nasty. This sudden onset of distortion when digital overload occurs is shown in fig. 13 in the "Measurements" section. Ideally, the highest peak should produce one sam-ple at full-scale.


In both cases the phono preamp was a Ven-detta Research SCP2B, sourced from an AudioQuest AQ700Onsx on a heavily modi-fied Well-Tempered Turntable and WTA. Other products used to assess the Refer-

ence Link included an Aiwa ADF-770 cas-sette deck (I've owned Aiwa cassette decks exclusively for the past 15 years) and a Ma-rantz DD-92 DCC machine CD transports included the Proceed PDT 3, PS Audio Lambda, and Mark Levinson No.31 Refer-ence CD Transport. Connection was primar-ily via an AudioQuest Optical Pro 2 ST-type glass-fiber cable, or Aural Symphonics Dig-ital Standard coaxial. Other processors on hand for comparison included the PS Audio UltraLink and Mark Levinson No30 Refer-ence Digital Processor. Levels were matched in all comparisons to within 0.15dB.

Loudspeakers were Thiel CS3.6es con-nected by a 3' run of AudioQuest Dragon or an 8' run of AudioQuest Sterling (the former with the monoblock VTLs, the latter with the stereo No.23.5). Interconnects were AudioQuest Lapis and Diamond, or Expres-sive Technologies IC-1 (balanced). AC to the system (except the power amplifiers) was conditioned by a Tice Power Block and Titan.

THE ULTRALINK COMPARISON The first job was to compare the Reference Link with the UltraLink. The $2000 Ultra-Link was a breakthrough product; it set a new and very high standard for mid-priced digital playback. The UltraLink is still the processor to beat at this price level, in my opinion. The Reference Link's potential to improve on this performance was exciting. The first comparison was with both the

UltraLink and the Reference Link driving the LS2B. Although this configuration wouldn't be used—the Reference Link would drive a power amplifier directly—it nevertheless imposed the same cables and preamp on both D/A converters. I repeated the comparisons with the Reference Link driving the power amplifier directly and the UltraLink going through the LS2B, matching levels between the two. The UltraLink and Reference Link shared

a strong family resemblance: forward mids, somewhat lightweight bass, terrific sound-staging, sparkling transparency, and excellent delineation of individual instrumental images.

Despite these sonic similarities, they had

some marked differences. The Reference Link's treble was more forward, incisive, and up-front compared to the UltraLink. I've always liked the UltraLink's smooth treble, but felt that it didn't quite mesh with the UltraLink's forward midrange. The Ultra-Link's presentation was made less coherent by the juxtaposition of forward mids and laid-back treble It wasn't a significant draw-back, but another minor point that made it less good than, for example, the Mark Levin-son No30. In the Reference Link, however, the treble assumed a more prominent role, one that more closely matched the forward midrange. My initial reaction was that the Reference Link lacked the UltraLink's smooth-ness and treble ease—a point in favor of the UltraLink. This disadvantage, however, was offset by the Reference Link's treble quality. Although brighter, the Reference Link's top octaves were cleaner and more detailed than the UltraLink's. There was definitely more musical infor-

mation presented to the listener by the Refer-ence Link. For example, the harpsichord in the discs Gary Schocket; Flutist (Chesky CD46) and Handel's Water Music (Harmonia Mundi HMU 907010) clearly had more inner detail and nuance through the Reference Link. Al-though the UltraLink didn't make the instru-ment sound like an undifferentiated tinkling (as some processors do), the Reference Link resolved more of the instrument's fine struc-ture, allowing the listener to hear the mech-anism by which it produces sound. Although the Reference Link's treble was brighter and more forward, it was ultimately smoother. A good example of this was the sibilance

in Julianne Baird's voice on The English Lute Song (Dorian DOR-90109). It sounded a little hashier and grainier on the UltraLink, mak-ing it less prominent and objectionable through the Reference Link. This presented a para-dox: The converter with the brighter and more forward treble (the Reference Link) had less apparent sibilance than the Ukralink with its softer treble presentation. There's no ques-tion, however, that the Reference Link had less treble grain.

Similarly, cymbals were sharper and more forward, but were also infused with more detail, particularly in their decay. It was easier to hear the shimmer and texture of cymbals through the Reference Link. As a result of these characteristics, the Reference Link sounded


more open, extended, and airy. However, it took some listening to get used to the Refer-ence Link's more vivid rendering. The Reference Link's mids were a little

thinner and not as warm as the UltraLink's. Sax had a warmer, more full-bodied sound through the UltraLink, though sounding a little grainier. The midrange was somewhat "thicker" and less transparent from the Ultra-Link, offsetting the rounder presentation. The Reference Link's treble was more inci-

sive, and so was its soundstaging. As good as the UltraLink was at separating individual instruments from the whole, the Reference Link was a notch better. I heard more space and air around instrumental and vocal out-lines through the Reference Link. Image focus was also sharper and tighter. In this regard, the Reference Link was more "Theta-like," with a more vivid spatial presentation. The English Lute Song was a good example, the Reference Link more clearly delineating the individual instruments within the re-corded acoustic. The Refelence Link's higher resolving power

allowed it to reveal a greater sense of depth and space. Low-level spatial cues were beau-tifully portrayed by the Reference Link, mak-ing the presentation bigger and more three-dimensional. Reverberation decay was well resolved, adding to the feeling of air and space. The Reference Link also revealed more layers of depth than the UltraLink, with finer grada-tions of distance. The UltraLink tended to have just a few discrete layers of depth: By compar-ison, the No30 presented depth gradations along a continuum, better resolving instru-mental placement from front to back. Although the Reference Link wasn't up to the standards set by the No.30, it presented finer degrees of soundstage depth than the UltraLink. I also felt the Reference Link had margin-

ally better bass depth and control than the UltraLink. This area has, however, always been a weak spot in the UltraLink; many less expensive processors have more power, im-pact, control, and rhythmic drive. The Refer-ence Link had noticeably less slam and tautness than the No30, making it less rhythmically involving than this reference processor. This is one area where audiophiles differ in their judgments of the UltraLink—and, by exten-sion, the Reference Link. Some highly value the UltraLink's smooth treble, transparent soundstage, and ability to resolve individual

musical threads from the whole. Others feel the lack of bass slam and rhythmic power are too great a price to pay for its admitted finesse and grace. This is a perfect example of why you should audition components for yourself

GOING STRAIGHT When I auditioned the Reference Link driv-ing a power amplifier directly, I noticed a modest—but musically significant—improve-ment in the sound. This was true even with the excellent and very transparent Audio Research LS2B preamp and $600/meter pair AudioQuest Diamond interconnect. With-out the preamp and interconnects, I heard greater transparency, less "whiteness" to the treble, and a more palpable quality to the pre-sentation. The difference wasn't great, but I preferred to listen with the Reference Link driving the amplifiers without the preamp. Note that the improvement gained by remov-ing the preamp and a pair of interconnects from the signal path will be much greater with lower-quality preamps and intercon-nects—the LS2B is among the most trans-parent preamps made. Substituting the Refer-ence Link for a highly colored line-stage—of which there are many—will realize even greater sonic gains. (I found the balanced out-puts better sounding, but this could be due to the different interconnect—the excellent Expressive Technologies IC-I—or the Mark Levinson No.23.5's balanced inputs.) I also evaluated the Reference Link's dig-

ital-domain volume control by running the Reference Link's output into the LS2B and using its volume control to match levels between the Reference Link set to #60 (full output) and #45 (22.5dB of attenuation). I heard some difference between the two set-tings. The presentation took on a little grain at #45, and the sense of space between instru-ments and the palpability of images decreased slightly. The difference wasn't large, but it was noticeable.

In short, the Reference Link's DIA stage had some decided advantages over the Ultra-Link, particular in soundstaging, transpar-ency, openness, detail resolution, and the impression of air and space around instru-mental outlines. Some listeners, however, may prefer the UltraLink's softer, less vivid interpretation. I found the UltraLink to have a greater sense of ease, but at the expense of some treble detail and increased grain. Over-


all, I would rank the Reference Link's D/A as solid Class B.

ANALOG SOURCES Next, I evaluated the Reference Link's A/D converter by playing LPs through the ana-log line inputs and comparing the sound to the LP played without the Reference Link's A/D and D/A converter in the signal path. The Vendetta phono stage fed either the Reference Link or the LS2B. I also had the CD versions of some of the LPs for com-parison. No A/D and D/A conversion stage can be

completely transparent. Even HDCD, with its highly sophisticated conversion and cod-ing, isn't identical to the source signal. De-spite the difference imposed by the A/D and D/A conversion, I was generally impressed by the Reference Link's performance. The sound from the LP source without the Refer-ence Link's A/D and D/A converter was smoother in the treble, more laid-back, more spacious, and had a greater sense of air, open-ness, and extension. The Reference Link was brighter and harder in the lower treble, but sounded more closed-in in the top octaves than the undigitized LP. The entire presen-tation moved forward with the Reference Link in the signal path, making the music a little more forced. The soundstage became smaller and more homogenized, without the feeling of air between instrumental images. In addition, the treble was more etched and forward, with a dry character. Horns took on a bit of glare, and sibilance was empha-sized. Moreover, the Reference Link's A/D and D/A stages also lessened the music's rhyth-mic drive. The bass wasn't as tight, deep, or extended, taking some edge off the music's pace. On the high-energy Latin jazz LP Urban Ensemble: The Music of Roland Vasquez (GRP 5002), the band's drive, power, and enthusiasm were diluted by the Reference Link's ADC and DAC. But when I compared the signal digitized

by the Reference Link to the CD version of the same records, it was instantly obvious that the Reference Link's ADC was vastly bet-ter than the ADC used during the CD mas-tering—or that an extra two bits of resolution can do wonders. The CD had much more of the character described above: harder tex-tures, more treble etch, lack of air and exten-sion, and a more forward perspective. For

example, the horns on Tower of Power Live (Sheffield Lab 17) were much more aggres-sive, forward, and grainy on the CD than when I digitized the direct-to-disc LP with the Reference Link's A/D. I had a similar impression with Robert Lucas's Usin' Man Blues (AudioQuest 1001), in LP and CD ver-sions. In all comparisons the LP alone sounded best, followed by the LP digitized by the Reference Link, with the CD a distant third. Moreover, the Reference Link's A/D was significantly better than the MD in the Marantz DO-92 DCC machine. Remember that the Reference Link has a

huge advantage over CD-quality sound: the Reference Link is fully 18-bit and doesn't get formatted into an S/PDIF signal or stored on a recording medium. The 18-bit A/D out-put goes directly to the D/A converter.

In summary, the Reference Link's A/D converter provides sound quality signifi-cantly better than that ofCD. It's more than adequate for tuner, tape, and video sources. But LP-loving purists probably won't want to subject their LP playback system to A/D and D/A conversion (no matter how good) for normal listening. However, the Reference Link's A/D is a good choice for archiving your LP collection to DAT or CDR. Note that the S/PDIF digital output from the A/D converter is 18 bits wide. Recorders with 16-bit inputs will truncate the two LSBs. As I mentioned in the technical description, an input level control and level indicators would have greatly increased the performance and utility of the Reference Link's A/D stage. It just so happened that my phono-cartridge output level and phono gain produced near-perfect levels at the A/D converter input. Sources with higher or lower output levels may not be as good a match.

LE TOUT ENSEMBLE Finally, I connected an entire system to the Reference Link and lived with it to assess its functionality. A Marantz DD-92 DCC ma-chine was on the digital tape loop, an Aiwa ADF-770 cassette deck was connected to the analog loop, two transports drove the digital inputs, and the Vendetta phono stage fed an analog line input. The Reference Link's out-puts drove the power amplifiers directly.

In this configuration, the Reference Link proved the value of incorporating preampli-fier functions, D/A converter, A/D converter,


and remote-controlled volume in one pack-age. It was a snap to record from an analog source to the DCC machine using the Refer-ence Link's A/D converter. Similarly, any input—analog or digital—could be routed to either the digitally connected tape machine (DCC) or the machine on the analog loop. The remote-controlled volume was also very convenient.

Using the volume control, however, pro-duced so-called "zipper" noise (a repetitive pulse from the loudspeakers that sounds like a zipper moving up or down). It wasn't par-ticularly loud, and only occurred when the volume control was held up or down. This anomaly has reportedly been reduced in cur-rent production. While I'm picking nits, I'll include a few

other minor criticisms of the Reference Link. First, the volume control isn't really useful below about #20 on the front-panel display —the output level is just too low, even for background music. Second, I heard some high-frequency noise and junk at the Refer-ence Link's output when the analog mon-itor button was pressed. Finally, I encoun-tered pops and ticks of various levels when switching between inputs or selecting a tape monitor. Most of these were low in level, but occasionally a fairly loud low-frequency pop or high-frequency tick would come through the loudspeakers.

MEASUREMENTS As with the listening, evaluating the Refer-ence Link on the test bench was more chal-lenging than evaluating a conventional digital processor.

Starting with the Reference Link as a D/A converter, I measured a maximum output level of 6.48V from the single-ended outputs, and 13V from the balanced outputs. These figures were obtained with a full-scale digital input signal and the front-panel volume setting at maximum (#60). At a moderate listening level (volume position #48), the Reference Link put out 830mV from the unbalanced outputs. Output impedance was a low 38 ohms

(unbalanced) and 76 ohms (balanced) across the band. This low output impedance, cou-pled with the apparently robust analog out-put stage, suggests that the Reference Link will have no trouble driving any ampli-fier/cable combination.

I measured moderate to high amounts of DC present on the outputs: 27mV (right chan-nel) and 11mV (left channel) from the unbal-anced jacks, and 57mV (right channel) and 24mV (left channel) from the balanced jacks. Line-input impedance was a high 100k ohms. The D/A section's frequency response is

shown in the top trace of fig.l. The few tenths of a dB rolloff at 20kHz is typical. De-em-phasis error (the bottom trace of fig.1) is nonexistent, as would be expected. De-em-phasis is performed in the digital domain by the NPC filter chip. The second, flat trace from the top in fig.1 is the frequency response of the Reference Link's A/D converter, which had a tiny amount of passband ripple from its anti-aliasing filter. The third trace from the top is the Reference Link's overall fre-quency response from analog line input to final analog output, a configuration that puts the Reference Link's A/D converter and D/A converter in the signal path. As expected, it's the composite of the A/D and D/A frequency responses. The D/A converter's interchannel cross-

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talk is shown in the bottom pair of traces in fig.2. This is extremely low crosstalk, and among the best two or three converters I've measured. The top pair of traces is the Refer-ence Link's crosstalk when measured from analog line input to final analog output, again with A/D and DIA conversion in the signal path. The reduction in channel separation with the analog input circuitry and A/D con-verter in the signal path is to be expected. This is exceptionally low crosstalk.

Fig3 is a 1/3-octave spectral analysis of the Reference Link's output when decoding a -90dB, lkHz sinewave digital input. The

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left- and right-channel traces perfectly over-lap at the test-signal frequency, indicating that both DAC channels are performing identically. There is also a very low noise level, and no converter artifacts. A very small amount of 60Hz power-line noise can be seen as the trace peak at 60Hz, but is below -120dB. Performing the same spectral anal-ysis, both with no input signal and with a 5Hz dithered sinewave at -99dBFS, revealed a low noise level and no converter artifacts. The Reference Link's reproduction of a

-90dB, lkHz undithered sinewave is shown in fig.4. There is very little audio-band noise overlaying the waveform, and the shape and symmetry are excellent. DIA converters don't get much better than this. Fig.5 is a 1 kHz sinewave captured at the Reference Link's final output when driven by an analog input signal of 30µV (equivalent to -91.4dBFS below full-scale, 1.13V). The difference be-tween figs.4 and 5 is imposed by the A/D converter. Although it picked up some noise (probably dither in the A/D), the waveform shape is superb for such a low-level signal. DAC linearity (fig.6) is excellent when mea-

sured with the front-panel volume control at maximum (#60). But with the volume con-trol moved from the maximum position, the Reference Link's low-level linearity degraded. Fig.7 is the linearity with the volume con-trol at #58, only 3dB below maximum. Note the greater negative error at this setting. This degradation got worse as the output level decreased. The left channel's low-level linear-ity became very poor at even a moderate listening level (#45, shown in fig.8). The sud-den drop and equally sudden recovery looks like a missing code in the DAC. To further explore this behavior, I repeated

the 1/3-octave spectral analysis of the Refer-ence Link's output when decoding a -90dB, lkHz sinewave, but with the digital attenu-ator activated. Fig.9 shows the results at vol-ume setting #45 (22.5dB of attenuation). We can see the left-channel linearity error and some of the lIcHz test-signal energy appear-ing at 2kHz, the second harmonic, showing the frequency-doubling effect of the negative linearity error. Despite this measured prob-lem, I noticed little change in sound between the two volume settings. The noise-modu-lation test (fig.10) produced tight grouping of cares, but with some deviation below lkHz. The Reference Link's D/A converter inter-

216 STEREOPHILE, OCTORER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

modulation spectrum, made by driving the component with a full-scale mix of 19kHz and 20kHz and performing an FFT on the output, produced the plot of fig.11. The lkHz difference component (20kHz minus 19kHz) is very low, but there are a few inter-modulation components spaced lkHz apart between 16kHz and 23kHz. The squarewave response (not shown) was typical for the NPC digital filter used in the Reference Link, with flat tops clipping the Gibb's Phenome-non "ringing." The Reference Link does not

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STEREOPH1LE. OCTOBER 1993 217 WorldRadioHistory

invert absolute polarity unless the front panel "Invert" LED is illuminated. Pin 2 of the XLR jack is "hot," meaning the Reference Link will invert absolute polarity when used with pin-3-"hot" power amplifiers. A/D converter linearity (fig.12) is well-

behaved to about -90dB, but has an increas-ingly positive error as the signal level drops below that level. ADCs are generally not as linear at low levels as DACs. An analog input signal of 1.13V RMS pro-

duced a full-scale digital output signal (OdBFS) measured at the digital monitor out-put jack. Because the Reference Link has no meters or input-level adjustments, very high-output sources could overload the A/D con-verter. In addition to measuring the digital output level with the Audio Precision System One's digital-domain level indicator, I plotted the Reference Link's THD at the analog out-put against the A/D converter input level. The result is shown in fig.13. The sudden

THE JITTER GAME: Since last January's "The Jitter Game Ste-reophile has been able to measure and report on clock jitter in digital processors and CD players under review. In the inter-vening nine months, the technique has been improved with a second-generation Meitner LIM Detector (the jitter-mea-surement instrument), more sensitive measurement methods, and improved interpretation of the results.

First, Ed Meitner redesigned the LIM Detector. He added a "phase-detected" output that integrates the jitter, producing a flatter output with frequency. The orig-inal LIM Detector had a 6dB/octave rise with increasing frequency. Although this is a valid approach, the new LIM Detector has both phase and frequency outputs. Ed also reduced the power-supply noise, lowered the test instrument's noise floor, and generally improved the circuit. The new version works exactly as the first one, on a theoretical basis.

Second, we've changed the scale on the jitter FFT plots. A general consensus is emerging that OdBR should equal one nanosecond (Ins) rather than the 226.8ns we chose for the first article. Note that FFT plots show a lower floor than if we had measured the RMS jitter with 1/3. octave spectral analysis. When the trace appears at a lower level (-60dBR instead of -40dBR, for example), we know that the processor with a trace at -60 has lower jitter. But we can't reference that level to OdBR = ins and conclude that a trace at -40dBR is 40dB below Ins (100 times less than ins, or lOps). It's analogous to mea-suring amplifier distortion as an RMS THD +N figure vs performing an FFT on

AN UPDATE the discrete harmonic products.

Third, we've switched to using a PS Audio Lambda transport to drive the dig-ital processors under test. All previous measurements were taken with a JVC XLZ-1010. Figs.1 and 2 show the Refer-ence Link's jitter spectrum when driven by the JVC and by the Lambda, respec-tively. Although the RMS level appears slightly lower with the JVC, the Lambda

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218 STEREOPHII,F, OCIFOBLR 1993 WorldRadioHistory

jump in distortion happens when the A/D converter runs out of bits. Most analog-source components shouldn't overload the Reference Link's AID converter. During the auditioning, I noticed a whin-

ing noise when I selected the analog tape input as the source. With the Reference Link on the test bench, I performed a wideband (80kHz) FFT on the output with the analog monitor selected, shown in fig.14. The OdBR point is referenced to full output. The noise

clearly has fewer discrete-frequency jitter components and a much cleaner spec-trum. Since it's the digital-processor clock jitter we're trying to measure, it makes sense to drive it with a low-jitter source to isolate the processor's jitter from the transport's jitter. It's interesting to note, from figs.1 and 2, that the Crystal CS8412 input receiver used in the Reference Link passes the transport's audio-band jitter through to the recovered clock.

Fourth, we've increased the measure-ment technique's sensitivity by band-limiting the data. We used to read the overall RMS jitter level as a voltage on an RMS-reading voltmeter—the meter reads the LIM Detector's rising noise floor at low frequencies (seen as the rise below lkHz in figs.1 and 2). This technique didn't differentiate between jitter and noise. In the new method of determining the RMS jitter level, the data file from the FFT is called into an ASCII text editor (a word-processing program), and all the data points below 950Hz are thrown out. These points are still plotted on the graph, but are removed when calculating the RMS jitter value. Another program then computes the average level of the remain-ing data points. The result is a more accu-rate reflection of the processor's jitter. While we're on the subject of band-

width, I should point out that the LIM Detector has an upper cutoff frequency of 20kHz, while jitter up to 40kHz is son-ically degrading (see Rémy Fourré's article in this issue). The LIM Detector thus measures only half the relevant band-width. Although this is a limitation, it isn't a significant one. If we see lots of spikes in the trace in the DC-20kHz band, we

floor is higher below 20kHz than with any other input selected, and some noise spikes can be seen at 21kHz, 44kHz, 48kHz, and 52kHz. The whine may be the result of inter-modulation between these spurious prod-ucts. I also captured the output waveform of this noise; there were periodic bursts of high-frequency noise overlaying the wideband noise. As I mentioned in the technical descrip-

tion, the Reference Link has a second D/A

can reasonably conclude that the prod-uct has worse jitter performance than a processor with a clean trace in the DC-20kHz band. Moreover, it's unlikely that the jitter level or character (white jitter or periodic jitter) will change significantly in the 20kHz-40kHz band.

Finally, we can also remove the LIM Detector's noise floor from the jitter cal-culations, leaving only the jitter level of the digital processor under test. When two uncorrelated noise sources (the LIM Detector and the processor under test) are added, the total noise is the square root of the sum of the squares of the individual noise sources. Because we know the total jitter and the LIM Detector's intrinsic jit-ter, we can calculate the jitter of the device under test. A general engineering principle holds

that a measurement instrument's noise should be ten times lower than the device you're trying to measure This is the ideal; in practice, three times is more realistic. With the LIM Detector measuring the very lowest-jitter processors, however, the LEVI Detector's intrinsic jitter is below that of the processor, but doesn't meet the three-times rule. With most processors, the LIM Detector's noise floor is at least five times lower than that of the device under test. The jitter measurements presented in

this issue's Reference Link review are the first using these new methods. Note that they are not directly comparable to previ-ous jitter measurements. But now that we've settled on these refined techniques, we can report with greater precision the jitter performance of digital processors and CD players. —Robert Harley


converter stage just for driving the analog tape output jacks when the Reference Link is driven by a digital source. If anyone's inter-ested, this D/A section measured moderately well. Its output level was 2.1V when driven by a full-scale digital input signal. Linear-ity error was -6dB at -90dB—there is no MSB trim pot—and there was some power-supply noise at 60Hz and 120Hz (plots not shown).

Finally, I measured the Reference Link's jitter using the Meitner LIM Detector described in last January's "The Jitter Game." Since that article, the LIM Detector, the tech-nique with which it's used, and interpretation of results have been greatly refined. (See the sidebar for the details.)

Jitter measurements were taken at the 8Fs word-clock pin on the NPC digital filter. The Reference Link had very low measured R/vIS jitter over a 20kHz bandwidth, and had very few periodic jitter components (seen as spikes in the plot). The overall RMS value was 146ps, a value that reflects the subtraction of the LIM Detector's intrinsic jitter. Fig.15 is the Reference Link's jitter spectrum with data representing a -90ciB, lkHz sinewave as an

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input signal. The spectrum is quite clean, but the signal-correlated jitter components can be seen at lkHz, 2kHz, 4kHz, and 5kHz. Compare this spectrum, however, with the UltraLink's jitter spectrum published in the January jitter article—the UltraLink was much worse. With an input of digital silence, the Reference Link spectrum was very clean (fig.16). (The spike between 7kHz and 8kHz in this and the previous graph is the 735kHz subcode rate.) (See the sidebar to see how transport jitter affects the Reference Link's word-clock jitter.)

CONCLUSION It's hard to come up with a blanket statement about the Reference Link—it has so many facets. As a D/A converter, the Reference Link achieves Class B performance. It's roughly on par with the UltraLink, but is decidedly better in some areas. The Reference Link's soundstaging, transparency, and detail reso-lution are all better than the UltraLink's. Note, however, that the Reference Link has a more vivid and incisive presentation, par-

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220 STEREormu,OctoBER1993 WorldRadioHistory

ticularly in the treble, a characteristic that should be judged in the context of one's own system. The UltraLink has a greater sense of ease, but is less detailed. The Reference Link's A/D converter is

excellent, imposing less sonic degradation than heard from CDs. It's more than ade-quate for digitizing tuner and cassette-deck sources (required when using these compo-nents with the Reference Link), but I'm sure that LP purists won't want to subject their phono signals to A/D and D/A conversion. The benefit of getting a line-stage out of the signal path doesn't compensate for the neces-sity of digitizing LP sources, in my view. However, the Reference Link's A/D stage will work well when archiving LPs to a digital recording medium, or replacing the A/D converters found in DAT machines, MD, or DCC recorders. Input level controls would have greatly added to the A/D converter's performance and utility. On a functional level, the Reference Link

is outstanding. In fact, the product proves the concept of incorporating, in one chassis, D/A and A/D converters, analog inputs, digital inputs, analog and digital tape loops, input switching, remote volume control, and direct drive of power amplifiers. The Reference Link's $4795 price is about

the same as an UltraLink plus an Audio Research LS2 line-stage preamplifier. Which should you own? That depends. Because I play lots of LPs and don't have a digital recorder, the UltraLink and LS2 are the clear choice for me. But if you don't own a turn-table and plan to get a digital recorder, the Reference Link's combination of functions, A/D converter, and convenience make it the ideal product. Twenty years from now, when your grand-

children ask you why an audio system's dig-ital control center is called a "preamplifier," you can regale them with stories of the time when electromagnetic transducers recovered tiny and highly equalized signals off spinning pieces of 12" vinyl.

POSTSCRIPT When PS Audio saw the preprint of this review, they were concerned that my sam-

ple was not performing correctly (the linear-ity deviation when the digital attenuator was activated, noise when "Analog Monitor" was selected), and that the sample didn't incor-porate refinements made in later production (removing the pops when switching sources, zipper noise from the volume control). They sent a new sample of the Reference Link as this review was going to press.

First, the new sample's linearity was un-affected by the output volume: it was superb at any volume setting. The associated prob-lem of second-harmonic distortion with the attenuator activated was also not apparent in the second sample. This technical prob-lem was apparently caused by a defective component in the first sample, not a systemic design flaw.

Second, PS Audio made some refinements to the Reference Link after the first small production run (my sample was the fifth unit made). The output volume control was changed to remove the useless settings below #15. What was volume #16 on the first sam-ple is now #1 on the newer production. Max-imum volume is now #45, not #60. The ticks and pops when switching be-

tween inputs were greatly reduced in the sec-ond unit. I still heard an occasional pop, but it was much lower in level and occurred less frequently. The increased noise level and high-frequency whine when the analog tape monitor was selected were also absent in the second sample, which also lacked the first sample's zipper noise. Finally, I compared the two samples briefly in my listening room. Although they were obviously two examples of the same design, the second unit clearly sounded better. The presentation through the second unit was less forward and more spacious, and midrange textures had more liquidity and smoothness. The second sam-ple's more laid-back presentation and greater air contributed to a sense of ease I didn't get from the first unit. These differences weren't huge, but I preferred the second sample. I had thought the first unit was a shade better than the UltraLink; the second unit suggests that the Reference Link is a step above the Ultra-Link, though still belonging in Class B.


nances, the result being a relatively uniform reverberation time of around 200ms from the upper bass to the mid-treble, falling to 150ms above 10kHz.

In the excellent and comprehensive manual provided for the Aerius,2 Martin-Logan stresses the fact that the sound of the speakers will change for at least the first 30 hours, due to the need of the woofer's butyl surround to be broken-in. The Aeriuses were run in on high-level pink noise for approximately 72 hours before any serious listening was performed, therefore. Each Logan was used with its three carpet-piercing spikes—two at the front, one at the back—making contact with the tile-on-concrete floor beneath the carpet. Martin-Logan stresses that the Aerius does need some boundary reinforcement to achieve its correct tonal balance. I ended up with the center of each cabinet's rear panel 2' from the front of the record cabinets behind it. Each speaker was almost, but not quite, toed-in to the listening seat.

SOUND "Seamless." That's the word. Right from the get-go, I was struck by the unity of the Aer-ius's sound, the integration between woofer and panel. Unlike its rather larger brother, the Sequel II, which I always had trouble with in the crossover region, the Aerius is excellent in this respect. In fact, the transi-tion from moving-coil to electrostatic driver is so smooth that when my son, recently embarked upon his odyssey through the "terrible twos," pulled out the woofer con-nection to one of the speakers, it took me most of an evening to realize that the sound had lost 3dB of its bass oomph! With my ears 36" from the ground, pink

noise sounded very smooth (though there was a touch of boost in the presence region). Moving up a few inches in my chair added excessive treble "bite" to the sound, while standing drastically cut the highs. Interest-ingly, with dual-mono pink noise, while only minor vertical Venetian blinding was notice-able as I moved from side to side—the Martin-Logan CLS was severely afflicted by this problem—moving even a few inches for-ward in my seat changed the midrange

2 It includes an article on the history of electrostatic speakers (with due mention made of the pioneering work of Quad's Peter Walker), excellent hints on setup and room acoustics, and a list of LPs and CDs Martin-Logan has found to offer exceptional sound quality.

character significandy, the main effect being to change a trace of "eee" coloration. This could only be detected while I was moving, however, which suggests that it is due to position-dependent interference effects— minor comb-filtering and the like—which are trivial. Given my enthusiasm for the seamless

nature of the Aerius's sound, it would seem unfair to break its performance down into the traditional frequency regions. But hey— it's hard for a reviewer to break audiophile habits.

Starting at the very top, the highest treble octave seemed shelved-down, the sound lacking top-octave air. This bothered Sam Tellig more than it did me; I only really noticed it when I listened for it, and with recordings that themselves lacked energy in this region. I suspect that whether or not it becomes a significant factor in the Aerius's balance will depend on how large a room its owner has, and how well-damped the walls and furnishings are. I suspected from my experience with pink

noise that this reticent top octave is also exacerbated by some peakiness lower in fre-quency, in the mid-treble. Though it was not generally sibilant, the Aerius did indeed add some slight emphasis to tape and microphone hiss. Close-miked soprano voice also took on a hard edge as it got higher in level. And the trumpets in my Elgar Dream of Gerontius recording on the second Stereophile Test CD had a little too much brassy blattiness. Chang-ing from the YBA to the Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks softened the mid-treble. This change also added an octave to the speaker's subjective bass response, though the lack of air in the Aerius's top octave was somewhat exacerbated. Even with the Levinson, however, the

Aerius 2 was unkind to poor recordings: the ridiculously bright live Queen concert from 1986 (Live at Wembley, Hollywood HR-61104-2, which I recently bought to remind myself of the late Freddie Mercury's dom-inance of the 1985 "Live Aid" concert) liter-ally screamed at me at anything other than quiet levels. But such recordings were the exception.

The sheer amount of unforced, musically natural detail I could hear through these speakers was astonishingly addictive. Most of my time with the Martin-Logans was


spent pulling LP after LP and CD after CD from the rack, following a particular musical thread. Chrissic Hynde's superbly orna-mented vocals on "Talk of the Town" from the Pretenders' The Singles LP (Sire 25664-1), for example, led me to Barbara Bonney's vanilla'n'cream soprano in the Nikolaus Har-noncourt CD performance of Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate (Teldec/Das Alte Werke 2292-44180-2), which in turn led to that old favorite, the Klemperer Brahms EM deutsches Requiem (EMI Classics CDC 7 47238 2), jumping to the lushly mysterious and mov-ing Symphony 3 by Henryk Górecki ffilektra Nonesuch 79282-2), and finishing up with Stevie Winwood's eponymous 1977 album (Island ILPS 9494). The Aerius's midrange was sweet and

uncolored, but more importantly, voices and instruments sounded correct. I kept returning to vocal recordings: James Taylor's New Moon Shine (Columbia 46038) and Eric Clapton's Unplugged—the German LP pressing that Guy Lemcoe was kind enough to search out for me. When he wrote about the Martin-Logans, Mr. T kept returning to the phrase "truth of timbre." This they have, coupled with a surprising degree of "realness" to both sound and image—the much-overused "pal-pable presence." Changing to analog source raised this

aspect of the speakers' sound by more than the expected degree. Whether this was due to the second sample of the Linn Arkiv car-tridge that had just been installed, to the new Cirkus bearing upgrade, or to the fact that the speakers' intrinsic performance is to such a high standard that the front-end had been the limiting factor, I don't know. (Sometimes you can't limit the variables in your system to just the subject of the review.) The Aerius offers surprising bass weight

from a speaker with a single 8" woofer. From my brief exposure to the Quest Z, I agree with DO that its intrinsic balance tends toward leanness. Yet via the smaller Aeriuses, the warble tones on the Stereophile Test CDs reproduced with full measure down to the 32Hz band. At the beginning of IClemperer's Brahms Requiem, the downward octave jump in the double basses is easily heard, not obscured by any doubling. And again on James Taylor's 1991 New Moon Shine LP, when, at the end of each line in the chorus of "Down in the Hole," bass guitarist Jimmy

Johnson drops down an octave to a dominant D to bring the harmony full circle, back to G for the start of the next line, the low note-36.7Hz—is given full measure.3

Yet Martin-Logan has not obtained this powerful bass performance by tuning the Aerius's woofer to be some sort of boom machine. Throughout the mid- and upper bass the response was exceptionally even, no single note sticking out any more than another (within the vagaries of my room acoustics, which exaggerate the 60-65Hz region no matter what I do). The Aerius's woofer is "fast," by which I mean that it does not hang over. It refrains from adding extra mud where it is not required. The bass guitar and kick drum in "Hey Nineteen," from Steely Dan's pinnacle Gaucho album, were as tight as a nut, two instruments of similar pitch acting as one—yet the speaker's low-frequency clarity allowed them to maintain their individual identities. (This track's lyric rings a responsive chord in this 45-year-old's consciousness—"Hey Nineteen, that's 'Retha Franklin, ([but] she don't remember the Queen of Soul)." Within strict loudness limitations, the

Aerius offers excellent dynamic contrast. It does reach a point where turning up the vol-ume doesn't seem to produce much extra loudness. However, the speaker didn't sound strained until the spl was above 100dB in my room. It also has an excellent sense of pace. Willie Weeks's loping Fender-bass octaves drove Stevie Winwood's effortless vocal and strutting guitar solo in "Hold On" from his seminal 1977 album just fine, while the bass guitar and drums on Michael Ruff's new Speaking in Melodies CD (Sheffield Lab CD-35) smoked. (This album features probably the best-recorded rock drums I have ever heard, coupled with inspired use of, yes, a trombone.4) Robert Harley's drum recording on our Test CD 2 also fared well, the image of the kit being nicely set back within the subtle ambience of David Manley's studio. Which brings me to the Aeriuses' sound-

staging. Recorded ambience, indeed, seemed more obvious, with longer decays, than I had

3 The addition oflow-C capability to the orchestral double bass and a fifth, low B-string to the electric bass guitar are the most important developments in subterranean music mak-ing, at least as far as this bass player sees it.

4 Musician Humor: frog and a trombone player pass each other in the street one Saturday night. At least the frog is prob-ably on her way to a gig.


IF You CAN'T WAIT. . . To sum up the Martin-Logan's pluses: looks the business; sets the soul of music free; works well in small rooms near the rear wall; superb integration between the disparate drive-units; seamless overall bal-ance; transparent, timbre-true midrange; well-extended, well-defined lows; excel-lent depth and retrieval of recorded am-bience; costs less than Wilson WATTs/ Puppies; not for Red Hot Chile Peppers fans.

Minuses: mid-treble has tendency to glare at high levels; high treble shelved down; tape hiss accentuated; won't go very loud without strain; unkind to over-cooked recordings; image focus good rather than excellent; costs more than a pair of PSB Alphas; might lead you to upgrade your front-end and amplifica-tion to the detriment of your disposable income; not for Red Hot Chile Peppers fans. —John Atkinson

expected from listening to the same tracks on conventional speakers. The differences between the various artificial reverberation programs Corey Greenberg had used on his "Eden" track on Test CD 2 seemed larger than I had thought. And instruments didn't move forward or backward in the stage as they were played louder or softer.

Soundstaging was generally well-focused, with no tendency for images to pull to the center. But I didn't get much of a sense of the stage extending beyond the image positions when appropriate. In track 10 of Test CD 2, for example, where I had recorded Larry Archibald mapping out the soundstage in the Santa Barbara church where we recorded our Brahms Intermezzo album, the image of Larry's handclaps should start well to the left of the left speaker and finish well to the right of the right speaker. Instead, the image of Stereophile's main man moved along a U-shaped path behind and between the loud-speaker positions. But again on this track, there was excellent depth and a feeling for the church's acoustic as Larry walked from the back of the nave up to the microphone.

IN THE RING WITH ThE THIEL The natural comparison for the Aerius is the

Thiel CS2 2, which I reviewed at the begin-ning of the year,5 and now suffers a slight price disadvantage since its recent price hike to S2750/pair. The beautifully engineered 22 is ST's other favorite speaker (when he can be torn away from his Advent Cheapskate Specials, that is).

Listening to the two pairs head to head, the Thiel's midbass is a bit fatter than that of the Acrius, which adds a pleasing bloom to the sound ofbass guitar. It sounds rather "boxy" beside the Logan, however, with a more con-gested lower midrange ,6 and the sound doesn't float quite so clear of the speakers Though the 2 2's mid-treble is slightly more sibilant, its top octaves sound more airy and spacious. Its imaging is even better focused, and the soundstage thrown by a pair ofThiels is as deep and wide as that produced by the Martin-Logans. Both are champions at ambience retrieval; both excel at lunging for ultimate transparency. The Acrius's midrange character is more

ethereal, the Thiel's more robust. Neither sounds lean, though the 2 2's balance is richer overall. Both make demands on the upstream equipment they'll be partnered with; neither is a rock-the-house-down party speaker. Asked to choose between them. . . I wouldn't.

MEASUREMENTS As can be seen from its impedance plot (fig.1), the Aerius is considerably easier to drive than its larger sibling, the Quest Z (reviewed by DO elsewhere in this issue). Yes, it does drop to 1.7 ohms above the audio band—the cur-sor position—but the phase angle in this region is close to 0°; if you don't use an MC cartridge with a vicious tip-mass resonance or you only listen to CD, the amplifier won't be asked to do any work in this region. And lower in frequency, where the bulk of musical energy lies, the Aerius's impedance magni-tude stays above 5 ohms all the way to 4kHz. The sealed-box woofer tuning is revealed by the 25 ohm peak at 46Hz. The wrinkles in the solid magnitude plot at 230Hz (major) and 300Hz (minor) indicate some sort of cabinet resonant problems at these fre-quencies.

5 Sterrophik, Vol.16 No.1, p.238. 6 This is at least partly due to a strong enclosure resonance affecting the speaker's front baffle. In a forthcoming "Follow-Up" I will investigate the effect Combak Harmonix dots have on this aspect of the Thiel's performance.


The Aerius is reasonably sensitive for a panel speaker, at an estimated 85dB/W/m (B-weighted), though this is below specification. However, this is the same sensitivity as I measured for the Quest Z, despite the more expensive speaker's significantly larger panel area: 668in2 vs 281in2. The Aerius's impulse response on an axis

36" from the ground, measured with a B&K 4006 microphone calibrated to be flat on-axis and the DRA Labs MLSSA system, is shown in fig.2. Its shape implies good time coher-ence, as confirmed by the step response (fig3), but the tail of the impulse is disturbed by high-frequency ringing. The large hump centered at 4.8ms in the step response is due to the panel's lower-frequency ringing being reinforced by the woofer output, though this is lower in level. Both drive-units are con-nected with the same acoustic polarity; reversing the woofer's electrical polarity

18tenuell• HIPAIMURIVLIV9 I PHIS81108) ril0010

184 581,

WY 93 17:38:42 98.88

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Fig. I Martin-Logan Aerius, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed) (2 ohms/vertical div.).

0.15

0.10

floopn•• - 99199

- Fig.2 Martin-Logan Aerius, impulse response on

axis 36" from floor at 45" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

1.•

0.•

11.•

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-11.•

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Fig.3 Martin-Logan Aerius, step response on axis 36" from floor at 45" (Sms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

It.

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eliminates the hump in fig.3, implying that the outputs of the two drive-units cancel in the crossover region when connected in this manner. (Inverting the woofer polarity does indeed result in a large measured suckout covering the entire 200Hz-lkHz region, showing that Martin-Logan has correctly implemented the Aerius's crossover.) Turning to the frequency domain, fig.4

shows the individual responses of the woofer and panel, the trace for each a composite made up from the upper-frequency quasi-anechoic response at 45" spliced to the lower-frequency nearfield response The woofer can be seen to roll off smoothly above 500Hz, the 12dB/octave rollout slope being broken up by a couple of cone modes. These are well down in level, however. The woofer's output is flat down to 55Hz, rolling off to -6dB at 37Hz. The gentle 12dB/octave slope, the result of the sealed-box alignment, means that the Aerius should give good bass exten-sion in a typical room. The panel's output is less easy to interpret.

The top octave is shelved down, while the mid- and low-treble are broken up by peaks

I 1 I I 1111 1 1 1 I 11111 I I 1 1 1 1111 I I I_

-ail

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-4111 - I I I I I 1111

1ft Ink lit Ink

I I 1 11111 1 1 1 I 1111 1 I 1

Fig.4 Martin-Logan Aerius, individual responses of woofer and electrostatic panel on axis 36" from floor at 45", corrected for microphone response, with nearfield response of woofer below 200Hz and panel below 350Hz.

1 I 1 1 1 1111 I I 1 1 11111 1 1 1 1 11111 1 I I_ S.S.

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Fig.5 Martin-Logan Aerius, anechoic response on tweeter axis at 45" averaged across 30° horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with nearfield response of woofer below 200Hz.


and notches which may be due to resonances, or to interference effects specific to the par-ticular microphone position chosen. The peak at 420Hz and the suckout just above that frequency might be at least partly duc to the nearfield microphone technique. The panel can be seen to roll out very quickly

@Hz 11811z 5kHz lekt

Fig.6 Martin-Logan Aerius, 'A-octave, spatially averaged in-room response.

below 300Hz, however. Looking at how these two responses inte-

grate at a 45" distance, fig.5 shows the quasi-

1111

843

-led

-21113

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Fig.7 Martin-Logan Aerius, horizontal response family at 45", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: reference response; differences 15° off-axis, 30° off-axis, 45° off-axis, 60° off-axis, 75° off-axis, and 90° off-axis.

0.0

-6.0

-12.0

-18.0

-24 0

1000.0 10000.0 Cumulative Spectral Decay log Frequency - Hz

-18.87 dB, 3729 Hz (42), 8.000 msec (0)

0.00

0.60

1.26

1.87

2 53

3 13 msec

Fig.8 Martin-Logan Aerius, cumulative spectral-decay plot at 45".

Fig.9 Martin-Logan Aerius, cumulative spectral-decay plot of accelerometer output fastened to woofer-cabinet back panel. (MLS driving voltage to speaker, 7.55V; measurement bandwidth, 214-1z.)

228 S'IEREOPHILE, OC-10BER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

ancchoic response averaged across a 30° horizontal window to minimize the effect of mike-position-dependent interference effects. It gently and smoothly slopes down by some 4dB through the midrange and low treble. The mid-treble still looks messy, how-ever, and the top octave is shelved down. The latter, however, will be at least partly due to proximity effect, as explained in my Quest Z measurements elsewhere in this issue. Nevertheless, the response in my listening room (fig.6) was still a little lacking above 10kHz, which correlates with my feeling that the speaker's sound lacked top-octave air. Overall, however, the in-room response of the Aeriuses is very smooth, with a very slight prominence of low-treble energy which might explain the way the speaker slightly emphasized tape hiss. (Ignore the peaks and dips in fig.6, which arc room effects that have not been minimized by the spatial averaging used to derive this graph.) Moving on to how the speaker's balance

changes as a listener moves to its side (fig.7, only differences shown), the Aerius is basi-cally omnidirectional within the woofer's passband. The bipolar panel output, how-ever, increasingly shelves down with off-axis angle, though not without some peakiness appearing in the high treble. The flattest high-frequency balance is to be obtained with the speakers toed-in to the listening seat. Ver-tically (not shown), the speaker's output is rela-tively uniform as long as your ears are between 33" and 40" from the floor. The treble gets very peaky between 40" and the top of the panel, however, while moving above or below the panel results in severely depressed highs—don't listen to the Aerius standing up!

Returning to the time domain, fig.8 is the cumulative spectral-decay, or "waterfall," plot calculated from the Aerius's impulse response (fig.2). This appears much cleaner in the midrange than that of the Quest Z, presumably because the well-behaved dy-namic woofer is taken two octaves higher in frequency. The high treble is similarly hashy, however, while the low- and mid-trebles fea-ture a number of resonant ridges. As I explain in the Quest Z review, this

kind of waterfall behavior is typical of panel speakers in that a large, uniformly driven, low-mass diaphragm appears to exhibit chaotic behavior. While the diaphragm's aver-age position responds uniformly to the driv-

ing force, there are small areas which move more than the average and others that move less. I believe that such behavior is often mis-taken by audiophiles for "clarity," "fast tran-sients," and "transparency." I also believe that it tends to accentuatekocaggerate detail by sur-rounding each transient edge of the music with a little halo of hash. However, whether its presence outweighs the virtues of any par-ticular panel speaker is an individual deci-sion. In the case of the Aerius, I felt that the sound developed glare or hardness only at very high playback levels. At more practi-cal levels, I reveled in the wealth of unforced detail presented. I also failed to hear any sig-nificant distortion or overload problems in the bottom two octaves of the panel's pass-band, unless the playback level was ridicu-lously loud. Harking back to the Aerius's impedance

plot (fig.1), a wrinlde at approximately 230Hz implied some sort of cabinet problem. Using a simple PVDF accelerometer? I investigated the speaker's structural resonances. The woofer bin does indeed have a strong reso-nant mode near this frequency, as can be seen from the waterfall plot calculated from the impulse response of the accelerometer fas-tened to the center of the back panel (fig.9). This mode could also be found on the side panels and, to a lesser degree, on the curved surface of the front stator. The latter also fea-tured a mild mode at 305Hz, again correlat-ing with the mild wrinkle in the impedance trace. Given the high level of the 227Hz mode, I'm surprised that I didn't hear much lower-midrange congestion. Turning the speakers around so that their backs faced the listening seat made this problem very audible. But with the speakers set up correctly, only occasionally was I reminded that there was something untoward going on in this region.

CONCLUSION Other than the humongous Statement sys-tem, I've heard all of the Martin-Logan range under more or less familiar circumstances. It may surprise some of you that, notwith-standing Dick Olsher's enthusiasm for the Quest Z elsewhere in this issue, I feel the Aerius to be the most successful speaker design yet to come from this Kansas manu-facturer. Within the limitations to be expected

7 See Stemphile June 1992, p.205; and September 1992, p.162.


from its cost and size—fundamentally a rela-tively limited loudness capability—it is a superbly musical speaker with a surprisingly extended bass, an uncolored, detailed mid-range, a transparent treble, excellent dynamic contrast, and superb soundstaging. It does lack HF extension, and the lower mids are a little thickened in absolute terms. However, the Aerius has the capability—rare in afford-able speakers—of being able to grow as your system grows. It certainly wasn't embarrassed

by being used with the mondo-expensive Levinson monoblocks, for example. And the improvement offered by Linn's Cirkus up-grade for the LP12 was easily perceived. Along with the Thiel CS2 2 (and, at a

slightly lower performance level, the Van-dersteen 2Ce), the Martin-Logan Aerius makes it harder for high-ticket loudspeakers to justify their cost of admission. Enthusiasti-cally recommended. This mule can fly. Or at least sing!

ROTEL RHT-I0 FM TUNER Don Scott

Rotel RHT-I0 FM tuner

FM stereo/AM tuner with digitally synthesized tuning. Usable sensitivity: 1.9/2v110.78dBf mono, 4µV/17.24dBf stereo. 50dB stereo quieting sensitivity: 2611V/33.50dB( with noise reduction; 29µV/34.45dBf without noise reduction. Capture ratio: 1dB. Selectivity: 100dB alternate channel; 30dB (narrow) adjacent channel. SIN ratio at 65dBf: 88dB mono, 80dB stereo. Stereo THD: 0.01%. Stereo separation: 60dB. SCA rejection: 60dB. AM suppression ratio: S7dB. 19 and 38kHz products: -62dB. Power consumption: 12W. Dimensions: 18%: W by 12" D by 3" H. Weight: 11.5 lbs. Price: $1499.90. Approximate number of dealers: 10. Manufacturer Rotel of America, P.O. Box 8, 54 Concord Street, North Reading, MA 01864-0008. Tel: (800) 370-3741. Fax: (508) 664-4109.

The RHT-10 is a charter member of Rotel's new high-end series. As well as the tuner, there are the RHQ-10 phono-stage with level control, the RIC-10 passive controller, the RHA-10 preamplifier/controller, and the RHB-10 200Wpc amplifier. The $1500 tuner caught my attention, its potential ether-trawling prowess seeming outstanding. The RHT-10 is a full-grown, 11.5-lb tuner

with brushed-aluminum top and front panels. The endcaps are particleboard painted in seven layers of hand-rubbed claret lacquer; the overall appearance is upper-echelon. The front panel is uncluttered, with only the Power On/Standby switch and Remote Sen-sor on the left and eight function buttons on the right. Selectable functions are High-Blend, Mono/Stereo, Mute Off, RF Attn, Wide-Narrow Band, Auto/Manual tuning, and Tuning Up/Down, all with red LEDs indicating status. Memory programming and 16 presets are selectable only with the remote.

There is no direct 88.1-107.9MHz tuning, so for ease of manual tuning the first and last presets should be set to these frequencies. Tuning is in 100Id-lz increments with moder-ate speed. The centered, large, red display shows preset number, memory, selected fre-quency in up to five digits, mono/stereo, and signal strength in six levels. Upon powering-up from scratch—not Standby—the tuner reverts to Stereo, Narrow, Mute On, Last Station received, Distant, Manual Tune, and Blend-Off. In Standby, modes are as they were when turned off. Overall operation is easy enough to leave the adequate instruc-tion manual in the box. The rear panel has a single threaded 75-

ohm F-type aerial connector, and gold-plated, fixed-level RCA audio jacks. It also has an IEC receptacle for the heavy-duty AC line cord. Overall build quality is excellent, and a ten-year warranty points to the care Rotel is taking with its high-end series, which


helps justify the tuner's rather stiff price tag.

FM PERFORMANCE One of the puzzling aspects of most Euro-pean tuners (except for the Kirksater Lab 10) is that they've been engineered for good or even excellent audio recovery, while little or no thought has been given to the necessity for high selectivity—the ability to separate closely spaced stations. However, for those who take FM seriously in Europe and aren't content with listening to the one local gov-ernment outlet seven to ten miles away, a good antenna and a selective FM tuner can unveil a whole new variety of musical enjoy-ment from several countries. This is true despite the FM band's being shared with other two-way services in some countries. The crowded RF receiving situation in the

US is even more acute. The FCC has allowed many new short-spaced stations to go on the air in the past two years, deviating from a previous policy that required Class "A" sta-tions (those under 3kW) to be 65 air miles apart. As a result, it is now not uncommon to live in an area where there are same- or adjacent-channel stations within a 25-30-mile radius of a listening point. For exam-ple, there are four strong signals that can be heard at 88.5MHz in the small state of Connecticut, and three of them interfere with reception of a very desirable, kill-to-get, super-sounding jazz-formatted sta-tion, WBGO from Newark, New Jersey, at 88.3MHz. This RF congestion is typical of the entire East Coast north of Virginia, and also of the West Coast. There are three new stations on Long Island, New York—at 96.7, 103.1, and 104.7MHz—that are adjacent to major Connecticut stations and have effec-tively halved the Connecticut stations' coverages. What is needed to make any audible sense

of this hodgepodge of signals, in Europe or the US, is a tuner with exceptional signal-slicing ability—with the best fidelity pos-sible and a directional antenna. From a design point of view, European engineers need to make a tuner that works well in their own backyards. Then it will also work well in the US, requiring only a pre-emphasis switch from 50 to 75µs, a tuning increment change from 25kHz to 200kHz, and dual mains input voltage capability.

Rotel has carefully designed its own five-

gang RF front-end. It has four selected IF filters (two in-circuit in Wide, four in Nar-row); a separate, isolated IF strip just for sig-nal level; a semi-discrete stereo decoder; a massive, exceptionally well-filtered power supply; and good, tweaked standard-circuit design. Rotel has come up with a winner that reaches perhaps 80% of what it is possible to receive with respect to RF, and about 90% of possible audio fidelity. A glance at the opening spec paragraph says it all: There isn't a tuner with better credentials. The only means I currently have for re-

ceiving more exacting FM is with a custom-tweaked Magnum/Dynalab FT-101A and an older Kenwood 600T. But in a commercially available product, the RHT-10 is as good as any FM tuner available: sensitive enough to get weak stations clearly, and resistant to strong signal overload. It separates adjacent stations well, and has only minor imper-fections.

ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT I used two Audio Source Amp-Ones strapped into mono (200Wpc of good sound for $598 list); a Krell KST-100; two Marantz Model 5 tube amps with 8417s, triode-connected; the latest Audio Source Pre-One preampli-fier; a home-brew passive controller with 50k Boums pot and silver wire; Amrita Monitors with crossover frequency raised to 5.5kHz; and various brands of speaker cables and interconnects—the choice dependent on the phase of the moon!

AUDIO QUALITY Judging recovered FM audio is a unique science because the original sound char-acteristics may not be known. However, through my experience as the chief engineer of four radio stations and as a broadcast-equipment salesman for nearly three years, I learned to discriminate and listen to only the music or only the added audio process-ing. To do either requires a tuner with extra-ordinary fidelity to the broadcast waveform. I'm delighted to report that the RHT-10 mir-rors exactly what is broadcast without undue added noise or distortion, contributing very few lies of its own. I had little trouble either naming the brand of compressor/limiter used by a station or smelling an announcer's breath. The RHT-10's major strength lay in its


ability to give the listener a choice in deciding whether a given station sounds better in Nar-row or Wide. It wasn't a matter of Narrow being a compromising mode, but simply that Narrow also sounded "best" on many sta-tions that would normally be thought to be ideally received in Wide. Wide was, there-fore, reserved as "best" for the few stations that did not have SCA or other garbage in their outer sidebands—or adjacent-channel interference. The only negative effect of using the Nar-

row mode was that stereo separation de-creased from 60 to 45dB at lkHz, 38 to 35dB at 10kHz. Still, stereo separation is mostly dictated by a station itself. The Rotel's imag-ing was open and spacious. Bass and treble extension were on the money, and inter-modulation distortion was very low. To put it simply, when the Rotel was A/B'd with other good RF performers, such as the Onkyo T-9090 Mk.II, more articulate music, voice, and processing artifacts came through. Other notable tuners are the Kenwood L1000-T (reviewed in Vol.14 No.6, p.207), which is now only available used, and the Grundig T-9000 (Vol.16 No.2, p.179). There were two faults. First, the fixed

audio output level reached 3-4V on heav-ily modulated stations. While this was no problem with Rotel's passive controller, it may be too high for some line-stages or preamplifiers. A suggestion is to make a loss-

pad consisting of a 150k resistor paralleled by a 200-350pF capacitor in series with each plus audio lead. More capacitance will give more highs.

Second, the high blend was only effective enough to shave offa little fuzz, and despite ' the tuner being about 20% more sensitive in stereo than normal, I found it necessary to switch to mono more than I wished for quiet operation. A two-step or variable blend would solve the problem and ice the cake.

CONCLUSION As I write this review, I'm reading a yellowed, ten-year-old piece of pre-product literature for the McIntosh MR 81 AM/FM stereo tuner. If the specs had actually been executed, this would have been the standard by which every tuner in the world would be judged: 50dB adjacent-channel selectivity, 1.5µV/ 10.5dBf sensitivity, and an excess of 120dB spurious, image, and IF rejection.

Sadly for FM buffs, this mostly Larry Shotz-designed project was scrapped be-cause, as I was told by the late Gordon J. Gow, former president of McIntosh, con-struction costs would have been prohibitive. But I will say this: It appears that the Rotel RHT-10 is the next best thing to McIntosh's hypothetical tuner. It gains a high recom-mendation, provided that high-level audio output is not a problem in your system.

RF ENGINEERING RC-8-PS POWER SEQUENCER J. Gordon Holt

RF Engineering RC-8-PS power sequencer

Programmable AC power sequencer with line conditioning and surge protection. Controlling outlets: two at 450W. Con-trolled outlets: eight at 1800W Time delay: On, 0.1-35s; Off, 3-35s. Noise filtering: -3dB at 2k1-1z, better than -60dB above


100kHz. Surge voltage limit: 170V. Surge dissipation: 35 joules for 2ms. Peak current: 4500A for 20µs. AC cord: 14 gauge, 6', grounded. Overload protection: I5A circuit breaker. Weight: 7 lbs. Dimensions: 19" W by 14" D by 5,4" H. Price: $625. Approximate number of dealers: 20. Manufacturer RF Engineering, 8884 Wagner Street, Westminster, CO 80030. Tel: (800) 869-5632. Fax: (303) 430-4023.

When tube preamplifiers were first equipped with feedback equalization, 'way back in the late 1940s, the concept of sequential power-up was born. Warmup almost always was associated with noises of various kinds— thumps, squeals, bangs—that were always annoying and sometimes hazardous to loud-speakers and amplifiers. As power amplifiers rarely misbehaved in this manner, audiophiles soon learned to turn their preamps on first, give them time to stabilize, then turn on their power amps. (That was before stereo. . . remember?)

Today, most preamps are quiet enough on turn-on that sequential switching is no lon-ger necessary for thump suppression. Audio-philes who plug all their components into a power block or line conditioner often just use its switch to turn everything on and off at once. The only time this is likely to cause trouble is when the system includes several high-power, high-current amplifiers, whose storage capacitors can suck up so much cur-rent when simultaneously charging up that they will trip the AC supply circuit breaker.' A switching sequencer can solve that, but the need to turn two or three amps on one by one is rarely seen as an inconvenience by the audio hobbyist. In fact, it's often viewed more as a rite of brotherhood—part of the price of being a "serious" audiophile. If that audio-phile knew automatic sequencers were avail-able (most don't), he would probably not be motivated to buy one anyway.

It wasn't until Home Theater came along that the market for power sequencers opened up. A full-blown HT system consists of a surround decoder/controller, eight amplifi-cation channels (for subwoofers and for Left, Center, Right, Sides, and Back wide-range speakers), a video monitor or projector— which may draw as much power as two amplifiers—and perhaps a motorized, re-tractable wall screen. Even assuming that all the amplifiers are stereo units rather than monoblocks, this still means a total of six switches to be flipped every time you want

1 Using a heavier fuse will allow several current-hungry amplifiers to charge up at once, but if the breaker has higher current capability than the wiring it serves, there is risk of a house fire. You should always beef up the wiring if you increase the breaker capacity.

to use the system. Like their audio counterparts, "serious"

video hobbyists rarely find this switching countdown an intolerable burden. However, most of the people who own high-priced Home Theater systems aren't hobbyists; when they wish to watch Terminator 2 in 8-channel Home-THX surround-sound, in the company of friends whose self-indulgences lean more toward luxury cars and Victorian decor, they deign not to perform a six-switch countdown beforehand. That looks too much like menial labor. They want to be able to do it in a single, dramatic flourish, with One Switch—and a power sequencer.

Automatic sequencers aren't exactly new. Early ones were mechanical, with a set of motor-driven rotary knife switches which, when cycled, would power several AC out-lets consecutively and shut them off in reverse order. None of these were programmable: The turn-on and turn-off delays were deter-mined by the constant speed of a small elec-tric motor. Today's power sequencers are much more sophisticated, allowing a wide range of turn-on delays and, usually, different selections of turn-off delays. RFE claims to be the first company to pro-

duce electronically controlled switchers (in 1988), and now has one of the largest selec-tions available. Their line includes an adjust-able-delay single-outlet 15A switcher that can be actuated by a lower-powered AC draw, a video signal, or a 12V trigger signal; another (with adjustable delay and sensitivity) that allows a single pair of loudspeakers to be switched to whichever of two power amplifiers is sending signals to it; a similar switcher for line-level signals; another (with a built-in 20Wpc stereo amp) that switches a single pair of speakers between an exter-nal power amp and a line-level signal; and two 10-outlet units with separately adjustable turn-on and turn-off delays plus line con-ditioning and surge suppression. Prices range from $70 to $625. REE's top-of-the-line RC-8-PS has two

independent banks of four (each) controlled outlets with a total load capacity of 1800W. Each bank can be independently controlled by any device plugged into either of two


sensing outlets, or by an external DC signal of 5 to 33V, allowing individual switching of. say, a dedicated audio-only system and a separate video system. Rear-panel DIP switches allow for reconfiguration of the banks so that, for example, sensor A can con-trol outlets in both Bank A or Bank B. or can be made to control all eight outlets compris-ing both banks. A third DIP switch lets you set selected outlets as being permanently On, for components which are best left on all the time. The rear-panel low-voltage-sensing connector can be used to tie two RC-8s together, to provide eight more individually programmable outlets. Each of the controlled outlets has two rear-

panel timer controls, one for turn-on delay, the other for turn-off delay; switching can be delayed for up to 35 seconds. The sensing AC outlet is permanently

connected to the household power through a current-measuring circuit that has an adjustable sensitivity (threshold) level, so it can be actuated by devices which draw differ-ent AC currents. When the controlling device is turned on, it starts charging a long-time-constant RC network that feeds the timing controls. These, too, are threshold adjust-ments which, in this case, determine how much the network must charge up before that particular controlled outlet switches on or off. The outlets are not cascaded so that each

turn-on starts the next timing countdown. Instead, all the timers start at initial Sensor turn-on. But since the controls can provide up to 35 seconds of delay, it should be pos-sible to get more than adequate delay time between any two events. The sensing outlet has no timer; because

the device plugged into it should always be the first to go on, there's no need for a delay on it. But after that's actuated, the switch-ing sequence is up to the user.

USAGE & ABUSAGE Because RFE is based practically in my back yard (about 20 miles away, actually), my first review sample was hand-delivered by com-pany president Richard Reisbick. I asked that he not do the setup for me; I've always pre-ferred to do that myself using only the infor-mation supplied in the instructions, so I can evaluate them, too. These proved to be more than adequate. But while the device dutifully

switched everything on and off in sequence, the sequencing was completely haywire. For example, with all turn-on delays set osten-sibly to 0 seconds, the controlled outlets turned on anywhere from 5 to 40 seconds after actuation, in random order, and higher settings had little effect on those timings. In addition, the sensing outlets were incapable of detecting the small current change when my (borrowed) Lexicon CP-3 was switched from its Standby mode to full Operating mode. It was a washout.

Undaunted, Mr. Reisbick delivered a sec-ond sample. This one was dead out of the box; it didn't work at all. He brought in a third one from his car and we fired that up. This one worked . . . almost. The timers seemed to function properly, but it still wouldn't allow me to use the Lexicon as the sensing device. The reason I wanted to do this was because the CP-3 is the only component in my system that has remote-controlled AC, Power switching, and I'm basically lazy. (I was also thinking about our prototypical yuppie's desire for One-Switch-Does-lt-All operation.) Nonplussed, Mr. Reisbick said he'd take the thing back to the drawing board. A week or so later, he showed up with a

fourth sample. On this, the timing adjust-ments were more positive, in that equal set-tings on different controls gave about equal delays (we're getting there!), but the thing still wouldn't let the Lexicon control it. The problem now was that, in increasing the sen-sor's current discrimination, RFE had made it sensitive to the small line-voltage dips caused when each of the power amps kicked in. When this happened, the sensor said, "Oh, the controlling device just shut down!" and the unit then proceeded to turn every-thing off again. Back to the ol' drawing board! Meanwhile, I continued to use sample 4,

controlling it with one of the power ampli-fiers. Everything worked fine, and I found the RC-8 to be a considerable convenience. (I could not verify the efficacy of the power-line filtering, because I live in an area where the lines are very clean to begin with.) It should do its job perfectly in the vast majority of cases. But the CP-3 isn't one of those cases. My only criticism of the RC-8-PS, and it

is a minor quibble, is that the turn-off delay controls work in a direction opposite to the turn-on controls. That is, they give a shorter


delay as you turn them clockwise. It doesn't seem to me that it should be that much of a hassle to wire these pots backwards.

Meanwhile, RFE has continued to grapple with the Lexicon problem (working with their own CP-3 samples), but with only limited success to date. The problem, it seems, is that while the CP-3 draws about 110mA of current in Standby mode, it draws only 1OrnA more in full Operating mode. Making the control circuit sensitive enough to respond to that small a difference makes it

too responsive to the drop in line voltage which occurs whenever a heavy amplifier is switched on, at which time the sensor "decides" the controlling device has been switched Off, and proceeds to shut every-thing down again. Except for the problem with standby-

mode controllers like the Lexicon, the latest version of the RF Engineering RC-8-PS does everything claimed for it, and does it superbly. Highly recommended to Home Theater fans.

A TALE OF THREE EQUIPMENT STANDS

Steven Stone Premier R-series rack systems. Prices: R-30 Expandable Rack, $169; R-ES Expansion Shelf, $49; R-CC Cable Channel kit, $35; R-I0 Amp Stand, $69. Approximate number of dealers: 270. Manufacturer Premier AudioStream, Division of Bavan Corp., P.O. Box 2410, Niagara Falls, NY 14302. Tel: (416) 632-0180. Fax: (416) 632-0183.

Arcici Superstructure 11 Special rack system. Prices: SSB-2S Superstructure 42" stand, $205; CS-2 standard component shelf, $32; IP-2 isolation platform, $75. Approximate number of dealers: 104. Manufacturer Arcici, P.O. Box 704, Islip Terrace, NY 11752. Tel: (516) 581-7006.

RoomTune Deluxe JustaRack system. Prices: JustaRack 24" three-shelf, 8279; JustaRack 30" four-shelf, 8349; JustaRack 36" frve-shelf, $419; JustaRack 42" six-shelf, $489; JustaRack 48" seven-shelf, $559. Approximate number of dealers: 65. Manufacturer RoomTune, P.O. Box 7, Sugarcreek, OH 44861. Tel: (216) 343-3600. Fax: (216) 343-8700.

All but the seriously deranged take for granted that audio gear in the home must be placed on something to be of any use. Some audiophiles might enjoy getting down on their stomachs and slithering across the room to adjust their preamp's front-panel controls, but such people are a minority. Here are three stand options that are all superior to old ship-ping boxes, grandmother's cookie tins, and K-Mart plastic shelves. They all look better, too.

PREMIER R-30 EXPANDABLE RACK SYSTEM & R-I0 AMP STANDS Premier stands arç from AudioStreams which also distributes Canadian-made Paradigm speakers. Like Paradigm, which tries to offer high-end-quality speakers at mid-fl prices, Premier offers budget-minded audiophiles full-featured modular stand systems that are very reasonably priced. Videophiles should also find Premier's prices and modular design attractive. The black-metal Premier R-30 is a modu-

lar design that is part ofa system that includes a side-mounted TV/video monitor stand, a bridge shelf (for connecting two R-30s), a free-standing video monitor stand, and an

amplifier stand. All the stands feature tubular columns that are, in theory, capable of being filled with sand. They also feature spiked feet and equipment platforms that rest on small metal spikes. The shelves are 15" deep and either 195/8" or 281/2 " wide.

Premier AudioStream R-series rack system


A unique feature of the Premier stands is their R-CC Cable Channel kit. This is a high-impact plastic, slim-line box that is open at either end—slit down the center of one of the long flat sides—and has a rectan-gular cutout on the bottom of the other long flat side. This plastic box attaches to the back of the equipment stand via two-sided sticky tape in such a way that cables can be easily routed behind the stand. With a double set of these channels, you can keep all the AC cables in one channel and all your signal-carrying cables in the other. The Premier amplifier stands will be of

special interest to audiophiles with carpeted living rooms and speakers whose terminals are near the floor. The R-10 raises the amps about 3" off the ground. allowing a little breathing room in case of flood.

Assembly: Like most modern furniture, Premier stands come "knocked down," requiring assembly. On a scale of 1-10. I'd give the instructions a 9—good diagrams, clear labeling of parts, and reasonably clear step-by-step directions. In terms of ease of assembly. I'd give the Premier stands an 8— pretty easy if you take your time and remem-ber to breathe. If you can hook up your aver-age high-end system, you'll have no prob-lem assembling these stands. Assembly time for an R-30 three-shelf rack, an R-ES expan-sion shelf, and two R-10 amp stands was just about an hour (I was dogging it).

Advantages & Disadvantages: The Premier stand is part of a system, and that is its greatest strength—in addition to a price low enough that you can afford to put together an extensive support system and still have money left for something to put on it. It's Erector-set-like in its modularity (the R-10 amp stand is also the base unit for the R-30). It's attractive in an industrial "just the facts, ma'am" sort of way—handsome but not really pretty. I'd give 'em a WA1 score of 5. The cable channel is a clever idea that will certainly make things neater behind the stand, but some audiophiles might question its sonic effect. Putting all like-kind cables together in long parallel runs may have some decidedly negative sonic effects, and, in the

1 WA stands for Wife Appeal. Please don't send "You sex-it ..." letters. Wife Appeal is an old term for how attrac-tive .1 piece of gear is to a non- or even anti-audiophile.

case of the AC cords, will certainly create a pretty serious electromagnetic field. Neamiks beware: Messy cables may sound better.

Also, since the channels are affixed with double-sided tape, they will, with time and stiff cables, pull loose. This happened to all the channels on the sample unit. A plus is that the Premier stands have excellent rear access, and you can put them closer to the wall than the other stands I tried.

Since I still use a turntable, I want an equip-ment stand to be stable enough to support one. However. 1 was not able to make the Premier R-30 with the R-ES expansion unit (bringing its height up to 331/4 ") sufficiently stable for turntable use. No matter how tight everything was, it was still too easy to push lightly on the side of the stand and put the turntable into horizontal oscillation. The small-diameter spiked feet also seemed to have a tiny bit of wobble, a negative charac-teristic I've noticed in other stands that use such feet. Although it's possible to fill the Premier

stand with sand, that process is apparently for audiophiles who are braver (or dumber) than I. The problem is that the only things that contain the sand in the tubular legs are cardboard slugs. Not nice, smooth, plastic-coated cardboard, but nasty, brown, cor-rugated cardboard die-cut slugs that you must push out yourself. With patience, lots of newspaper, and copious amounts of sand, you could probably fill up the Premier stand, but it might still leak small quantities of sand. And god help you if you decide to move and must disassemble the stand. Get ready to feel like Lawrence of Arabia. SAND EVERY-WHERE! I also seriously question how many disassemblings and assemblings these card-board slugs will endure without failure. I'd like to see something a bit more sand-proof (and capable of multiple uses) for centering sand-sealing slugs. (Hey, try calling someone that and see what happens—better yet, take a moment to say it out loud fast three times. Don't do this in a public place.) While the shelves of the Premier stand are

isolated from the support columns by spikes, they are made of fairly "live" wood, and seemed to be very sensitive to airborne feed-back. I put my finger on these shelves while music was playing and could feel the wood singing along with the music. Equipment should be acoustically well-insulated to pre-

236 S FFREOPtill I, OCTOliFR 1993 WorldRadioHistory

vent these shelves from exacerbating any air-borne acoustic resonance problems.

Summary: The Premier R-series stands are an excellent value that beat most mass-market equipment cabinets (especially the kind that roll and have a glass door and a glass dust cover on top). They arc excellera for holding tuners, VCRs, TV monitors, and video systems. The Premier's modularity and flexibility make it ideal for people on limited budgets with "growing" systems. The Pre-mier series of stands were designed to be inexpensive, and were not the most sonically neutral stands I tested. But with careful setup and judicious use of resonance-reduction devices, the Premier should do its job very nicely.

ARCICI SUPERSTRUCTURE II SPECIAL This is the equipment stand for anyone who's all thumbs when it comes to assembling stuff. It comes in a large box only slightly smaller than a refrigerator. Forget about assembly— the Superstructure is supplied in one piece (a good thing; it's welded together, and the average consumer don't do no welds). The Superstructure is the heaviest and most mas-sive stand I tested. Once in place and loaded with components, it would take an earth-quake of at least 7.5 on the Richter scale to dance it across the floor. The Arcici Superstructure frame is made

of hollow, rectangular, black metal. It is 421/2" high, and there's room for as many as ten shelves (counting the top) at spacings of 41/2 ". Regular shelves are made of MDF board and finished in satin black. Special isolation plat-forms are available that consist of two regular shelves with a layer of Zorbex" absorption material between them. Shelves rest on small, clear-plastic comer supports that have a foam layer between the shelves and platform sup-ports. You can get an adjustable record rack for the bottom shelf that holds up to 105 records. A CD caddy can be also be placed on the bottom shelf. The Superstructure can be sand-filled, and has spiked feet.

Assembly: I said that the Arcici Superstruc-ture H came already assembled. I lied. You do have to unbox the stand (and figure out what to do with the huge box), put the screw-in spikes into the bottom, place some

Arcici Superstructure II Special equipment rack

plastic corner supports on the inner sides of the stand, and place the shelves on top of the corner supports. This will take most people about 15 minutes. Just be careful not to stab yourself in the foot with the spikes during setup.

Advantages 8£ Disadvantages: Since the Superstructure II is pretty massive, one would think it would make a good turntable stand. Unfortunately, the 421/2" version I had for review was just too tall to be as stable as a turntable stand should be. This version is fine for CD players, but I'd stick with the shorter Superstructure I for turntables. Arcici uses "standard" 1/4" screw-thread pointed feet that are not large enough to prevent some "slop" in the threads. This translates into loss of lateral stability that makes the II too shaky for turntables because any sideways motion is amplified by the loose screw threads. A larger thread size or some kind of lock-


down system would probably eliminate this problem.

Since the Superstructure II is heavy, you won't want to move it once it's set up. Get-ting to cables (especially in back of the pre-amp) can thus be rather difficult. To make it easier, I placed preamps on either the top or second-from-top shelf. The top shelf can be easily removed, giving access to the top and back of the preamp. Otherwise you may have to attach cables by Braille. Luckily, the H is wide enough to accommodate equipment in rack mounts without the edges touching the sides of the stand. The deluxe isolation shelves are excellent for tube preamps and CD transports. I talked with Ray Shab, Arcici's main man,

at the Las Vegas CES, and he said he has tested a new prototype rack with hanging shelves (much like my home-brew rack in my large-room system). He has concluded that front-end electronics do not need a firm sup-port for isolation, as long as the platform that the equipment rests on is capable of absorb-ing vibrations from the component and the air and dissipating them as heat. Shab said the implications of this are that it may be feasible to place rollers on the bottom of properly designed stands so that they may be rolled away from the wall for cable attach-ment or other adjustments.

Yes, you still need something rigid for your turntable, but for preamps, CD players, and other front-end electronics, rigid mounting appears not to be the only way to eliminate vibration problems.

Summary: The Arcici Superstructure II rack system is a rigid, well-thought-out stand, with flexible mounting options. It's ideal for people who hate to assemble stands. If the Il had spikes that were more rigid, it would be stable enough for a turntable. But the sup-plied spikes allowed too much wiggle for good lateral stability. While not the least expensive stand available, the Superstructure II is reasonably priced and should outlast any of the components placed on its shelves?

ROOM-RJNE DELUXE JUSTARACK SYSTEM This is the "little brother" to RoomTune's ClampRack, which has been available for

2 See Vol.14 No.11, p.184, for TJN's thoughts on the Super-structure 11. —JA

RoomTune Deluxe JustaRack

some time. The JustaRack is less expensive and more conventional than the ClampRack, though it uses some of the same parts and can be used as a torture device for your front-end components if you feel the need to try to squeeze them à la the ClampRack. The Deluxe JustaRack consists of four 3/4 "-

diameter rods and 11/2 "-thick shelves that are held in place on the rods by large locking nuts above and below each shelf. All the shelves are 233/4 " by 153/4 " and hold 191/2 " rack-mount components easily. They have a spe-cial silicate paint that gives them a textured finish, and vented versions are available for tube gear (don't even think about using tube preamps on this stand without ventilated shelves). The top shelf has recessed top caps to provide a flat surface for all but the most massive turntables. The spiked feet of the Deluxe JustaRack

are worthy of note: They are much larger than standard pointed feet, and screw into the outer diameter of the rods. These feet exhibit no slop or shimmy, and allow for firm place-ment, even on less than truly flat floors. Very nice—in fact, the best I've seen.

Assembly: If you don't genuinely enjoy having your hands dirty, getting grease stains on your carpeting, and cursing a lot, you probably won't enjoy setting up a JustaRack.


I advise wearing work gloves, and putting down lots of newspaper before starting this project. The four steel rods are very liberally lubricated with black grease, and the unit is highly unstable before the locking nuts are screwed down. The locking nuts must be screwed along the steel rods by as much as 20" on the 42" version I tested. You will be very tired of this by the time you've assem-bled the thing. In addition, making sure that each shelf is level is a time-consuming process that may severely tax the emotional resources of even perfectionist souls. If you can, get your dealer to assemble the rack for you. If you can't sucker your dealer, expect to spend a minimum of 45 minutes doing it—and don't wear your best three-piece suit or be stingy with dropcloths.

Advantages &Disadvantages: The Deluxe JustaRack was the most rigid of the three racks tested, and an excellent turntable stand for small- and medium-sized turntables. Unless you really whale on the steel rods, you'll get no sideways motion or oscillation from a properly set up JustaRack. The Justa-Rack shelves seem to be as acoustically dead as Ardd's multilayered shelves. In my highly

scientific "finger tests,"3 both shelves were far better than AudioStream's wooden shelves or Arcici's standard shelves in attenuating airborne vibrations.

Summary: Of the three stands tested, the RoomTuneJustaRack was the best. It was the most rigid, had the least acoustically reso-nant standard shelves, and, of course, was the most difficult to assemble. Unless you're a total wuss, the JustaRack is worth the grimy extra effort to assemble it. It's the only stand of the three that really makes a good turn-table stand. It's also the only stand of the three that lets the user choose how many shelves and how far apart they should be spaced. This combination of ergonomic flexibility and physical rigidity makes the JustaRack a nice package. One last plus for the JustaFtack is that it

is reasonably priced when compared to top-of-the-line, price-no-object, high-mass megastands.

3 The "finger test" consists of putting on some tunes, crank-ing up the volume until it's just shy of earsplitting (earplugs are useful here), and placing your digit (I use an index finger) on the surface being tested to see how much it is vibrating. Pretty sophisticated test, huh?

F OLLOW-UP

SONIC FRONTIERS SFP-I PHONO PREAMPLIFIER In my September review of the $1095 tubed Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 phono stage/RIAA equalizer, I concluded that it was an excel-lent phono preamplifier for the money, but that it had a distinct sonic signature that may not suit all systems or tastes. The SFP-1 was overly smooth in the treble, very laid-back, lacked immediacy, and had only moderate bass extension and bass dynamics. On the plus side, it was completely lacking in grain, stridency, or fatiguing edge, and had superb soundstaging and a nice sense of bloom. The SFP-1's RIAA accuracy showed a sig-

nificant measured treble rolloff. At 20kHz, the output was down nearly 2dB. More sig-nificantly, however, the rolloff began in the high midband, being down more than ldB at 4kHz. In addition, the bass rolled off prematurely. These response errors were cer-tainly audible, and were no doubt the source

of some of my criticisms. Because getting flat RIAA response is not a difficult engineering challenge, I speculated that the SFP-1 was either intentionally made this way to give it a specific sonic character that may appeal to some listeners, or that the rolled-off treble was designed to tame peaky moving-coil cartridges.

Sonic Frontiers quickly ended such specu-lation. Company officials vehemently as-serted that deliberately skewing a product's sound away from neutrality was anathema to their design philosophy. Further, they con-tended that our review sample had the wrong value capacitors in its RIAA equalization dr-cuit,1 and that they had designed the SFP-1 to be perfecdy flat? They sent a second sam-ple for this follow-up report. I auditioned the second sample (in the same

playback system described in my original review) on its own and in direct comparisons with the first sample and the reference Ven-


detta Research SCP2B. It was immediately obvious that the second sample was the better-sounding of the two. The sense of life, snap, transient quickness, and air missing from the first sample was returned to the music by the second. Moreover, there was much greater detail resolution, with the impression that more information was pre-sented to the listener. In these respects, the second sample sounded much closer to the reference Vendetta. Transients were sharper and more lifelike, and the treble had a greater openness and air. By comparison, the first sample was a little thick and slow. Although brighter, the second sample still kept the gor-geous liquidity and lack of grain heard in the first unit.

1f! thought the soundstaging was good with the first sample, it was spectacular with the second. The greater air and openness made the soundstage Œpand and bloom with a lovely sense of air and space. The thickness that tended to obscure the soundstage was gone, replaced by a much more transparent and crystalline rendering. It was easier to see back into the recording space and hear room reflections that contributed to a sense of size. Image focus was also tighter.

In comparing the two phono stages with the LP Usin' Man Blues (AudioQuest LP 1001), I was surprised to hear the vocal and guitar images snap into focus through the second sample. Through the first unit, the images were large and diffuse, with part of Robert Lucas's voice pulled toward the soundstage right. With the second sample, the image was tight, coherent, and more pre-cisely placed toward the soundstage center. The impression of Robert sitting in my listening room was much greater with the

I A sample of the Signature version of the SFP-1, which was received at Sien opiada' two months after the first sample of the basic SFP-1 and two months before the updated sample of the basic unit, exhibited the saine frequency-response rolloff as the first sample. While it's possible that the Signature version and the first standard version were from the same produc-tion run, there were those two months between our receipt of them.

This suggests a definite possibility that the incorrect RIAA EQ is a systemic rather than a sample problem. There may be other SFP-1s in the field, therefore, either with customers or in dealers' stock, with the frequency-response error we measured in both our samples. I would suggest that if you are an owner of an SFP-1 and are happy with its performance, don't be concerned about it. But if it does sound a bit too soft in your system, contact Sonic Frontiers.

Unfortunately, Sonic Frontiers' serial numbers are not sequential, and are thus of little help in this matter. —TJN 2 See "Manufacturers' Comments," Vol.16 No.9, Septem-ber '93, p.205. —JA

second SFP-1. (Incidentally, I criticized the SFP-1's lack of image focus in my original review.)

Bass extension improved. Kick drum had more weight and punch, but both samples of the SFP-1 fell far short of the depth and impact heard from the Vendetta. This is still a weak spot in the SFP-1.

In other comparisons with the Vendetta, the second SFP-1 sample was still softer-sounding and had less resolution of fine detail. Going back to the Robert Lucas LP, the rich gravelly quality of his voice—part of what makes him such an expressive singer—was a little smoothed-over by the SFP-1. Where the Vendetta revealed more nuance in his complexly textured voice, the SFP-1 took a little of the edge off. Conse-quently, the Vendetta was the more musically expressive phono stage. 1 next measured the second sample of the

SEP-1 to see if the RIAA error had been cor-rected. It had. The response was virtually perfectly flat across the band, with a very slight shelving rolloff in the treble and a mar-ginally elevated bass response. This was in sharp contrast to the large bass and treble

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rolloffs measured in the first sample. The RIAA responses measured on the first and second samples are shown in figs.1 and 2. Many subjective differences between the

two units can be explained by these curves. The treble rolloff will produce a dulling of transient information, lack of air, reduction in immediacy, less detail, a smaller sound-stage, and a slower, thicker presentation. The second sample's much greater image focus, however, isn't so easy to attribute to response errors. I can now enthusiastically recommend the

SFP-1 for all systems, not just those that are overly bright and aggressive—provided that the second sample is representative of Sonic Frontiers' quality control. The second sample had much less of a sonic signature, making it more musically compatible with a wide variety of systems. It greatly ameliorated much of my early criticisms about the overly soft sound and the lack of air, immediacy, and detail. It did this while retaining all the things I enjoyed in the first sample: lush portrayal of midrange textures, bloom, and complete lack of grain, etch, and hardness. However, the SFP-1 still lacks the bass extension and dynamics of the Vendetta, and isn't as trans-parent or quiet as this reference product. I rank the SFP-1 as very high Class B, border-ing on Class A.

In short, the Sonic Frontiers SFP-1 is a superb phono stage and a terrific bargain at $1095. Indeed, its build quality and sonic vir-tues would earn it a recommendation if it sold for twice its price. —Robert Harley S

M ICRO SCAN ANTI-RESONANCE DEVICES In addition to releasing a series of related products (such as CD player/transport stands, which Robert Deutsch will report on in a coming issue), Microscan has made a number of changes to the anti-resonance devices I reviewed in Vol.16 No.8 (p.150). The latest devices have much smaller magnetic pads that affix to the speaker's surface This allows the devices to be used in more places and with smaller speakers. Microscan has also increased the strength of the magnetic coup-ling to reduce the risk of the devices falling off. Along with these physical changes, the product designations/names are new. But the best news concerns pricing. The latest Micro-scan Anti-Resonance System devices are

almost 33% lower in price. The $170 D-8 has been replaced by the

$120 TM-8. While the dimensions of the multilayered unit itself are unchanged, the magnetic pads and steel mounting plates are reduced in size by more than two-thirds. Similarly, the $150 D-6 has become the $110 TM-6.1 found that both the TM-8 and TM-6 performed identically to the larger, pricier units they have replaced.

In every regard, these changes represent positive product evolution coupled with lower prices. I strongly encourage you to give the Microscan devices a try if you have box-type speakers. They work. —Jack English It

WELL-TEMPERED RECORD PLAYER & SUMIKO ARM WRAP If you play your records on a Well-Tempered Turntable, or on the less expensive Well-Tempered Record Player that has served as my reference 'table for a couple of years now,' you probably dug Robert Harley's recent report (Vol.16 No.4, p.246) on the various modifications for the WIT and WTA as much as I did. The WT 'tables are astonish-ingly good analog rigs, but they do have some inherent deficiencies in the bass range when used in stock form. Optimizing the amount of arm damping goes a long way toward improving the tightness and weight of the bottom end, but these unique fluid-bearing tonearms still give ground in the bass to conventional pivoted arms such as the SME V and Linn Ekos. I was especially intrigued by Bob's com-

ments about the Mango Well-Damped Arm Clamp, a beefy brass clamp that locks around the silicone-fluid cup in which the WTA is suspended? By providing a much more mas-sive and solid physical contact between the cup and the arm base, vibration reflections are minimized and the arm's mechanical ground performs much better to a lower fre-quency than the stock configuration. Bob reported that the sonic improvement was dramatic—so much so that, after removing the clamp and listening, he immediately wanted to replace it!

1 $1195 in basic form. $1450 with a Damped Platter. Trans-parent Audio, Rt.202, Box 117, Hollis, ME 04042. Tel: (207) 929-4553. Fax: (207) 929-4271.

2 Mango Audio Labs, 1720 N. Marshfield, Chicago, IL 60622. Tel: (312) 235-6450. Fax: (312) 235-5855.

STEREOPHILE, OCIOBER 1993 241 WorldRadioHistory

This got my Poor White Trash brain a-thinkin'. How could I effectively—and, just as important, cheaply—get some of this arm-clamping mojo going for my WTRP? Unlike the arm-cup on the WTT, which sits on the base plate of the WTA, the more bare-bones WT arm-cup on the Record Player is attached to the arm's support pillar with a single set-screw. Yup, it holds the cup up, but the sta-bility of the arrangement isn't nearly as kosher as what Bob had achieved with the Mango Arm Clamp. Then it hit me—why not try a Sumiko

Arm Wrap around the WTRP's arm-cup and pillar? This high-tension strip of clear plastic is part of Sumiko's $50 Analog Survival Kit and had already worked wonders for the WTRP's arm. But the supplied li'l curlicue of hard plastic that secures the end of the Arm Wrap to a tonearm wasn't nearly big enough to affix the Wrap on the arm-cup and pillar, so I secured it with a plastic tie-wrap provided by the good but scary folks at my local Radio Shack. Total cost of mod: 51 clams. The result was a much tighter and weightier

bass, as much improvement in this area as could be obtained with Well-Tempered Labs' $400 Black Damped Platter. The new Black Platter and the Arm Wrap around the cup and pillar brought the WTRP's bottom-end per-formance up to the level ola good pivoted arm. (The Linn Ekos still enjoys a pretty wide lead here, but then this arm costs more than twice the complete WTRP turntable/arm package.) I no longer yearn for better bass when

listening to the upgraded WTRP. The defi-nition, clarity, and pulsing power in the bot-tom end bring this kllobuck overachiever into more serious competition with the better pivoted arms. While it won't make Ekos or SME V owners cry in their lite beer, the $51 I spent on the Arm-Wrap mod has made me a hell of a lot happier than any other $51 I've spent on my He-Man rig! Recommended? U-Bet! —Corey Greenberg

MIRAGE M—iSI LOUDSPEAKER Though Stereophile's samples of the Mirage M-lsi have long since gone back to the manufacturer, I recently had the opportunity

3 The $49.95 Analog Survival kit indudes arm wrap and turn-table mat. Sumiko, P.O. Box 5046, Berkeley, CA 94705. Tel: (510) 843-4500. Fax: (510) 843-7120.

to hear them in another application in a visit to the facilities of Widescreen Review. Editor Gary Reber had two pairs of them in his main audio/video setup, one pair for the fronts, another for the surrounds. No center-channel loudspeaker was in use when I heard the sys-tem, nor were there any subwoofers. The lat-ter was a temporary omission—a new pair of subs from Mirage was expected any day. The surrounds were fairly close to the listen-ing (viewing?) seat, and were set up to fire directly at the listeners, not edge-on as one might expect with a bipolar array. The picture from the direct-view moni-

tor (a 31" Panasonic GA00, or GOO. . . or something), though smaller than many video fans might desire, was outstanding. The monitor was reportedly factory-set for the correct color temperature. But my main attention was drawn to the

sound. It was superb, certainly a match for anything I have ever heard in an audio/video setup—the megabuck Cello system possi-bly excepted. There was no obvious lack of bass, no glare to speak of, and there was a detailed yet sweet top end largely free of the aggressiveness that one often hears from video sources. Dynamic range and punch were ample, and the sense of space and depth was stunning—Gary argues in his magazine that eliminating the center speaker enhances depth, but the Mirages certainly deserve some credit for this. The listening area was fairly compact, but

with a high, sloped ceiling. The front loud-speakers flanked the monitor, spaced, I esti-mate, about 7' to 8' apart and aimed straight ahead. The seating area was quite close to the plane formed by the monitor and front Mirages—probably no more than 7' or 8'. While I heard no obvious sign of imaging interference from the presence of the monitor, only experimentation with and without its presence would tell for certain. The controller-processor used was a new

Fosgate Three-A, THX-certified. The Mirages, I should emphasize, are not THX-certified— which should in no way be counted against them. We used both THX and Fosgate's "70mm" mode, along with straight stereo and a discrete but effective "chamber" sur-round mode for music. (JGH has the com-plete Fosgate TI-DC system in-house, and will be reporting on it in a coming issue).

In brief musical excerpts, I found the sys-


tern just as impressive sans picture. I had only two quibbles. First, the overall sound level was initially too high: We started it at THX reference level, but at my request backed it off by at least 5dB. I've said it before—THX tries to reproduce the sound level as it existed in the dubbing stage, which in my judgment is far too loud for comfort in home playback. Also, the surrounds were initially set slightly too high in level for my taste.

Overall, however, the Mirages did a superb job in a surround environment. But do you really need the big M-Isis in the surround channels? Gary reported that he originally had M-3sis (no tykes themselves) for sur-rounds, but the sound improved when the timbre-matched M-Isis were substituted. If funds are a factor, I would not hesitate to con-sider M-3sis all around instead of M-Isis. The M-3sis make for a very comparable sys-tem at substantial savings in cost. I should also point out that the Mirages in

this system were not quite stock. Gary has recently been associated with Monster Cable, and had his M-Isis internally wired with that company's products.

Conventional wisdom calls for direct, front-radiating loudspeakers for a video sound system, but if you have the space (remember, bipolc and dipole radiators must be set up somewhat out from the rear wall), other types of loudspeakers can be used effec-tively. I had actually suspected this for some time. When the original Mirage M-3s came in for review, I broke them in by using them for video sound (simple stereo, without Dolby surround processing), and found them as effective in that application as anything else I had used up to that time.

In any event, my impressions of this system were very positive, and though I only listened to music-only sources briefly, those didn't appear to be compromised. That's not some-thing that can always be said of an audio/ video setup. —Thomas J. Norton $

AIR TIGHT ATM-2 POWER AMPLIFIER During a glorious sojourn in the Stereophile listening room, where its coupling with the Ensemble Reference loudspeakers was, for me, one of the sonic highlights of the past few years, the ATM-2 stereo tube amplifier that I reviewed in Vol.13 No.5 earned my open admiration for the manner in which it re-

trieved and pampered midrange textures and tonality.

Unfortunately, it didn't survive a visit to Sam Tellig, who had also wanted to listen to it. Following repairs, it appeared that much of the ATM-2's magic was diminished. The treble lacked sparkle, and the midrange was deprived both of immediacy and of a mea-sure of sensuousness that had really gotten my attention previously. In its repaired con-dition, it did indeed sound like a "refined Quicksilver," as other staff members have described it in "Recommended Components"

Well, no more! The magic is back. I dis-covered that the culprit was, in fact, the Chi-nese KT88S output tubes. I had a large quan-tity of Gold Aero KT99As on hand recently (for a forthcoming Jadis JA-200 review), which gave me a chance to try them with the ATM-2. With the KT99As, the treble opened up, the transparency of the mids was fully reinstated, and the upper mids gained in smoothness and sugar content to a point where harmonic textures again sounded like the real thing. As a bonus, bass lines tight-ened up. The upper bass and lower mids— the primary source of musical energy—still sounded tonally convincing. And, holy cow! Could this amp boogie! Rhythmic nuances were left fully intact so that it was easy to connect with the music.

It's clear in hindsight that my Chinese KT88S tube complement was below par, and it's quite possible that another set of selected Chinese tubes would have restored sonic order. But based on my experience with the KT99As, I have no immediate desire to try any more sub-par KT88s in my system. And until Lady Luck sends some better KT88s my way, the KT99As are here to stay. I suggest that you haven't really heard

the ATM-2 unless you've tried it with the KT99As. Please note, however, that the KT99As require a considerable break-in period before they're ready for prime time. Initially, the sound was quite murky and fuzzy. After several hours, the soundstage began to gain in focus and transparency, with the tubes sounding more and more musical through the first 20 hours or so. So be patient at first, because it's tempting to dismiss them quickly.

This is a great litde tube amp, and one that will see much duty in my reference system.

—Dick Olsher


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with spikes on a concrete surface and loaded down to simulate normal use, it was less prone to "racking' —a torsional lack of ri-gidity—than any of the other equipment stands I evaluated in the November 1991 issue, including the Arcici Lead Balloon. It was also at least as rigid as the fully assem-bled, welded, Target TT5T racks that I use in my listening room. (In fairness to the Tar-gets, they're 5" taller than the Sanus.)

Here are some other comparisons between the Sanus and Target stands:

1) The Sanus is wider and deeper (its usable dimensions are 20" W by 17.5" D, compared to the Target's 18.5" W by 15.5" D), and will more easily accommodate larger compo-nents. The Sanus's shelves are also thicker and heavier.

2) All the shelves on the Sanus are sup-ported by spikes. Only the top shelf of the Target is spiked.

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4) Neither rack has provisions for filling it with sand, but the Sanus, with its heavier steel frame, seems slightly better damped.

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B UILDING A L IBRARY

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SYMPHONY No. 40 IN G, K. sso

The world boasts its seven wonders, but Western music has more. Al-though the total number is debat-

able, no one would argue that the three symphonies Mozart composed during two months ofthe summer of 1788 comprise one of those wonders. They crown his sym-phonic output, and each has its unique ethos, style, and orchestral color. The second of the group, Symphony 40,

is perhaps the most emotionally intense. Like Mozart's "Prague" Symphony, this is one of the works especially suggestive of the direc-tion his music might have taken had he lived longer. With less of the operatic style that stamps many of his other symphonies, it is exceptionally terse in its motivic structure. The writing abounds in stark chromaticism, but (typical of Mozart) this chromaticism is worked in with an astonishing smoothness that conceals its melodic audacity.

So, too, with Mozart's harmonic boldness. Consider the end of the first-movement

development, where the tonality moves from B-flat major to F-sharp minor—a leviathan leap from a key of two flats to one of three sharps. It is as brusque a harmonic contrast as any in Beethoven, yet effected with a seeming ease that conceals its brashness. It is as if the music were traversing tonal galax-ies unhampered by harmonic gravity. Or consider the matter of orchestration,

an area in which Mozart was every bit as masterly as Mahler or Berlioz. Note, for example, how, typical of the time, he calls for two horns, but, less typically, asks for each in a different key, thereby extending the melodic possibilities of what was then a valveless instrument. Astonishing, too, is the very opening of the work with its agitated motif for divided violas—a motif that, as Mendelssohn pointed out, defies any pos-sibility of keyboard transliteration simply because of its starkly orchestral character. And finally there is the matter of Mozart's

orchestral revision—rewriting the work's


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oboe parts to accommodate a pair of clari-nets absent from the Urtext. Some conductors still favor that earlier version, but the majority opt for the later one, a wise choice in that the revision adds welcome color and reflects Mozart's love of the clarinet. The symphony is filled with interpretive

problems. First, there is the matter of tempo. Because of the symphony's minor key sig-nature, some conductors try to convey its "seriousness" by distending its outer move-ments. But the first is marked Allegro molto, the last Allegro assai, both demanding, con-sequently, fast pacing, especially as each is in "cut" (alla breve) time. Similarly, the slow movement, an Andante, should not be trans-mogrified into an Adagio. There is also the matter of repeats. In the

second and fourth movements Mozart speci-fies da capos, not only of expositions but of developments and recapitulations. Thus, each movement must be heard in its entirety twice. Few conductors observe these non-exposi-tional repeats, their inclusion in a phono-graphic age that Mozart never could have anticipated smacking more of blind fun-damentalism than anything else. Indeed, most conductors confine themselves to the ex-position repeat of the first movement or, at most, those of the first and last movements. (Unless otherwise noted in the following dis-cussion, it may be assumed that this is what has been done; similarly, most of the record-ings under consideration, unless an omission of clarinets is specified, follow Mozart's revisions.) One of the most celebrated of the com-

poser's interpreters during the first half of this century, and the first to record the symphony electrically, was Richard Strauss. In fact, he recorded it twice, once in 1927 and again in 1928. In one of the oddities of today's flour-ishing reissue business, both are currently available (Koch Legacy 3-7076-2 and DG 431 874-2). Unfortunately, neither of these stodgy readings confirms Strauss's repute as an eminent Mozartean, but the later (DG) account is the better played and technically superior of these two sonically feeble efforts.

Equally celebrated as a Mozartean was Sir Thomas Beecham, whose 1937 recording has recently been reissued (EMI 7 63698 2, a three-CD set featuring a number of Mozart symphonies under Beecham's direction). That this account was once considered a par-

adigm of stylishness indicates how tastes have changed. Beecham's overly refined, at times even prissy style, with its ludicrously pon-derous Minuet and omission of clarinets, robs the music of power, passion, and color. And EMI's use of CEDAR noise reduction im-poses a nasal tone absent from the older LP transfers made by Anthony Griffith and released in the US by Vox.

In every respect, Arturo Toscanini is the converse of Beecham. Once deemed an in-different Mozartean, he now sounds like a harbinger of the period-instrument conduc-tor. His allegros are bracing, but inflected with subtle rhythmic modulations; his slow movement never dawdles, and the sharply defined textures and motivic profiles he produces enhance expressivity. Of his two studio versions, the earlier one (1938-39, RCA 60285-2) is better played and almost as well-recorded as the later one (1950). And for those seeking a particularly intense, pas-sionate account, an in-concert Toscanini per-formance from his first NBC broadcast (December 25, 1937) is preserved in remark-ably good sound on Myto 89009. Completing the historical versions that

command some interest are those of Furt-wangler, Walter, Szell, Klemperer, and Casals. Wilhelm Furtwângler was one of the great interpreters of this work, his fierce, driving approach belying the specious generaliza-tion that his tempos were always slower than the norm. Unfortunately, his splendid studio version with the Vienna Philharmonic for EMI was recently deleted, but should reap-pear soon. At present, the only Furtwângler account in the catalog is one from 1949, a live performance authorities have claimed wasn't led by the conductor. Along with Strauss and Beecham, Bruno

Walter was considered one of the great Mozart conductors. His three studio record-ings of 40 span the early electrical and ste-reo eras, but only the last, with an ad hoc West Coast orchestra (CBS MK 42028), is cur-rently available It is heavy-handed and omits all repeats. Far better is Walter's Berlin Phil-harmonic concert performance of 1950 (AS Disk 112), coupled with a magnificent (but poorly reproduced) live Toscanini reading from 1953 and the aforementioned dubious Furtwângler version. In this 1950 perfor-mance, Walter's pacing is marginally faster than in his studio efforts, the bass less heavy,


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the texture a bit clearer, but, again, all repeats are ignored. On his death bed, George Sze11 asked to

see two scores: the Schubert Ninth and the Mozart 40th. Given his many magnificent Mozart recordings, one would expect that he was an ideal interpreter of the latter. But his sonically raucous stereo edition (Sony SBK 46333) with the Cleveland Orchestra is tentative and bland. Although not more quickly paced than Szell's, Otto Klemperer's stereo recording (with the Philharmonia Orchestra in a four-CD EMI set of Mozart symphonies, Angel 63272) is stronger. It boasts sharper inflection, more incisive accents, and better-focused textures. Some, however, may feel that the first movement demands a bit more drive. A similar reservation may be prompted by

the in-concert performance led by Pablo Casals at Marlboro in July 1967 at the age of 91. Tempos for the outer movements are slow, the Andante is far closer to an Adagio, and the essential first-movement repeat is ignored. Still, there are a passion, commit-ment, and raw power to his reading that make it impossible to dismiss. Downbeats are attacked with slashing accents, motivic pro-file is sharply etched, and balances are exem-plary, clarifying detail and textures often muddied in other readings—perhaps as a partial result of the ad hoc Marlboro orchestra being close in size to period-instrument ensembles. Coupled with this performance are highly personal but equally affecting Casals accounts of Mozart's "Haffner" and "Jupiter" Symphonies, making this CD (Sony 47294) required listening. Even its close, dry acoustic sounds stylistically apt. Among more recent issues there is surely

a 40 for every taste. Several versions favor-ing fleet Allegros stand out. Particularly dis-tinguished are two from Herbert von Karajan (Angel Studio 69012, from 1971, and DG Galleria 435 592-2, from 1977, both with the Berlin Philharmonic). Karajan's Mozart was amazingly inconsistent, at times uncon-sciously overrefined. But he had a strong affinity for 40, projecting its outer move-ments with a passionate drive made all the more expressive by his care with balances. Noteworthy in both versions is his clarifi-cation of the viola motif that runs through the first movement. Each of these recordings exemplifies the engineering style of the

respective company: EMI's more distant and homogenized, DG's closer, brighter, and a bit more detailed.

Equally arresting, if utterly different, is a 1987 performance led by Yehudi Menuhin (Aperto 86 420). Using a relatively small orchestra (with clarinets) of about 40 musi-cians, he draws exceptional clarity from the Warsaw Sinfonia, the music's innards exposed as they rarely are. Bracing tempos, rich color, and sharply focused motifs contribute to compelling expressivity. Note, by the way, that this performance is not the same as one issued by Virgin Classics featuring the same orchestra under Menuhin's direction. Recorded in 1989, it is also admirable, but lacks some of the pointed tension found in the Aperto edition.

Falling somewhere between the leanness of Menuhin and the beefier Karajan accounts is a first-rate 1980 recording featuring Wolf-gang Sawallisch and the Czech Philharmonic (Eurodisc 69253-2). Here is a fairly large ensemble (lacking clarinets) in a big, reso-nant hall and captured in a distant perspective that lends the sound a welcome realistic ambience. Sawallisch propels the music for-ward, suggesting an apt grimness. If his Andante is a trifle broad, it nonetheless flows. The only shortcoming here—if that's not too strong a word—is an inclusion of all repeats in the finale, giving the movement dispro-portionate length. Even greater disproportion afflicts the

otherwise admirable James Levine/Vienna Philharmonic edition (DG 429 731-2). Here every last repeat is included, extending the Andante to more than 15 minutes—nearly twice the length of any of the other move-ments. Those who do not find this objection-able may well admire this reading, which blends fire with delicacy and benefits from beautifully shaped phrasing and judicious balances. Levine, like Karajan, takes special care to clarify the violas in the first move-ment. Aside from slightly metallic string tone, the resonant recording is first-rate. An intelligent compromise between Levine's

observance of all repeats and the more com-mon exclusion of most is offered by Neville Marriner in the second of his two recordings of the work (EMI 49073-2). This is one of the few instances in which the conductor's later version of a Mozart symphony scores over his earlier one (for Philips with the


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Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, more recently released as part ola Musical Her-itage Society set of the last eight symphonies, 533092A)—in this case because it employs the clarinets Marriner chose not to use in his earlier version. Only a clipped, rather jaunty Minuet spoils an unmannered, well-balanced performance. Some, however, may find the hard string tone a typical digital defect.

For those who prefer more expansive read-ings, there are the worthwhile approaches of Davis, Solti, Bernstein, and Kubelik. Sir Colin Davis recorded 40 twice. Unfor-tunately, his earlier account from the '60s is no longer available. The new one, with the Dresden State Orchestra (Philips 422 398-2), preserves the rhythmic rectitude of its fore-runner. But over the roughly two decades that elapsed between recordings, Davis's tempos grew broader, the sonority he favored became heavier, and the symphony's length was stretched by the inclusion of all expo-sition repeats. If such practices appeal, this reading, with its well-defined winds and welcome clarification of harmonic motion, has much to recommend it.

In their generally gentle approach, the accounts of Rafael Kubelik (without clari-nets, CBS 44649) and Georg Solti (London 414 334-2) recall the old Beecham version, but with one key difference—a freedom from fussy stodginess. Kubelik transforms the pas-sionate grimness of faster performance into a muted melancholy. This may not be what Mozart intended, but for those who find it appealing, the conductor and his Bayreuth Radio Orchestra carry it off well. But Solti conveys a similar ethos without

making the music seem quite so genteel. Indeed, there is a subtlety in his direction of the relatively small Chamber Orchestra of Europe that has often been absent from his standard-repertory work with the Chicago Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic. Note, for example, the contrast drawn be-tween the two portions of the opening theme. In the main, Solti suggests a delicate pathos that suits the score, and, save for a Minuet that sounds more square than triangular in its labored pacing, this reading, of its kind, may prove attractive.

So, too, may Leonard Bernstein's with the Vienna Philharmonic (DG 413 776-2). Al-though his tempos are marginally slower than Solti's, they seem slightly faster, prob-

ably because ofBernstein's exceptional care with balances, wind passages in particular enriching color and harmony. In every way, this recording, in its suaver sound and exe-cution, scores over the conductor's earlier version with the New York Philharmonic (soon to be reissued by Sony). Given its rela-tively broad pacing, the inclusion of all repeats in the finale results in first, third, and fourth movements of nearly equal length. Two accounts that defy recommendation

remain, nonetheless, interesting in that they embody practices that today seem utterly misplaced in Mozart. In the case of Carlo Maria Giulini's recent Berlin Philharmonic version (Sony MK 47264), the tempos are so slow that they constitute a pretentious man-nerism, and winds are recessed to the point that it's almost impossible to hear that Giulini is using clarinets. Utterly different is Charles Mackerras (Telarc CD-80139). Leading the relatively small Prague Chamber Orchestra, he skims the surface of the work with exces-sive haste, rigid rhythm, and insensitive phrasing. With clarinets omitted, every last repeat observed, and the addition ola har-monically redundant, timbrally ludicrous harpsichord, this performance—despite the use of modern instruments—exemplifies what might be termed the adverse effects of the "authenticity" movement. That a happy balance between period- and

modern-instrument styles can be reached is illustrated by Nikolaus Harnoncourt's recent recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (in a two-CD set including Mozart's Symphonies 39 and 41, Teldec 9031-74858-2). Less frenetic and eccentric than the con-ductor's earlier version with the Concert-gebouw Orchestra, it duplicates the lean sonority, bracing tempos, and inclusion of all repeats favored by Mackerras. But despite individual touches such as a pure, almost vibrato-free string tone, Harnoncourt's reading—in its greater color, more shapely phrasing, and less rigid rhythm—proves far more expressive. Whatever its few peculiar-ities, this vibrant, passionate performance deserves a hearing.

It was with Christopher Hogwood and his Academy of Ancient Music (London 430 713-2) that 40 received the first period-instrument recording to gain wide attention. A decade ago its animated tempos, timbrai freshness, and inclusion of all repeats pro-


vided a refreshing change from tradition. But, if certainly not a bad reading, it now seems slightly superficial in its prevailing uninflected fleetness. Even less interesting is the recent Roger

Norrington account with the London Clas-sical Players (EMI 54336 2). Like Hogwood, Norrington omits clarinets and includes all repeats. The performance has some point-edly expressive moments, but the second movement is so hasty that it becomes trivial; there is insufficient compensation elsewhere for this major shortcoming.

Far more impressive are John Eliot Gardi-ner (with the English Baroque Soloists, Philips 426 315-2) and Frans Brüggen (with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Philips 416 329-2). Superficially, Gardiner mirrors Hogwood and Norrington in the observance of all repeats, a preference for generally fleet pacing, and the omission of clarinets. But he is a far more imaginative, tasteful musician than either. A prime case in point is his subtle rhythmic inflection of the first movement's second subject. In addition, he shapes phrases with greater care and pays greater attention to detail, bringing out the color of the horns, for example, with far more clarity. In short,

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this is a conductor whose major concerns rest with re-creating music, not replicating history. The same holds true for Brüggen. For one

thing, he uses common sense regarding repeats, observing only those of expositions. And although he too omits clarinets, the tart timbre he secures from the orchestra partly compensates for this loss of brightness. But most of all he recognizes that Mozart ex-pected musicians to draw inferences from the printed page about dynamics and rhythm. The nasality of Brüggen's strings may not appeal to everyone, but his reading boasts a stylish musicality. As a closing thought, let me suggest what

may seem a surprising notion: There is some-thing to be learned from every recording cited here. Even Beecham's (which over the past 40 years I have come to like less and less) is significant for what it reveals of bygone tastes. Furthermore, it bespeaks a conduc-tor who, however one responds to his per-formance, was a thinking, committed musi-cian. Certainly, the more recordings one hears of this magical symphony, the more one will learn about Mozart, interpretive styles, and the meaning of "taste!'

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R ECORD R EVIEWS

London Records launches its Entartete Musik ("Degenerate Music") series of recordings of works banned by the Nazis with a sumptuous recording of Das Wunder der Hehone by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (left). Robert Levine discusses this recording's importance beginning on p.273. Replacements graduate Paul Westerberg (right) offers 14 new songs on his debut solo album entitled, urn . 14 Songs (p.299). And check out p.295 for October's Recording of the Month, Mighty Sam McClain's Give It up to Love.

CLASSICAL

BACH: Mass in le Veronilca Winter, Johanna ICoslowsky, sopranos; Kai Wes-

sel, countertenor; Markus Brutscher, tenor, Hans-Georg Winuner, baritone; Stephan Schreckenberger, bass; Rheinische Kantorei; Das Kleine Konzert, Hermann Max

Capriccio 60 033-2 (2 CDs only). Wieland Haas, eng.; Christoph Herr, prod. DDD. TT: 102:51

This B-minor Mass arrived about the time my review of Hickox's version appeared in Stereo-phile (tune'93, p.243). At first they seemed curi-

ously similar, perhaps because each has a pedes-trian, unmonumental "Kyrie" and an exhilarat-ing "Gloria!' By the end, however, it was clear that neither the performances nor my recom-mendations would be the same. The soloists under Hermann Max are a

mixed bag. Best are the basses, who prove once again that it's wise to split the two solos (Hickox didn't). Both are fine, though it seemed almost comical to hear the (unnamed) hornplayer in "Quoniam" struggling with his part on a


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period instrument while macho Stephan Schreck-enberger sings with such ease and confidence. Markus Brutscher's agreeably light tenor matches the "Benedictus" and "Domine deus" well; he is an asset. Countertenor Kai Wessel, however, does not impress me. The "Qui sedes," despite some subtle oboe d'amore play-ing, is basically spoiled and leaves me longing for a mezzo (such as Hickox's Catherine Den-ley). Both sopranos sound fine, if a bit sexless. Their straight tone has a sense of detachment and projects little personality. I got the feeling they could be singing about . . .well, anything! The choral work is alert and athletic, though

conductor Max rarely asks for shading or any-thing beyond the metronome. Best are the fast pieces ("Gloria," "Et resurrexit"), which have lots of surface excitement. The orchestral play-ing is fairly good, though not on the level of the best period-instrument groups. Here the oboes occasionally sound "antique." The brass are too reticent (especially the poor horn), and the violins have an extra helping of period nasality.' A great deal of my reluctance to endorse the

orchestral playing comes from the recording itself, which is disturbingly close. The violins and the chorus need more distance so they can sound blended. The soloists are also too close, seemingly on top of you at times. At the very least, a good choral/orchestral recording will allow you to close your eyes and imagine the layering of the performers—chorus in back, orchestra in the middle, soloists in front. So often, as in this recording, we hear everyone in the same plane: up front. Apart from the sonics, this performance

suffers, as do many period-instrument produc-tions, from a sense of scholarly routine that implies a satisfactory performance will result from reading all the treatises and trying to copy the 18th century. It's all very nice and correct —like an amp that measures perfectly but sounds so-so. I'd like to say to Max: "Look, this may be the finest piece ever written. The world is expected to end tomorrow. Conduct it today as if all of our lives depended on the convic-tion in your performance!" Then perhaps the "Dona nobis" fugue, which was proclaimed the best ever written when I studied fugue in college, might not sound so matter-of-fact.

If you like this sort of thing more than I do, I would call Max's performance "decent:' In any case, it is less desirable than Hickox's, who earned my firm recommendation in June. Other versions of this Bach piece that should be con-sidered are Gardiner's (also period instruments)

1 I get the impression that some feel the music is more "authentic" when the instruments are a little out of tune and sound antique, but I find that such recordings collect dust on --ty shelves.


and Marriner's (modern). —Paul L. Althouse

BEETHOVEN: String Quartets 1 & 15 Artis Quartet Sony Classical SK 48058 (CD only). Pauline Heister, eng.; Georges Kadar, prod. DDD. TT 66:49

The first query Beethoven is said to have made about a performance is "How was the tempo?" It's an issue one is immediately drawn to by this release, because these are the fastest performances of these warhorses that I have ever heard. In No.1 (0p.18 No.1), the approach works fairly well, suggesting the youthful, brash, defiant, untamed lion of a composer putting his own stamp on the Classical style he so thoroughly understood. At times, the Ards Quartet's sheer speed softens the music's outlines and causes a note or two of a rapidly articulated run to be dropped. Still, this is a vital, individual reading (with a first-movement repeat observed) that may well appeal to some tastes. Even more individual is No.15 (0p.132).

Here, the first and third movements are so untraditionally fast that they undergo a com-plete change of character. The former acquires a driving toughness more redolent of second-than of third-period Beethoven, and the great "Hymn of Thanksgiving" loses its characteris-tic sense of rapture and stasis. An additional unorthodox touch in the movement is the Ards

Quartet's refusal to draw the usual contrasts between Beethoven's shifting tempo indica-tions of Adagio and Andante. Consequently, the movement's intensity gives way to a less dramatic, more flowing cantabile utterance. The remaining movements are more conventional, and both works gain from the Artis's care with balances, apt tonal leanness, and pinpoint into-nation (as well as Sony's exemplary engineer-ing, marred only by a few intrusions of the instrumentalists' breathing). In short, although this release may not provide the kind of ideal introduction to this repertory that is offered by the Vègh, Smetana, and Talich Quartets (among others), it may, depending on taste, comprise a welcome second or third edition in one's collection. —Mortimer H. Frank

BERLIOZ: Fantastic Symphony Also: Hungarian & Trojan Marches, Corsair & Roman Car-

nival Overtures Paul Paray, Detroit Symphony Orchestra Mercury Living Presence 434 328-2 (CD only). C. Robert

Fine, cog.; Wilma Cozart, prod. ADD. TT: 72:54

Another CD in the ongoing Living Presence remastering program, this disc parallels Paul Paray's Ravel/Ibert Detroit collection (432 003-2) discussed in my March 1991 Mercury survey. Like that issue, this Berlioz package features two venues, the symphony recorded in the Cass Technical High School and the other four items

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in Old Orchestra Hall. The former imparts occasional harshness at tutti fortissimos, espe-cially from the violins, and has a slightly claus-trophobic feel despite a reasonable spaciousness. The latter provides a more open, fresh sort of ambience, with a texture less dominated by the string departments. Hiss from the 1958/59 tapes becomes obtrusive during quiet passages, and is accompanied by a trace of hum at times; but the various limitations fail to quell some splendid sounds at the big climaxes—in the best no-compromise Mercury tradition. So much for the sonics. Musically, Paray's

approach seems motivated by a belief that Hec-tor Berlioz's scores can only be held together and make a proper impact if played hell-for-leather. Thus, at 44:42 the Fantastic Symphony receives the shortest performance to be found in all 75 CD versions (that's actual total playing time, not the sum of slightly erroneous printed figures). As may be expected, Paray omits both repeats, but while the very nature of the music sometimes elicits a more languorous, contem-plative approach, every possible opportunity is taken to speed things up.

In consequence there's certainly no lack of drive; a newcomer to the work would prob-ably find this performance very exciting. But to me it is merely tiresome. Paray ignores the more extreme pianissimo markings and makes very little of the score's many instrumental sub-tleties. His one venture into individualistic interpretation simply shatters the sense of mys-tery that normally shrouds the opening of the "Ball" by converting the shimmering pp violin passages into a staccato beat. Also, during the pastoral interchanges between English horn and oboe at the start of (iii), what is supposed to be a solo oboe is apparently joined by another at bar 16 for two sforzando notes, the second of which (at 1:20) becomes an excruciating dis-cord. Perhaps the second player didn't notice the flat sign against his A; whatever happened, it would be unthinkable these days not to splice-in a retake of such an exposed error in a studio recording.

Paray's tendency to accelerate at the slightest excuse crops up again toward the end of the Hungarian March. He's by no means alone in this, but a relentless steadiness of tempo has always struck me as more appropriate here The Trojan March also loses some grandeur through over-pacing, but it nevertheless has a touch of heroic nobility. The two overtures are brought off convincingly despite, again, shorter than average timings. But the symphony is the main work here, and despite Paray's highly charged approach, I can't honestly recommend it.

—John Crabbe

B RAH M S: A German Requiem, Begrülinisgerang

Lynne Dawson, soprano; Olaf Liar, baritone; Roger Nor-rington, London Classical Players

EMI 7 54658 2 (CD only). Mike Clements, eng.; David R. Murray, prod. DDD. TE 67:59

This is probably the most unconventional Ger-man Requiem ever committed to disc, which should surprise no one familiar with Norring-ton's work. But here the playing is less tonally crass and the overall approach more musical than in some of his earlier efforts with the stan-dard repertory. Thus, whether or not one cot-tons to this reading becomes primarily a matter of taste.

Setting Norrington's approach apart from most others are peculiarities of tempo and so-nority. The pacing is uncommonly fast—faster even than the fairly radical speed of Gardiner in his recent period-instrument version. Often such speed sounds convincing, particularly in those sections that, in more conventional treat-ments, can become tedious. But some may feel that the more grandiose portions of the work become trivialized with such haste. Certainly the second movement's dirge loses its funereal ethos at Norrington's pace.

Less controversial is the lean, transparent sonority the conductor projects. Textures are well-defined, the string tone is relatively pure but never nasal, the brass aptly piercing, and the choral articulation uncommonly clear, this clarity lending welcome definition not only to individual lines but to the text as well. And the timpani have needed focus without the ugly timbre they acquired in some of Norrington's other recordings. Some more traditional conductors have, of

course, approximated the kind of admirable sonority Norrington achieves, most notably Toscanini (in a live 1943 performance issued on a Memories CD) and Karajan (in his 1966 effort for DG, one of the finest versions of this work available, a fact hardly surprising when one recalls that Karajan made the premiere recording of the score in 1948). And those put off by Norrington's unconventional speed but attracted to his general style may find the recent Gardiner version (Philips) more to their taste. However one responds to this new release, it should be heard by all those interested in the music. EMI provides fine sound with a wide dynamic range. The six-minute Begriibnisgesang (Burial Song) makes a welcome filler, but is hardly the prime matter here.

—Mortimer H. Frank

BRUCKNER: Symphony 3 (1889 version) Günter Wand, North German Radio SO, Hamburg RCA 09026-1374-2 (CD only). Karl-Otto Bremer, eng.; Gerhard Gotze, recording supervisor. DDD. TE 53:55

BRUCKNER: Symphony 7 Daniel Barenboim, Berlin PO Teldec 9031-77118-2 (CD only). Michael Brammann,


First- in n 111 Just What

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But what's so sacred about the recording? Ask a recording engineer if a two channel stereo recording can accurately reflect a sonic environment. If he's polite; he'll try not to laugh in your face. Unless the recording was • made in a room the same size as your listening room, there is simply no way you will get the proper spatial perspective playing back the record-ing in your room, no matter how good your equipment is.

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mg.; Nikolaus Deckenbrock, prod. DDD. TT: 70:41 BRUCKNER: Symphony 6 (Nowak edition) WAGNER: Siegfried Idyll Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco SO London 436 129-2 (CD only). John Pellowe (Bruckner),

Stanley Gondall (Wagner), engs.; Andrew Coma'', prod. DDD. Tr 77:37

BRUCKNER: Symphony 8 (Nowak edition) Georg Solti, Chicago SO London 430 228-2 (CD only). James Lock, Colin Moor-

foot, engs.; Michael Haas, prod. DDD. Tr: 73:59

A bushel ofBruckner arrives on my porch, and, belying my native cynicism, there's much more good than bad here, though what is bad is very bad indeed.

Starting in no particular order, Günter Wand's recording of Symphony 3 reflects what we've come to expect from this conductor: a powerful reading of almost Calvinist probity, Bruck-ner emanating from Brahms's home town. The third-movement scherzo benefits especially from this direct approach, where the power Wand summons from his orchestra inspires awe. The scherzo and central trio are, however, under-contrasted. The opening movement is very fine as well, Wand's concentration pre-venting the music from becoming mere Wag-nerian collage, though at the expense of the bucolic repose found in quieter interludes by Jochum (DG and EMI) and Haitink (Philips, with the VPO). The second movement suffers under Wand's

driving approach, this first great Bruckner Ada-gio achieving little of the transcendence it does in either ofJochum's recordings, or, diving into the vaults for aboriginal viewpoints, either of Knappertsbusch's concert recordings (deleted Discocorp LP and Music & Arts CD, both mono). Yet Wand pays strict attention as the movement develops toward its grand end, and in the context of his overall vision it works very well.

Uncharacteristically, Wand's last movement is occasionally unkempt. (Listen, for instance, beginning at 4:20, where strings and brass play on separate timetables.) But he keeps full mea-sure in such big moments as the climax at about 11:45, with results high in understanding and excitement if not always in refinement. The recording is also a little unrefined, get-

ting clotted and harsh when loud. Still, it reproduces a highly individual and worthy per-formance. I would have been thrilled to attend.

Daniel Barenboim's recording is his second of Bruckner 7, after having recorded a com-plete cycle of the symphonies with the CSO in the late '70s. That cycle was inconsistent in quality and interpretive approach. This new Symphony 7 has a more consistent approach. Tempos are broad, and generally, but not slav-ishly, kept steady to hold together the architec-ture of the music. Chamber-like sonorities

appear frequently, with solo woodwinds emerging almost Mahler-like from the orches-tral soundfield, and Barenboim is willing to shape the melodic line, treating the work like the romantic symphony it is. For example, the trio section of the second movement is deeply romantic, almost fruity in expression. Barenboim's approach is ideal for the last

movement, where he does his most inspired conducting. The performance thus ends at its strongest point, which is what will stick in the memory of the listener—perhaps enough to make that listener forget about Barenboim's over-inflected, microscopically managed Adagio that is fixated on details and a little boring. Sound is spacious, digital-precise, and rela-

tively warm. Percussion sounds like such, as the second-movement cymbal crash is distant and diffuse, and string tone a bit deracinated.

Herbert Blomstedt's San Francisco recording of the Bruckner 6 is the best of this lot, and, along with Klemperer on Angel, is probably the best available on a single CD. Indeed, Blom-stedt's probably goes to the top of the list, since many listeners will be put off by Klemperer's eccentric individualism. Blomstedt's disc opens with the Siegfried Idyll, that weak bit of Wagner so beloved by Bruckner. Blomstedt's slow, meditative approach makes for one of the best presentations of the Idyll on record, but doesn't keep it from being a boring piece. Nice por-tamento from the string section: Blomstedt has trained them well in European-ness.

In the Symphony 6, Blomstedt takes full measure of the architecture without letting that architecture become a straitjacket. This balance of flexibility and structure is what makes him a better Bruckner conductor than the better-known Wand. Blomstedt speaks volumes of understanding as he steers his musicians con-fidently through the three-minute coda of!, where Bruckner writes the widest range of expression with concision. My only complaint about Blomstedt's second-movement Adagio is that it doesn't transport me to higher regions, but then neither does anyone else's. All the same, it's excellently paced and shaped. And the last two movements encompass a virtuoso performance, holding fast both to the work's architecture and my attention. The real secret here, as it was with such greats as Furtwângler and especially Kna, is that Blomstedt doesn't take the music too seriously—especially fatal in Bruckner's scherzos. Sound quality is mixed, and I think I know

the reason. Symphony 6, recorded in October 1990, sounds rather unfocused and closely miked, or at least miked at a very high level. Back-row instruments, such as timpani and the low brass so important in Bruckner, are spa-tially indistinct. If! recall correctly, this was


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recorded before any of the sonic renovations that have transformed Marion Davies Sym-phony Hall from a miserable to an adequate concert venue. The Idyll, recorded about a year later, sounds as if it comes from a completely different place, much more expansive and trans-parent, with quite precise placement of instru-ments. Again, if I recall correctly, this later recording would have benefited from the first of the two phases of the hall's improvements. Here the sound can be described as highly transparent without being especially substan-tial, not unlike Telarc's Atlanta sound.

If Blomstedt gets the point in his reading of 6, Solti misses it completely in his run-through of 8. The vague, opaque sound of this concert recording can perhaps be attributed to the unfamiliar (to Decca) venue of Saint Peters-burg's (then Leningrad's) Philharmonic Hall, during the CSO's tour of the about-to-dissolve USSR. That forgiven, the listener is left with a performance of Brucicner's broadest and great-est symphony that is utterly without repose, grace, or spiritual understanding—something I would have thought impossible. Worst of a long list of sins is Solti's inflexible and episodic manhandling of the Adagio, one of the supreme devotional edifices in Western music. It's cer-tainly competent technical conducting, but all remains earthbound, with no sign of contact with higher powers. My own pet theory is that the great Bruckner

interpreters have performed as shamans, this being not only music of religious inspiration, but tribal and ritualistic as well. As numerous authors have pointed out (Camille Paglia being only the most recent), a shaman in a sense has to become an androgyne to carry out his or her function. Solti's brand of music-making, always so brimming with virility, is all wrong for Bruckner. No sense paying full price for this disc when

you can get Karajan/VPO, also on a single disc (Haas edition, though). The Jochurn/BPO per-formance of the Nowak, on a single DG bar-gain CD, is as good as Karajan, and features sweet 1964 analog sound. In fact, anyone look-ing for an introduction to Bruckner's greatest works can buy Symphonies 4 and 8 with Jochum/BPO and Symphony 9 with Bruno Walter/Columbia SO (the greatest Bruckner recording in stereo!), all for less than $25.

Solti and the CSO: How the mighty have fallen! —Kevin Conklin

DONIZETTI: Lucia di Lammertnoor Cheryl Studer, Lucia; Plácido Domingo, Edgardo; Juan

Pons, Enrico; Samuel Ramey, Raimondo; Jennifer Lar-more, Alisa; others; Ambrosian Opera Chorus, LSO, Ion Marin

DG 435 309-2 (2 CDs only). Claudia Hamann, prod. DDD. TE 2:18:14

This is, for the most part, a wonderful perfor-mance, beginning with the Lucia of Cheryl Studer, a soprano who continues to amaze. We've yet to hear a weak recorded performance from her (although her disc of coloratura arias sounded a bit desperate), and her ability to change the color and, seemingly, the position of her voice from role to role is amazing. Her Lucia is imaginative and non-derivative; she is a great admirer of Callas's, but avoids any imitation.

Studer's is a big, healthy sound, and she doesn't go for any "songbird" effects. She avoids the very highest notes (the first E-flat in the Mad Scene and maybe the second—see below), and they're not missed: her reading is not about high notes. She sings on the text, tak-ing her vocal choices directly from it. Her first aria begins dream-like and turns nightmarish, and the fast, high music later is as finely artic-ulated as the hushed, legato singing. She's effec-tively quite beside herself in Act II. Her Mad Scene features a new cadenza (there's

nothing about it in the accompanying booklet; I'd like to know who's responsible) which is both moving and lovely, recalling earlier melo-dies as Lucia's mind wanders. This is an exciting performance, and if I've given the impression that it's lacking the pyrotechnics we all love in a good Lucia, that's not the case. No less impressive—and here's a surprise—is

the Edgardo of Plácido Domingo. Indeed, it's his most interesting recorded performance since his first Hoffmann and Otello. He obviously has looked into Edgardo and found just the right voice and feel for this young, impetuous character. He sounds like a real tenor, with no bottom-heaviness, and he sings with great abandon. Only in the final scene and aria (which he sings in concert a great deal) does he revert to "workmanlike." Domingo is otherwise superb, including a startling, if not overly beau-tiful, high D-natural (!) at the close of the stretta in the sextet. With the exception of the superb Jennifer

Larmore as Alisa (that such a great Handel singer is here allotted a comprimaria role is sad commentary on the star system), the rest of the cast is not great. Samuel Ftamey's voice remains one of the glories of the modern world, but his Raimondo is a windbag. And Juan Pons is a bore, lacking authority and singing with woolly tone.

Ion Marin leads with understanding for the high-flown melodrama and keeps things mov-ing. His chorus and orchestra are excellent. The opera is presented complete, and the sound is up to DG's best, even if the engineers, going for hugeness, drown Studer out in favor of the chorus at the very close of the Mad Scene. That's what makes it hard to tell whether she


actually takes the second E-flat. Of course, you should own a Callas and a Sutherland Lucia, but you'd feel better about yourself if you also owned Studer's. And Domingo is a great bonus, making us realize the importance of the role of Edgardo. Go for it. —Robert Levine

GERSHWIN: Concerto in F WILD: Variations on an American Theme ("Doo-Dal") for Piano 8£ Orchestra

Earl Wild, piano; Joseph Giunta, Des Moines SO Chesky CD98 (CD only). Ed Thompson, eng.; Michael Rolland Davis, prod. DDD. TT: 55:04

GERSHWIN: Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris

Cécile Gusset, piano; Sir Neville Marriner, Stuttgart RSO Capriccio 10 406 (CD only). Bernhard Bauer, eng.; Diet-mar Wolf, rec. sup. DDD. TT 68:45

It would be hard to imagine two more diver-gent views of Gershwin's Concerto in F than those presented here. And while neither of them equals Earl Wild's earlier recording with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (available on RCA Gold Seal 6519-2-RG), both have insights into the score that make them worth hearing. The Chesky disc, for instance, offers the first

performance of Wild's own edition of Gersh-win's score. The changes from the version we are familiar with are minor, perhaps the most salient being the use ola felt rather than the usual metal mute on the trumpet in the second movement. Despite the scholarly interest and the fine playing by Wild, however, this perfor-mance is compromised by orchestral playing that never really seems to catch the fire of Gershwin's spirited score. It is worlds apart from the bluesy, sultry playing of Fiedler and the Boston Pops. And while Wild seems not to have lost a step in the 30-some years between his performances, the spark that is so obvious in the earlier one is ever so slightly diminished in this one, perhaps due to the influence of the comparatively flat orchestral reading. Tempos are brisk and lively, as they should be, and instrumental technique on the part of the Des Moines musicians seems more than acceptable. But it just ain't got that swing. Chesky has also given us the world premier

of Wild's engaging "Doo-Dah" variations— more properly known as Variations on an Ameri-can Themefor Piano and Orchestra. Yes, this is 20 variations on "Camptown Races:' and it is thoroughly refreshing. Premiered in concert in 1992 with the same forces gathered here, the work is witty and whimsical without ever becoming trite or cute.

Quite different from the Wild/Giunta ap-proach to Gershwin's concerto, Neville Mar-riner and Cécile Ousset take a more relaxed view of the work, with significantly slower tempos and a more genteel outlook. No, this is not the performance to turn to if you're look-

ing for the jazziest of interpretations. But there is something to this playing that becomes more and more appealing on repeated hearings. Every phrase seems to be invented anew, to be turned ever so slightly in a fresh direction. I could not defend the performance on grounds of absolute fidelity to the score, but it has a completely unexpected appeal. The Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris

share this unconventional approach to Gersh-win. And though none of the three perfor-mances is one I'd prefer to the exclusion of others, I'm glad ,to know these for their un-abashed and often delightfully unorthodox charm, not to mention Ms. Ousset's extraor-dinary pianistic touch and transparent texture. The Capriccio recording, unfortunately, is

bright and thin. There is virtually no bass, and the piano's lower registers are almost com-pletely emasculated. Depth and ambience are well preserved, but at too great a cost in tonality. As for the Chesky, how am I to describe a

good recording job and still register disappoint-ment in it? Perhaps the nearly uniform excel-lence of previous Chesky releases has condi-tioned us to expect nothing but the very finest in sonics. So when the sound (on my system) is merely very good, it is a bit of a letdown. There is a lack of width and depth and a dark, murky quality that slightly obscures orchestral detail. It's still a fine job, but less than I expected from this label.

Despite the shortcomings of both releases, I still recommend them, the Chesky primarily for Wild's "Doo-Dah" variations and the Capriccio for Marriner's and Ousset's uncon-ventional but winning approach. But neither concerto performance measures up to the Wild/Fiedler collaboration. —Robert Hesson

HINDEMITH: Konzertmusik, Op.50; Der Schwatten-dreher; Nobilissima Visione

Geraldine Walther, viola; San Francisco Symphony, Her-bert Blomstedt

London 433 809-2 (CD only). John Dunkerley, John Pel-lowe, engs.; Andrew Cornall, prod. DDD. TT 66:57

HINDEMITH: Kammermouik (complete) Ronald Brautigam, piano; Konstanti Kulka, violin; Nor-

bert Blume, viola d'amore; Lynn Harrell, cello; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Leo van Doeselaar, organ; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly

London 433 816-2 (2 CDs only). Simon Eadon, eng.; Andrew Cornall, prod. DDD. TT 2:18:04

The SFSO's principal violist, Geraldine Wal-ther, here performs with Herbert Blomstedt Der Schwanendreher, a viola concerto Hindemith wrote for himself in 1935. The title refers to "Aren't you the Swan-turner?" (a medieval song), which is treated as a theme and varia-tions in the finale. (A swan-turner turned the swans over the roasting spits of medieval kitchens.) Medieval songs drawn from the Alt-

270 STEREOPFIRE. OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

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deutches Liederbuch comprise the bulk of the material for this concerto, in which Hindemith cast himself as a traveling musician entertaining the gentry for his supper. When one considers the moral and political

climate two years into the Nazi regime in which this was written, Schwanendreher is incredibly upbeat and happy. Moreover, its topical base and musical sources make it an ideal German work from a purely cultural viewpoint. But the Nazis had already made up their minds: Hinde-mith was a degenerate incapable of providing them with what they really wanted: state art. Ms. Walther and her SFSO colleagues play the work for the simple joy that it is, and to a fine turn.

Konzertmusik, Op.50, also known as Con-cert Music for Strings and Brass, was commis-sioned by Serge Koussevitzky in 1931 to cel-ebrate the 50th-anniversary season of the Boston Symphony. This, Hindemith's first composition for an American orchestra, has a finale filled with jazzy syncopations and the familiar refrain, "Good evening, friends." This is easily the best recording of the work since Hindemith's own on EMI. The recently reis-sued Bernstein on Sony shows the '60s NYP to be at idiomatic odds with Hindemith, espe-cially in this piece. The idiom is exactly what Blomstedt has hands-down: a full, plangent string sound, brass bold and forward but never forced.

Nobilissima Visione arose out of a 1938 col-laboration with Leonid Massine for a ballet on the life of St. Francis. The suite, one of Hin-demith's less frequently performed works, con-cludes with one of the most powerful pas-sacaglias ever written (although Hindemith managed to surpass it in the finale of Die Har-monie der Welt, which London should record with Blomstedt/SFSO as soon as possible). Nobilissima has been capably recorded in the past by Hindemith, Klemperer, and Martinon. This recording stands up to any of them. The seven numbered and one unnumbered

Kammermusiks were written during the 1920s, when Berlin enjoyed as roaring a decade as any, an open and boisterous culture in which artists, writers, and thinkers were free to explore any avenue they wished. Hindemith's own repu-tations of iconoclast and bête noire are somewhat exaggerated. Although he developed his own distinctive atonal vocabulary, he was nowhere as near the cutting edge as, for example, Schoenberg. Bear this in mind as you listen to Kammermusik 1 for 12 Solo Instruments, with its brash and jarring dissonances, ragtime and cab-aret vulgarities, and concluding police siren.

After that, the remaining works in the set may seem sedate They're anything but. Mostly concertos for solo instruments and small orches-tras of diverse and unorthodox instrumenta-

tion, these pieces display Hindemith as a pro-fessional, thoroughly honest, and unpretentious musician. His working familiarity with vir-tually every instrument is reflected nowhere so concisely as in Kammermusik, whose practical intelligence and genuine musicality make them among the most gratifying for musicians to perform.

Gratification is apparent from the perfor-mances by the RCO players, the principals as soloists, and their guests, violist Kim Kash-kashian and cellist Lynn Harrell. And heading up the first integral Kammermusik since the early 1950s proves an ideal project for conductor Ric-cardo Chailly. With a single exception, London has recorded

an ideal balance of hall sound and instrumental and ensemble presence. The exception is Kleine Kammermusik, scored for woodwind quintet, with an image so much larger than life that it should be retitled "Honey, I Blew Up the Bas-soon." Even so, this is a recording to treasure for its varied ensembles and solos, and for what it reveals of an earlier culture of the 20th century.

—Richard Schneider

KORNGOLD: Das Wunder der Heliane Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Heliane; Hartmut Welker, Ruler; John David de Haan, Stranger; Reinhild Runkel, Mes-senger; Nicolai Gedda, Blind Judge; others; Rundfunk Chor, RSO, Berlin, John Mauceri

London 436 636-2 (3 CDs only). Michael Haas, prod. DDD. TT: 2:47:48

KRENEK: Jenny spielt auf Heinz Cruse, Max; Alessandra Marc, Anita; Krister St.

Hill, Jonny; others; Leipzig Opemchor, Gewandhausor-chester Leipzig, Lothar Zagrosek

London 436 631-2 (2 CDs only). Michael Haas, prod. DDD. 2:10:53

These are the first two releases in Decca/Lon-don's proposed many-year project to record music that was banned by the Nazis. These works were labeled entartete Musik (degener-ate music), and under this proscribed banner fell anything "modern" or jazz-oriented, any music by composers whose thinking was either too left-wing or too democratic, and, of course, any music written or performed by a Jew. Decca/London will cover music which was suppressed, plus works created by composers who were forced to flee Germany and German-held Europe. The project is fascinating, bold, and necessary, and judging from these debut releases, it's off to a very good start.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold was about as late a Romantic as one can be; his music is lush to the point of being almost embarrassing in a Brucknerian, Mahlerian, and Richard-Strauss-ian fashion. (His post-Germany career was in Hollywood, where he wrote mainly for the movies and won two Oscars.) He was a com-positional conservative and probably would

STEREOPHILE, °CLYMER 1993 273

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have been embraced by the Nazis had he not been Jewish. Heliane is an opera about a Mes-siah-like stranger, transformation through love, the horrors of tyranny, and sexuality (the stran-ger asks Heliane to strip for him and she does, though their relationship never turns physi-cal). It appeared in 1927, the same year as Kre-nek's fanny, which was concerned with the theft of a priceless violin from a European concert musician by a Black American jazz musician (Jonny). Korngold's father, a highly influen-tial music critic, came out slashing atJonny (for its modernness), but the plan backfired and Jonny became a hit-50 stagings within a year of its premiere—while Heliane was seen as old-hat. Of course, all of this stopped mattering in a flash when both were prohibited—the Krenek for being too jazzy and embracing "Negroid" (le, non-European) ideals, the Korngold simply because its composer was a Jew.

Heliane is undeniably gorgeous; indeed, it almost overwhelms with its beauty. The or-chestral and vocal forces are mammoth, the excess almost non-stop; running just shy of three hours, it would probably be a challenge to sit through in an opera house. But on disc we can allow its outlandishness to wash over us and simply enjoy it for its overabundance. One might argue that, when all is said and done, it's vaguely unsatisfying—too much ice cream—but all is rarely said and done. The performances under John Mauceri are

remarkable. Soprano Anna Tomowa-Sintow has the right arching line for Heliane's long-breathed, floating music, and the power for the exclamatory parts (the role was a specialty of Lotte Lehmann's). Hartmut Welker sings the Tyrant with ferocious baritonal intensity, but hardly makes appealing sounds, even in his moments of entreaty. John David de Haan is a big-voiced tenor who copes well with the Stranger's music, and Reinhild Runkel, as an insane, rabble-rousing Messenger, is not some-one you'd want to meet in a dark alley. The rest of the cast is excellent. The chorus (the tenors and sopranos of which must hover around high C a great deal) is magnificent, as is the virtuoso-level orchestra. The recording is an audiophile's dream, capable of coping with the huge pano-ply of sound. I recommend this recording highly. It's an

oddity that turns out to be a treasure trove for those who don't mind wallowing just a bit too long in late-Romantic lavishness.

Krenek's Jonny spielt auf ("Johnny Strike up the Band," or "Johnny Plays On") is another story entirely. The raciness of the jazz and wacky dance rhythms sound oddly tame now—Jonny and his music are hardly a menace to anyone, and Max (the epitome of icy European concert values) is just another Romantic, without even

Korngold's exquisite dressing. Still, there's pleasure to be derived from the score, particu-larly in the many lyrical moments; eg, when Anita pleads with Max to "be himself' and relax. Conductor Zagrosek leads with the right

pulse to keep both the jazzy and the traditional moments in sync, and the cast is uniformly im-pressive. Krister St. Hill is a charismatic Jonny, Heinz Cruse a hefty-sounding Max (perhaps a more subtle, elegant approach would work better), and Alessandra Marc a simply gorgeous Anita. The Leipzig forces sing and play mean-ingfully. Again, the recording is superb; even the notorious whistle and alarm bells sound fine, and Anita's off-stage song, amplified as it should be, is properly atmospheric. Jonny, then, is another interesting oddity, a

period piece probably far more effective seen and heard than simply heard, but still worth looking into. —Robert Levine

PROKOFIEV: Symphonies I 8c 3 Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra Philips 432 992-2 (CD only). Cees Heijkoop, Willem van Leeuwen, Evert Menting, engs.; Volker Strauss, prod. ODD. TE 49:01

PROKOFIEV: Symphony 5, Lieutenant Kije Symphonic Suite

Yuri Temirkanov, St. Petersburg PO RCA 90926-60984-2 (CD only). Tony Faulkner, eng.; Jay David Saks, prod. DDD. TE 63:44

Prokofiev's Symphony 3 is built on material originally composed for his opera, The Fiery Angel. He was encouraged to make this orches-tral revamping after hearing Koussevitzky con-duct a concert performance of the opera's sec-ond act in 1928, the year after its composition. Symphony 3 appeared the following year, and while it retains the drama of its theatrical ori-gins, it works well as a symphony, with strong thematic development and motivic growth. Muti attacks the first movement with frenetic

energy, setting its grotesque themes and lurid colors bouncing around the soundstage with threatening impact. Framed by a Finale of equally portentous persistence, the tranquil-ity of the Andante and the strange slithering of swirling strings in the Allegro agitato provide fine contrasts. The engineers have responded to Muti's larger-than-life approach with sharp focus and faithful sonics. I wish I could be so enthusiastic about the

handling of the Classical Symphony. This sounds under-rehearsed, particularly the scrappy strings in the outer movement. There's also an unstable tempo in the first movement that creates queas-iness. Not such good values in terms ofTT are being offered here, so try before you buy.

Temirkanov's Symphony 5 is anything but slipshod. I've never heard this work performed quite like this. It is deliberate and rhythmically ultra-emphatic, Prokofiev's ballets springing


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product. More specifically, the studied playing that the pianist offers here seems better suited to the hall than to the home. He employs great rhythmic freedom, a freedom that may sound attractive on initial hearing but will, I suspect, prove increasingly wearisome with each repe-tition. Often the pulse is completely ruptured, melodic lines are sometimes broken or ham-mered out clumsily, and everything begins to sound fussy, as the music's flow is disrupted and its form fragmented. The very first Im-promptu (in c) becomes a kind of synecdoche for all that follows, its opening unison held for what seems an interminable length that sug-gests no basic pulse is present. In the hall, such distention has potential for generating expec-tancy and tension. But on disc, it sounds more willful and mannered with each hearing. These may not be the characterless readings some-times typical of today's young technical whiz-zes, but the "character" of Zimerman's style often spills over into self-indulgent caricature. Anyone interested in these sublimely beau-

tiful pieces should be willing to give up a lit-tle fidelity for the musical rewards of Schnabel's 1950 recording. Here rhythmic suppleness, long singing lines, ethereal delicacy, and un-common formal coherence have yielded one of the phonograph's most memorable treasures, one that remains sonically quite good for its time. Put simply, I know of nothing remotely comparable to it, this new Zimerman effort being light-years removed from Schnabel's profound musicality and consciousness of style. And if the Arabesque CD transfer is hard to find (it's no longer listed in Schwann Opus), be patient. An EMI reissue should be forthcoming.

—Mortimer H. Frank

SIBELIUS: Symphony I Leonard Bernstein, Vienna PO DG 435 351-2 (CD only). Karl-August Naegler, eng.; Hans Weber, prod. DDD. TE 41:19

SIBELIUS: The Tempest Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo; Kirsi Tilhonen, soprano; Ainsi Hir-vonen, tenor; Heikki Keinonen, baritone; Paavo Kerola, tenor; Lahti Opera Chorus; Lahti SO, Osmo Vanska

Bis CD 581 (CD only). Ingo Petry, eng.; Robert Suif, prod. DDD. TT 66:56

SIBELIUS: Karelia Suite, En Saga, Pohjola's Daughter, Swan of Tuonela, Finlandia

Yod l Levi, Atlanta SO Telarc CD-80320 (CD only). Michael Bishop, eng.; Robert Woods, prod. DDD. TT. 64:32

If you think Bernstein offers short measure on this first disc, it is only in terms of time, I assure you. In everything else he is typically gener-ous: Climaxes are hit home with a vengeance, the dreamy aura of the second movement is never allowed to dilute intensity, the Scherzo is rhythmically charged, and the return of introductory material at the opening of the Finale is handled with the greatest sense of

drama. Beware—this is high-voltage Sibelius, but it works and is very exciting. Bernstein also points up the Tchaikovskian

color of the piece, selecting flamboyantly from the Vienna Philharmonic's impressive palette and finding the engineers sharp-sighted. You may look at the money in your pocket when considering this disc's value, but you would be hard pressed to find another performance as rewarding. Beware the next disc, too. If you want a com-

plete version of The Tempest, then this is the disc you've been waiting for—the only available recording as yet. But I find this unexciting stuff. The musicians unquestionably give their all, and the recording is up to Bis's highest stan-dards, but Sibelius's allowing his "fantasies" free rein after the restraints of symphonic com-posing just doesn't appeal to me. He was commissioned to compose the music

for Shakespeare's final drama on the strength of Symphony 7's acclaim and, almost as a purge, was "extremely lavish" with his thematic material in this incidental music. But it's all rather trite: The storm is whipped up with shameless predictability, Miranda is too prettily clothed in organ-and-harp coloring, Caliban is confused as never before, a sort of exotic yokel, and Ariel, though well sung by mezzo Lilli Paasikivi, "flies in" and "hastens away" orchestrally in leaden boots! Added to this, Sibelius uses rather staid harmonies. It's a production that I won't hasten back to. But if you want a really fine collection of

Sibelius's tone poems and incidental music, look no further than the third disc. Initially, I thought Yod l Levi a little studied in the Karelia Suite, but his rhythmical neatness and careful gradation of dynamics is comfortingly con-sistent, and you know that you are being given a sparklingly clear picture of Sibelius's scores. Every work is treated with this same care, but it is all done expressively and with much musi-cality. The Telarc recording is typically fine, too. A must for every collection. —Barbara Jahn

STRAVINSKY: Petrouchlea, Le Sacre du printemps Pierre Boulez, Cleveland Orchestra DG 435 769-2 (CD only). Helmut Burk, Reinhild Schmidt, Andrew Wedman, engs.; Karl-August Naegler, prod. DDD. TE 68:32

STRAVINSKY: Petrouchka, The Soldier's Tale (suite) Eric Kujawsky, Redwood SO Clarity CCD-1003 (2 LPs, 1 CD). Bob Porter, eng.; Ed Woods, prod. AAA/DDD. TT: 63:40

Boulez again takes on two of Stravinsky's most popular and enduring ballet masterpieces, this time with mixed results. In the case of Le Sacre, this recording with the Clevelanders is a wel-come addition to an already crowded field, largely due to Boulez's unflinchingly analytical and lively reading. Never one to wallow, Boulez


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brings out the best in Stravinsky's score by emphasizing the overall structure while never compromising inner detail or subtlety. The composer's own recording on Sony Classical remains definitive, but many other fine render-ings are currently available, this one included.

Boulez demonstrates the same strong pulse, firm hand, and concern for detail in his record-ing of the original 1911 Petrouchka, but some-thing is lacking. The performance is by no means sloppy or ill-conceived, but sounds un-convincing and strangely muted—as if Boulez has become bored with the music. Recorded sound is excellent, if somewhat laid-back. Beginning with Pierre Monteux's marvelous RCA shaded dog LP with the Boston Sym-phony, numerous superior Petrouchkas abound. Again, Stravinsky's own Sony recording from the '60s is noticeably superior, as is a wonderful bargain Vox Box CD with Skrowaczewski and the Minnesota SO. The recently reissued Doráti on Mercury Living Presence is also superbly played and recorded.

Unfortunately, Kujawsky's Petrouchka is not only a very poor performance, it's poorly recorded and poorly conceived; in short, a mess. Kujawsky has attempted to tinker with the score by combining the original and revised versions, to the detriment of the work. To make matters worse, it sounds as if it was recorded from across the street (this from an audiophile label!), and the performance borders on ama-teurish. I lost track of the number of instances where intonation suffered, particularly in the brass. Avoid this one, despite a reasonably com-petent Soldier's Tale suite in good fidelity. The LP presumably offers a different sonic perspec-tive (I haven't heard it), and the CD is "pre-mium gold Zeonex." It's all for naught when the performance is this far off the mark.

—Carl Baugher

CLASSICAL COLLECTIONS • V V • V • • V • V • V

CUSTER LA RUE: The Daemon Lover With The Baltimore Consort Dorian DOR-90174 (CD only). Douglas Brown, prod.; Craig D. Dory, et al, engs. DDD. TE 65:57

The members of the Baltimore Consort have made no secret of their affection for the English and Celtic folk traditions, and soprano Cus-ter LaRue here fronts the band on 16 tunes, most of which will be familiar to veterans of the folk wars of the '60s. For old-fogey folk-singers like me, no one will ever have the impact that Joan Baez had with this repertoire—I mean, can any of you youngsters imagine a time when singing "Geordie" constituted a subver-sive act? That aside, LaRue is wonderful. She

doesn't seem to have come to these songs through Baez, Judy Coffins, or any of the usual sources, singing them as if her audience were about to hear them for the first time—which is all to the good. The really good news is that the Baltimore Consort seems to have loosened up and learned to play more like a folk band. They get into the spirit on the aforementioned "Geordie" (the "Gordons" version, not "Golden Chain"), and percussion is used to good effect.

In her fine notes, Mary Anne Ballard points out that, as a classically trained singer, LaRue has an advantage over the untrained voices usually found on folk records. I've heard that one before, but this time it really is true. LaRue's phrasing and diction are exemplary, her dialect works every time (unlike some previous ef-forts), and her classical experience never calls attention to itself. Jolly well done! A "Jolly well" also to the producers and engi-

neers. This is perhaps the best balance I've heard from the Troy Savings Bank hall, and is maybe even more transparent than on previous Dorians, which have always been excellent in that regard. What we have here is the closest approxima-tion to date of LaRue and the Consort's live sound. If you still think audiophile CD is an oxymoron (like Congressional ethics or British cuisine), give this one a spin. And if there is some equivalent of the young and impression-able soul I was 25 years ago about to hear these songs for the first time—I envy you.

—Les Berkley

THE LOCKENHAUS COLLECTION Vol.!: Credo Anon.: 3 Russian Orthodox Chants; Bach: Cantata 82

(excerpts); Haydn: Last Words (excerpts); Casals: 0 Vos Omnes; Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time (excerpts)

Vol.2: Mozart Clarinet Quintet, K.581; Oboe & String Quintet, K.406; Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Vols.3 & 4: Schubert Rondo in D for Piano, 4 Hands, D.608; Winterreise; Piano

Trio in E-flat, D.897 ("Notturno"); String Trio in B-flat, D.581

Vol.5: Beethoven Septet, Op.20; Piano & Wind Quintet, Op.16 Vol.6: Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms Schumann: Violin & Piano Sonata, Op.105; Mendels-sohn: Songs Without Words for Piano, 4 hands; Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op34

Vol.7: Schulhoff String Quartets 1 & 2; Divertissement for Oboe, Clarinet,

8c Bassoon; Concertino for Flute, Viola, & Bass; 5 Pieces for String Quartet

Vol.8: Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Lourié Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op34; Lourdé:

Formes en l'air, Pastorale de la Volga; Leek à travers le violon; Concerto da camera; Stravinsky: 3 Pieces for Clarinet solo

Vol.9: Schnittke String Trio, Piano Quartet, Salle Musik for Violin & Cello, String Quartet 2

Vol.10: Gubaidulina Garter: von Freuden und Traungkeit; Trio for Violin, Viola,

8c Cello; Seven Words for Cello, Bayan, & Strings


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Performers: Gidon Kremer, Annette Bik, Isabelle van ¡(eu-len, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Thomas Zehennair, violin; Gérard Caussé, Veronika Hagen, Nobuko Imai, viola; David Geringas, Clemens Hagen, Ko Iwasaki, Mis-cha Maisky, Marcy Rosen, Heinrich Schiff, cello; Alois Posch, double bass; Irena Grafenauer, Wolfgang Schulz, flute; Heinz Hollinger, Han de Vries, oboe; Eduard Brunner, Sabine Meyer, clarinet; Maria Graf, harp; Mar-tha Argerich, Edit Klukon, Hélène Grimaud, Oleg Maisenberg, Alexander Ftabinowitsch, Deszó Ranki, Vadim Sacharow, Andras Schiff; piano; Pastor Josef Herowitsch, narrator; Robert Ho11, bass; Anatoly Gridenko, Driewnierusskie Ftospiev Choir; Wolfgang Seeliger, Konzertchor Darmstadt; Borodin Quartet, Hagen Quartet, Ysaye Quartet; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Camerata Lockenhaus; Sándor Végh, Camerata Academica Salzburg; Mario Venzago, Kammerorchester der Jungen Deutschen Philharmonie; others

Philips 434 030-2 (10 CDs only). Peter Laenger, Andreas Neubronner, Stephan Schellman, Andreas Lemke, Bernhard Albercht, Onno Scholtze, prods. & engs. DDD. TT: 11:31:56

LOCKENHAUS ENCORES: Kremer &Friends Works by Bar, L. Mozart, Werner Thomas, Kreisler, Part, Cage, Shostakovich, Ladislav Kupkovic, Martinu, Leonid Czishyk, Gubaidulina

Gidon Kremer, Isabelle van Keulen, Catherine Metz, vio-lins; Alois Posch, bass; Tatiana Grindenko, Academy of Ancient Music, Moscow; Martha Argerich, Leonid Czishyk, Oleg Maisenberg, piano; Alocei Lubirnov, pre-pared piano; Borodin Quartet; Hermann Baumann, horn; others

Philips 434 252-2 (CD only). DDD. TE 51:36 PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonatas 1 & 2; Five Melodies for Violin & Piano, Op.35bis

Gidon Kremer, violins; Martha Argerich, piano DG 431 803-2 (CD only). Wolfgang Stengel, prod.; Ger-not von Schultzendorff, eng. DDD. TT: 64:52

One cannot help being impressed by the mas-sive, 10-CD, slip-cased Lockenhaus Collection. The package represents nine years of incredible chamber-music activity near the Czech border in the tiny Austrian town in which the festival, founded in 1981, took place (these recordings commence in 1982). For reasons unexplained by the various annotations, there does not seem to have been a continuation past 1990, which, considering the enterprising programming, the catholicity of tastes, and the superior musician-ship of those years, seems a shame. Most of the contents involve complete works,

the only real exception being the first volume, Credo, in which excerpts of 19th-century Rus-sian Orthodox chants, Haydn's Seven Last Words for String Quartet (with narration), Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, Bach's "Ich habe genug" Cantata, and a brief choral piece by Pablo Casals give a good picture of the reper-toire's directions. One wishes that more had been included. Of course, not everything is fabulous or in

ideal style, especially in the Classical era, where a good bit of longer-line phrasing pervades. Some highlights need to be mentioned because not everyone will want to opt for the complete set. Unfortunately, Philips has not made the volumes available individually.

In the Mozart volume, the clear-cut winner is the dynamically shaped and vigorous Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The Schubert set, which in-cludes the excitingly played four-hand Rondo with Argerich and Ftabinowitsch, is mostly devoted to Winterreise with bass Robert Holl and pianist Oleg Maisenberg, which is split between the discs. I found the opening too slow and resigned before its time, but the perfor-mance, if without quite the intimacy, tender-ness, ecstasy, and horror for which the music calls, does grow on one toward the end. The Beethoven Septet, in spite of an occasional missed note (these are, after all, concert per-formances), is scintillating, witty, and full of charm—an outstanding version. And the Piano Quintet, with András Schiff, is ideally com-municative. The Schumann/Mendelssohn/Brahms com-

pilation has good moments: Kremer with the young Hélène Grimaud in the Schumann A-minor Violin & Piano Sonata; a group of Songs Without Words in an unusual version for four hands, efficiently but not particularly warmly played by Klukon and Ránki; and a mostly modern-sounding, slightly dry Brahms F-minor Quintet, partly redeemed by the elo-quence of the slow movement and, possibly, by the excitement and near-violence of the finale. The remaining volumes offer rarities and

more unusual repertoire. First, there is Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), a kind of Czech Bartók whose eclecticism ranges from expressionism to satire to jazz. I found his highly varied work consistently interesting, and the performances are unusually brilliant. The Russian-oriented Vol.8 is notable for the best performance I've ever heard of the Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes, a most lyrically conceived one that avoids degeneration into the satiric. Arthur Lourié (1892-1966), stylistically hard to pin down, sometimes sounds like a Russian Janá-cek, with occasional reminders of Stravinsky's astringency coupled with humor that can approach the sardonic. Stravinsky himself is represented by the three clarinet solos, brilli-antly rendered by Sabine Meyer. One can understand the Latvian-born

Kremer's interest in the Russian avant-garde. Both Alfred Schnittke (b.1934) and Sofia Gubai-dulina (b.1931) have become highly popular in recent years. Both, furthermore, have the ability to speak musically to our ears, though the atmospheric messages at times can be disquiet-ingly full of angst. It is unfortunate that the annotator for both these important albums spends more time explaining the relationship of the composers to the festivals than describing the works. Even composition dates are largely omitted; I can only speculate that Gubaidulina's


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Seven Words of 1982 for cello, bayan (Russian accordion), and strings, with its eerie effects and widely spaced sounds, must have some-thing to do with the Seven Last Words of Christ. The sound picture for all these performances

naturally varies, most of the recordings cap-turing effectively, if closely, the intimate space of the Lockenhaus concert hall. Depth is not particularly apparent, and instrument place-ment is not always clear. Occasional saturation may be noticed at high-level moments, and with my subwoofer set at a minimal position, I was nonetheless aware at times (during the Mozart Oboe Quartet or the Schumann Sonata, among others) of floor vibrations perhaps caused by uninsulated microphones, vigorous piano pedaling, or inadvertent foot-stomping. Audience noises occasionally distract, but are generally contained. Many listeners may find themselves initially

responding to the largely humorous Locken-haus Encores, which serves as a separate adjunct to the larger collection—a kind of entertain-ing souvenir in which the performers' hair is obviously let down. It includes the Hoffnung-like antics of Professor Bar's swing-styled take-off on Bach's Double Violin Concerto for two violins and double bass; Werner Thomas's Haydn Quartet (which keeps turning into tangos); a straight (if rhythmically indulgent) Kreisler by Kremer and Argerich; a fascinating Cage prepared-piano piece of 1945, Mysteri-ous Adventure, hair-raisingly played by Alexei Lubimov; and Gubaidulina's setting of Strauss's Tales from the Vienna Woods. There are others, but the most repeatable ones to my taste are Martinu's highly effective Charleston and Leonid Czishyk's classically improvised and truly daz-zling Ain't Misbehaving. Again, the annotations and titles listings give far less than adequate identification and information.

Strictly speaking, the Prokofiev album with the two Violin Sonatas and the Five Melodies of 1925 has nothing to do with Lockenhaus or the festival. However, both Kremer and Argerich have been so closely associated with the fes-tival that I have gratuitously added this disc of electrifyingly projected performances in which the composer's lyricism has to some extent been displaced by high-pressure vehemence. The first sonata, for instance, is almost frightening in its intensity, the dynamic range incredibly wide. Perhaps this is not the only way to deal with these scores, but the powerful effect is undeniably exciting. The sound is close-up, realistic, and transparent. —Igor Kipnis

SHOW MUSIC

BROADWAY SHOWSTOPPERS

Brent Barrett, Kevin Colson, Kim Criswell, George Dvorsky, Davis Gaines, Cris Groenendaaljudy Kaye, Jeanne Lehman, Rebecca Luker; Ambrosian Chorus, London Sinfonietta: John McGlinn

Angel CDC 7 54586 2 (CD only). Simon Woods, prod.; John Kurlander, eng. DDD. TT: 74:26

The title is a misnomer, likely dreamed up by someone in EMI's publicity department. "Tea for Two," maybe, but "Here Am I," "Some Girl Is On Your Mind:' "Come To the Moon" as showstoppers, too? No, these arejust songs from musicals, some popular but most obscure, that John McGlinn happens to like and wanted to record with his "troupe:' singers who have been featured in his recordings and concerts. The collection is an interesting one, with

contributions from the usual suspects (Kern, Gershwin, Youmans), a bit of Dietz and Schwartz ("Triplets"), Weill ("September Song"), and, most significantly, two extended numbers from Bernstein and Lerner's flop, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. From this latter show, a number with the unlikely title of ' The President Jefferson Sunday Luncheon March" turns out to have a delightfully jaunty tune, and is done to per-fection by Davis Gaines and company. "Duet for One" is a tour de force for Judy Kaye In my interview with him (Vol.16 No.1), McGlinn said that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the scores he'd really like to record. I now under-stand why.

This being a McGlinn project, it can be taken for granted that we're not going to hear "excit-ing new orchestrations" (whew!), and songs are going to be performed in an "authentic" style, with the original lyrics. This means that even a familiar number like "Bill" takes a couple of unanticipated lyrical turns. Oscar Hammer-stein apparently changed some of the words when the song—with lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse —was dropped from a show called Oh, Lady! Lady!! and was interpolated into Show Boat. Now we get to hear the lyrics exactly as "Plum" wrote them. Essays by Miles Kreuger tell us everything we ever wanted to know about each number.

In addition to his skill in unearthing neglected musical-theater treasures, McGlinn also knows how to pick singers. They're all, in various ways, terrific. Kim Criswell starts things off with a high-energy "Swanee." Davis Gaines, who's been playing the title role in the long-running Los Angeles production of The Phan-tom of the Opera, is a special favorite of mine. His "Dancing in the Dark" is one of the highlights. (Gaines must be due for a solo album.) Judy Kaye lives up to her reputation as a singer who never gives an indifferent performance. Jeanne L hm ni not as well-known as some of her colleagues, but she sounds like a neglected treasure. Her "Bill" is right up there with


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Teresa Stratas's from the McGlinn Show Boat, infinitely better than Kin Te Kanawa's version on the recent Kin i Sings Kern. The last number on this CD is "All the

Things You Are," in Robert Russell Bennett's original arrangement for double duet and cho-rus. I've heard this in concert, and found it to be almost unbearably beautiful. Unfortunately, the performance on CD, while fine in musi-cal terms, is compromised by the recording quality. When the chorus enters, there's a com-plete change in the apparent size of the record-ing venue (I suspect DSP shenanigans). Every-thing goes vague and phasey, and Rebecca Luker's gorgeous high D, which should soar over the ensemble, almost gets lost in the shuffle.

—Robert Deutsch

FROM THIS MOMENT ON: The Songs of Cole Porter

Various performers singing 84 Cole Porter songs Smithsonian RD 047-1 (6 LPs), RD 047-2 (4 CDs). Frank Abbey, mastering eng.; Margaret Robinson, Dennis Britton, prods. AAA/AAD. TE 4:14:54

The collection—yet another daunting box from the Smithsonian—starts with "Anything Goes," performed by Cole himself in 1934, and pro-ceeds in chronological order of performance (not composition), ending with Sarah Vaughn's 1981 recording of "From This Moment On:' The list of singers reads like a Who's Who of popular music, cabaret, and jazz: Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, Mabel Mercer, Bobby Short, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Maxine Sullivan, Judy Garland, Nat Cole, Margaret Whiting, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, et al. Broadway is represented by a few original-cast selections, but the emphasis is on Porter's show music per-formed in a popular/jazz rather than a Broad-way style. And now I'd better state my bias: Although

I have a lot of respect for "serious" pop and jazz artists, my preference is show music performed in a theatrical rather than a pop or jazz style. Considering this bias, my response to the pres-ent collection was quite positive. There are some great songs and great singers represented here, and it's interesting to follow the many changes in performing styles and recording quality. However, it's difficult to get a leopard to

change its spots: I found the Broadway selec-tions (eg, Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison in "Wunderbar" from Kiss Me, Kate) to be the most enjoyable. The digital transfers (by Sony Music Special Products) are excellent, especially given the marginal quality of some of the sources. And the set includes a highly inform-ative booklet by Dwight Blocker Bowers.

—Robert Deutsch

JAZZ

MARILYN CRISPELL: Highlights from the Summer of 1992 American Tour

Marilyn Crispell, piano; Reggie Workman, bass; Gerry Hemingway, drums

Music and Arts CD 758 (CD only). Marilyn Crispell, prod. DDD. Tr 70:34

A longtime member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet of the '80s, pianist Marilyn Crispell has often been compared to Cecil Taylor, partly because her startling, tonally ambiguous but rhythmically energized playing resembles Tay-lor's uncompromising pianistics, and partly because writers find her otherwise difficult to describe. This new recording, made live in four locations, should help, for it contains some of her clearest and most accomplished playing on disc. There is plenty to challenge the listener here: "Mouvements changeables:' for instance, begins with a tense series of jerky, staccato chords and single notes that suggest a succes-sion of stuttering statements in searcli of fluency. That iregularity turns out to be a musical device —Crispell continues to play in this style, and her companions, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Gerry Hemingway, later either fill in the blanks, imitate her phrases, or create fluid statements that almost, but never quite, bypass her control. As the intensity increases, one real-izes that the trio is creating a new kind of high-stakes interaction.

That's not all they can do. Although Crispell likes to begin her pieces with lines that do most everything but swing conventionally, she can later fall into convincing swing time. The trio has other moods, such as the jauntiness of "Not Wanting:' with Hemingway's lightning-quick responses to Workman's statements, or the fra-gile lyricism of "Commodore," with its eer-ily quiet beginning. The liner note does not include an engineer's

name. Some of these recordings suffer from the echoey space in which they were recorded, and several were edited, ending in fadeouts. Still, this is another admirable disc of avant-garde jazz from a label that was once known only for its reissues of historically important classical performances. —Michael Ullman

BRUCE DUNLAP: Los Animales Bruce Dunlap, nylon, steel, ten-string guitars; Dan }Colton,

bass; Andy Poling, drums; Sara K., vocal ("Stars and Clay"); Andy Potter, percussion ("Los Animales"); Josh Hanna, vocal ("Los Animales")

Emerald Green EG8408 (CD only). John Bau, Dan Kol-ton, Kevin Campbell, engs.; Dan Kolton, Bruce Dunlap, prods. DDD. TE 46:39

BRUCE DUNLAP: The Rhythm of Wings Bruce Dunlap, six- & seven-string guitars; Scott Colley,

bass; Jamey Haddad, drums Chesky JD92 (CD only). Bob Katz, eng.; David Chesky,


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Bruce Dunlap, prods. DDD. TT 61:00

Robert Frost said that he liked to write poems that seemed to suggest formulae without quite formulating. I'm reminded of this statement when I listen to the ballad "Stars and Clay:' sung by Sara K. on Bruce Dunlap's Los Ani-males. Set to a folksy melody, the song tells the story ola lonely man riding his horse through Texas and wondering if it would have been bet-ter if he had settled down with a spouse. He's not quite at home on the range. So far, this is formulaic, as anyone who has seen Gary Cooper orJohn Wayne movies will attest. The man goes to sleep and dreams of a smiling old man. When he awakens, his rifle is gone. Sensing he's being led, he follows his nose until he meets the old man, who, again smiling, gives him back his rifle. I'm not sure if there's a moral to this story. The song doesn't fall victim to a formula, but neither does it rise to the status of enigma. To my understanding, it falls flat.

So, to my ears, does much of what Bruce Dunlap plays. I'm almost hesitant to say so, given the respect with which some of my guitar-playing friends speak of him. In both of these exquisitely recorded discs, Dunlap writes pleasant but forgettable tunes and im-provises on them flawlessly. He's got ample technique and, I would guess, a good heart. But I find myself looking for more tension in the music, for more carefully planned harmonies, swinging rhythms, and memorable melodies.

Perhaps I'm hearing Dunlap wrong. I sought out his "Little Walter" on Los Animales, expect-ing to hear some kind of tribute to the blues harmonica player. I couldn't figure out why such a tribute would be on a disc dedicated to pieces about various animals; still, that's the direction I was headed. I've found that I pre-fer to listen to these discs a number or two at a time. Both discs are beautifully recorded, but the Chesky has a slightly more natural presen-tation of the instrumentalism—Michael Ullman

CHARLES MINGUS: The Complete 1959 CBS Sessions Charles Mingus, bass; Richard Williams, Don Ellis, trum-

pets; John Handy, Booker Ervin, Shafi Hadi, Benny Golson, Jerome Richardson, saxes; Jimmy Knepper, Willie Dennis, trombones; Teddy Charles, vibes; Horace Parlan, Roland Hanna, piano; Maurice Brown, Sey-mour Barab, cellos; Dannie Richmond, drums

Mosaic MQ4-143 (4 LPs only). Fred Plaut, eng.; Teo Macero, prod. AAA. TE 2:34:48

When he started recording for Columbia in 1959, Charles Mingus was at the top of his game. He had followed a decade of experimen-tation as a composer and arranger with a series of Atlantic records in which he used Ellingto-nian textures, langourous, bluesy, or boppish melodies, contrapuntal lines, and areas of free improvisation to create a music that frequently

combined the sophistication of bop with the power of a down-home blues. He had written long-limbed ballads such as "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" (his tribute to Lester Young), and rip-roaring gospel numbers such as "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting!' Mingus was already one of the great virtuosos of jazz; now his propulsive bass lines seemed ready to explode. Most important, he had become a great band-leader—like Ellington, but, in a more raucous and unruly spirit, Mingus had found a way to make even his strongest soloists in their freest moments fit his mold. Some of them, induding saxophonist John Handy, never sounded better or more original than when playing with Mingus. In February 1959, Mingus made his last record in this period for Atlantic—Blues and Roots, with its timely soulfulness. He was ready for the four sessions captured here, two from May and two, with a slightly larger cast of musicians, from November.

In this four-LP, 180-gram vinyl set, Mosaic has issued all the numbers from Mingus Ah Um and Mingus Dynasty that were also offered in the double LP Better Cit It in Your Soul. Mosaic has included the unedited versions of several of the pieces from these albums, and new mate-rial that Columbia later issued on Nostalgia in Times Square.

There's more. "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," with its stirring John Handy tenor solo, is issued here unedited for the first time. Mosaic has also included three unissued alternate takes from the first session (May 5), and an unissued take of "New Now, Know How" from the third (November 1). I've compared the Mosaic LPs to the originals. There are minor sonic differ-ences that I didn't find important: More sig-nificant is the quietness and cleanness of the Mosaic pressings, which make the Mingus experience even more involving. (Perhaps lis-teners with mint copies of the original LPs will not find as much improvement as I did—both my and my friends' copies have been played often.) The music is wondrous, spirited and bluesy,

and full of Mingus devices: double-time pas-sages, shifts in rhythm and dynamics, and areas of group improvisation. The most famous number is probably the gospel-like "Better Git It In Your Soul," whose straightforward power makes Charlie Parker seem elusive. The spirit soon has Mingus yelling, "I know what I know:' and the band wailing. Caught up in the Mingus verve, it's easy to ignore the subtler aspects of the performance, including the band's use of dynamics in a middle chorus—they pro-duce a kind of wah-wah effect. At the heart of the piece is a Booker Ervin tenor solo whose testimony is accompanied only by the band's handclapping and verbal encouragement. In


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290 STEREOPHILE, OCTORFR 1993 WorldRadioHistory

the newly issued first take, the transition to this section is awkwardly done, but we hear Ervin trying out some of the same phrases that would pop up in the previously issued take. (He liked this solo—a couple of its phrases also show up on "Pedal Point Blues.") On this alternate take, the band sounds a little uptight—it's a para-dox ofjazz that players have to be rehearsed to sound comfortably spontaneous. Mingus liked to challenge his soloists with

unusual structures and unpredictable rhyth-mic changes. The collection has the one take of Mingus's "Fables of Faubus" that features the sometimes unnerving drumming of Dannie Richmond, who sometimes beats strongly on 1 and 3, ignoring the jazz convention of the backbeat, and who, underneath pianist Horace Parlan, seems to get a bit ahead of the pianist's sense of the beat. In contrast, everyone seems at ease in the relaxed blues with an easygoing Kansas City riffing of "Pussy Cat Dues!' I doubt that trombonist Jimmy ICnepper has ever sounded better. The trumpet-less May sessions, featuring

saxophonists Handy, Ervin, Shafi Hadi, and Jimmy Knepper (May 5) or Willie Dennis (May 12) on trombones, are both wilder and, to my ears, marginally more successful than the some-times more challenging compositions and arrangements that Mingus presented to the larger groups. But I wouldn't want to miss the two tributes to Ellington, "Mood Indigo" and "Things Ain't What They Used to Be:' that make up the last side of these LPs—or Mingus's upbeat homage to Charlie Parker, "Gunsling-ing Bird:' I wouldn't want to miss any of this music, including the imperfect alternate takes. Given today's market, Mosaic, whose records are only available through the mail at 35 Mel-rose Place, Stamford, CT 06902, has taken a chance by issuing this LP-only set. I hope the company's gamble pays off—this set will be a feast for listeners still interested in vinyl.

—Michael Ullman

MONGO SANTAMARIA: Mambo Mongo Mongo Santamaria, congas; Eddie Allen, trumpet; Jimmy

Cozier, Craig Rivers, saxes; Hubert Laws, Dave Valentin, flutes; Dario Eskenazi, piano; Guillermo Edghill, bass; Johnny Andreu Almendra, timbales; Eddie Rodriguez, percussion, vocal; Jerome Goldschmidt, percussion; Marty Sheller, conductor, arranger

Chesky JD100 (CD only). Bob Katz, eng.; David Chesky, prod. DDD. TT 54:43

In the June 1993 Stereophile, I reported on the second of the two sessions that went into the making of Mongo Santarnaria's new recording, one of more than 70 he estimates he has made. (These include recordings for Riverside of his own composition, "Afro-Blue," and his 1963 hit, "Watermelon Man:' written by Herbie Hancock.) If he has slowed down, Mongo, 75,

has lost none of his authority, which he exerts benignly with fluttering hands on his congas. Mambo Mongo is a tightly played disc held together by Mongo's rhythms. It's also stirring, and certainly the best-recorded session by San-tamaria that I've heard. The sound is clean and sharply articulated, and the imaging clear.

That's particularly true on the startling last number, "La Magolla," a multi-part percus-sion feature that begins with an electric bass solo and ends with Eddie Rodriguez chanting praise to the Afro-Cuban god Santeria. (Jazz fans will remember a similar chant by Chano Pozo in the middle of Dizzy Gillespie's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop.") When the band finished this number, producer David Chesky shouted to people in the studio, "The audio-philes are going to love this one!" So will jazz fans, and fans of Latin percussion—the four rhythms showcased here are powerfully played. The band was jamming, but tightly.

Percussion fans will want to hear Johnny Almendra's timbales solo on "Azteca!' Perhaps solo is not the best word—what one listens for here is the interaction of the featured percussive instrument with the group. Of the more tradi-tional jazz solos here, Hubert Laws is featured on "Dark Before the Dawn:' and Dave Valentin on "Caribbean Sunrise!' The band is directed by the experienced Latin jazz arranger, Marty Sheller. With its mixture of dances and rhythms,

Mambo Mongo is more than another solid Mongo Santamaria recording: It's a fine survey of Latin jazz by one of the masters.

—Michael Ullman

CLARK TERRY/RED MITCHELL:Jive at Five Clark Terry, trumpet, fluegelhorn; Red Mitchell, bass,

piano, vocal Erlia CD 6042-2 (CD only). Gen Palmcrantz, eng.; Horst Weber, prod. DDD. TT 57:43

Before his unexpected death in November 1992, Red Mitchell was one of the premier bassists in jazz, marrying an agile technique and warm tone to an unusually lyrical style. More than most, his bass seemed to sing. Here, in a totally delightful informal session recorded in 1988, he plays a group of swing classics with mas-ter trumpeter Clark Terry. They're a perfect match: Terry's a lyrical player whose rounded tones influenced Miles Davis. Like Mitchell's, his music is sunny, often humorous, his crawl-ing, ascending phrases immediately eeeogniz-able. Both like to try an occasional vocal: Terry mumbles hilariously, and Mitchell writes lyrics to jazz classics, singing them in a burry, ama-teurish voice that manages—against consider-able odds—to capture the essence of great jazz solos. I doubt that either musician ever made a


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noticeable mistake or played an unmusical note Their duets (elf ive at Five sparkle. Terry plays the melodies—Ellington's "Cottontail" and "Prelude to a Kiss," Lester Young's "Lester Leaps In," or Neal Hefti's "Cute" and "Late Date"—generally over the acrobatic accom-paniment of Mitchell's bass. They informally trade solos and phrases. Terry trots out all his tonal effects, from the tightly muted sound of "Jive at Five" to the full-bodied open fluegel-horn tone of "Late Dater Mitchell introduces "Sophisticated Lady" on piano, and returns to bass to accompany Terry's muted statement of the theme. It's an exquisite performance of one of the best-known standards. Mitchell sings on "Love You Madly."

Despite its unlikely instrumentation, this ses-sion is an unqualified success. It was evidently recorded in Mitchell's Stockholm apartment. I'd have liked to have been there. The sound is warm and close-up, the musicians placed close to one another—this isn't a stereo spectacular. Instead, it's a wonderful, and wonderfully un-expected, accomplishment by two underrated musicians whose heart, humor, and skill have rarely been as fittingly displayed.

—Michael Ullman

ROCK

HASIL ADKINS: Out to Hunch Norton Records (no catalog # whatso-a-ever) LP, no CD. No producer, no engineer, no studio, no stereo, no mikes that weren't carbon police dispatcher models, no other people at all in fact—just Hasil Adkins, vocals and guitars and one-man drums and some weird rhythmic screech-ing that may or may not be LP surface noise TE infinite, as I can't stop hearing it in my head hours after I raised the needle off it.

To order, send $10 to Norton Records, Box 646, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10003.1f you don't, you shall burn in hellfire eternal.

This is my last record review for Stereophile. still cover hi-fi gear for the mag, but I cannot continue in my capacity as a music reviewer because I have just witnessed the Holy Grail of music, the Perfect Record, the Final and Total Human Statement that sums up god and devil and good and evil and woman and man and history and prophesy and the entire quest for meaning which has now, finally, been revealed by the True Messiah: Hasil Adkins. Jesus Christ is now exposed as simply a

charismatic rabbi who got too big too fast for the state to tolerate. Elvis was close, but now he too is exposed as an also-ran. In fact, I hate Elvis Presley's music now, and can't fathom how I could've ever liked that creampuffshit. Hendrix is now exposed as a pawn of Coin-telpro and as just another pretender tolerated

by the state until he became too erratic to con-trol. That stroke-riddled Hasidic chieftain in NYC whose followers claim he's the Messiah is only blaspheming Hasil with his arrogance, and shall burn in hellfire eternal with the rest of you who don't send $10 to Norton Records and buy this record.

Out to Hunch is not merely the greatest piece of music I have ever heard, it is now the only piece of music I've ever heard; its message and implications are so powerful that all else is wiped from my consciousness as if Hasil Adkins was the only one in the history of the planet who ever uttered a single musical sound—which is, naturally, as it should be. I bought Out to Hunch after I took the $7.99

LP of Nirvana's Incesticide up to the register at Sound Exchange here in Austin and the guy told me that credit-card purchases have to be $15 or more. So I went back over to the wall o' LPs and looked for something interesting to get past the minimum charge, and that's when I spied this cheezy highway-pylon-orange LP cover with blue letters that seemed to jiggle like springs if I blinked my eyes. On the cover were three grainy B&W'photos of Hasil Adkins, a young white kid from the '50s, a real rockabilly hepcat, posing with handfuls of 45s in front of a barn, by his hot rod, and in his Southern white-trash bedroom with the flowered bed-sheets hung on the walls to cover the water stains on the torn wallpaper and the tiny all-in-one record changer—only big enough to play 45s, of course—with the single knob marked "LOUDER, BOY." At $7.69 the price was right, so I grabbed it off the wall and took it up to the register.

After I got home, I flipped the LP over and looked at the back cover. There were four more grainy photos of Hasil Adkins, posing with his acoustic guitar with the original pickguard replaced by a strategic group of cut-out 45s glued to the instrument's face. The kid in the photos was obviously one of the thousands of Southern white boys in the 1950s swept up by the Rockabilly Revolution who weren't as hot as Elvis and Jerry Lee but were good enough to represent them locally at dances, parties, and as the uncircumcised Next-Best-Thang in back seats and high-school football fields from Mo-bile to Ferriday. But God, man, those eyes. I'd never seen such

sunken, crazy, menacing, empty, ignorant, all-knowing backwoods cracker psycho eyes in my entire life, and the kid looked 15 at the most. Hasil Adkins had the jutting cheekbones and horsey face of a truly inbred piece of worth-less human flotsam, and it looked like he not only knew it but had found a kind of personal release from that realization. I couldn't put the record down.


I stared at those photos for a long time until it occurred to me that, having bought the record, I might as well give it a listen. And ten hours later, after five back-to-back full-length plays and six hours of trying to come to terms with what I'd just heard but not quite believed, I'm sitting here listening to it again at full blast with my new Dell notebook on my thighs as I two-finger my last Stereophile record review. While recognizing that I am unable to fully

convey just what Hasil Adkins's music sounds like, I will try to furnish some factual details in order to get the basic gist of Out to Hunch across to you. Hasil Adkins the True Messiah was a lone-nut teen rockabilly rebel in the West Virginee hills who fully absorbed Elvis's Sun Records 45s and every other scratchy-necked prickly-weed sugar-ant flat-headed essence of the time and region and made the greatest music that has ever been, right in his own bed-room, all alone, with an acoustic guitar, a stripped-down drumkit, and a mono tape machine. Out to Hunch is the first US anthol-ogy of these sides cut between 1955 and 1965, and the songs are all pure rockabilly, reveal-ing that the music was only ever properly played by just one person, that person being Hasil Adkins. But a boy with the eyes of a serial killer doesn't

sing songs about hot rods, blue suede shoes, and milk-cow blues boogies. Holed up in his dirty bedroom with the glowing tape machine and the 45s glued to his guitar, Hasil Adkins sang songs about cutting young girls' heads off and hanging them on his wall as trophies. In "No More Hot Dogs:' Hasil sings about how his baby shouldn't eat anything that day because he's going to cut off her head and hang it on his wall, and then she won't be eating no more hot dogs. In "We Got A Date," Hasil announces in a deep, menacing voice made more so by the shattering distortion of the primitive recording, "Uh, hello, baby. . . uh, we got a date. . .uh, I got a date to, uh . . cut your head, uh, OFF," then some truly horrify-ing laughter and assorted glottal sounds, then: "Uh, baby I know you'll, uh. . be over at eight, ahahaha. . . [loud clearing of throat]. . . 'cause, uh . . . I'm gonna cut your head off about, uh . . . half past eight, AHAHAHA HAHA-HAHA!!," followed by Hasil screaming and imitating the sound of a chainsaw.

Unlike every other rock'n'roll singer, Hasil Adkins wasn't kidding around. This is absolute, out-and-out, true-blue dementia. I've got a pretty wild imagination, and I couldn't fake stuff this disturbing if my life depended on it. This is the American Dream gone horribly awry: a sunken-eyed psychopathic teen rock-abilly cat who sings songs about decapitating young girls and who refers to his baby as "a

dyin' can of commodity meat!' This is the greatest record I've ever heard. So you can see why writing about, or even

listening to, any other music after this would only be futile; once you've drunk God's own titmilk, anything short of that has got to be a letdown. I had some really hot stuffin the on-deck circle, too—Rhino's new blues series, some Jelly Roll Morton reissues, the MasterSound Kind of Blue—but those will have to be covered by the rest ofStereophile's crack roster of music review-ers. After Out to Hunch, other music doesn't really matter all that much to me anymore, and life's too short to waste on pap like Elvis and Miles and Muddy when I could be listening to Hasil Adkins singing "We Got A Date!'

MIGHTY SAM McCLAIN: Give It Up to Love AudioQuest AQ-LP1015 (LP), AQ-CD1015 (CD). Joe Harley, Sam McClain, Lome Entress, prods.; Michael C. Ross, Dan Bosworth, engs. AANAAD. TI: 47:46, 54:06

Ever wonder why Stax, Volt, Atlantic, and the other great and near-great soul and R&B labels can't, or won't, make records like they did 20 or 30 years ago? Well, don't. Audio-Quest is doing it now. Mighty Sam McClain's Give It Up to Love is one of the great soul records. And, unlike all those soul classics of yesterdecade, it sounds just as great as it is. Mighty Sam has not had an easy 50 years.

A one-hit wonder in 1966 (with Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams:' of all things), his career sputtered along and finally died a few years later. For the next 20 years McClain moved around the country in search of love, fulfillment, and jobs, recording the odd sin-gle here and there but mainly working menial jobs. He landed homeless back in his native Louisiana, and eventually sold real estate in Houston. Finally getting a band going in Boston, McClain came to the attention of AudioQuest's Joe Harley. The result is one of the most direct, powerful soul/blues albums I've ever heard.

McClain's voice and phrasing sound a lot like B.B. King's. But for those of you sick to death of the B.B. King Revue, the mil-lionth "Tonight Show" telling ofThe Story of Lucille, and museum performances with every drop of sweat in place by living legends who should know better, McClain is the genuine article: a natural, a singer of abso-lute power and conviction whose every whisper, shout, and moan I implicitly be-lieve. There's not a mediocre track on this disc, let alone a dud. From deep, slow blues such as "Got to Have Your Love" to the wearily powerful "I'm Tired of These Blues:'


So I won't. See you at eight. —Corey Greenberg

HEIDI BERRY: Heidi Berry 4AD 45301-2 (CD only). Hugh Jones, eng., prod. AAD? TT 46:29

Ever since the 1968 release of her very first al-bum, Song to a Seagull, every up-and-coming young female singer/songwriter has had to endure comparisons and contrasts to Joni Mit-chell from press and public alike. The press bio accompanying Heidi Berry's first US album (three UK-only discs and some vocals for 4AD label-mates This Mortal Coil have preceded it) attempts to head off this reflex with the Big Lie Technique: "Heidi's musical inspiration is

not drawn from the American singer/song-writer tradition ofDylan and Joni Mitchell.. ." The publicist doth protest too much, me-

thinks. Berry's "Mercury" is a thinly disguised "Urge for Going," from melody to guitar ar-rangement to wintry mise en scène. "Follow" follows Mitchell's "Dawntreader" as closely as a shadow. And Berry's "For the Rose" (no, that's not a typo) not only is but a single "s" away from duplicating a Mitchell album and song title, but sounds like mid-'70s Joni pro-duced by Daniel Lanois. My point is not that Berry is attempting to

clothe a style ripoffin the sequins of novelty— she definitely is not—but that there's simply nothing wrong with being influenced by your

RE C 0 RD I N G

of the MON Selected byJA and RL

to McClain's cover of Al Green's "I Feel Good," to Carlene Carter's neo-soul "Too Proud," to the gospely title track (with a thrilling break just before the final chorus) and "Don't Turn Back Now," every track could be another singer's end-of-album rave-up.

If anyone still played music like this on the radio, Mighty Sam would finally have another hit single or three. My two favorite tracks are opposite extremes: "What You Want Me to Do" is a gritty, hard-edged, electric road blues that brings back mem-ories of Booker T without sounding any more dated than 1993. The voice-and-acoustic-guitar duet of "Lonesome Road" that closes the album has more emotional electricity than any track on the disc—and that's going some. (But LP purists beware: Only the CD has "Love Me If You Want To," a big-beat, rock-solid Chicago blues that's an essential part of the album.) The band is impeccable. Kevin Barry is

that rarity: a completely versatile rock/blues/ soul/R&B guitarist, on electric or acoustic, with nary a hint of studio-musician slick-itude. Same goes for the rest: AudioQuest stable musician Bruce Katz contributes rich, purling Hammond B-3 fills and rolling breakers of gospel piano, and bassist Michael Rivard and drummer Lome Entress work together beautifully to punch out cadences with full-throated drama and power.

This is an AudioQuest analog recording, and sounds it. Like the music, it's simple, direct, and ungussified, using minimal tnik-

TH

ing and virtually no overdubs. In fact, it sounds so natural, so right that it doesn't call attention to its own audiophile purity, as even some Cheskys seem to do. This is a fully rounded sound in a real space; the kicker is when, after one of Kevin Barry's particularly tasty fills, Mighty Sam pulls back from the mike to laugh in apprecia-tion. That laugh happens in a space that seems to surround and support every player. Totally convincing. I hope I've been half as convincing in per-

suading you to buy this record. You'll be satisfied with the CD or the 180-gram vinyl; I was hard put to hear much difference between the two, except for maybe a little bit more body and definition in the bass on, surprisingly, the LP. —Richard Lehnert


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predecessors and (in this case) your betters, and certainly nothing wrong in acknowledging it. It's unavoidable in any case, and hardly cause for shame. Originality in the arts is greatly overrated. Sermon aside, this is a very good album, if

not a great one. Despite all of her borrowings and influences, Berry does have a distinctive way with a song—her voice manages to sound throaty and breathy at once—and some of the melodies and virtually all of the arrangements are spacious, invariably interesting, and quite beautiful. What makes the album work so well is its variety—every song is handled quite differently by Berry and producer Hugh Jones, with equal helpings of classic acoustic folk sonorities and fascinating use of feedback, elec-tric guitar, and electronic percussion, each sound chosen with great care and taste. It's a tribute to Berry's unity ofvision that an album this stylistically diverse still manages to sound like a single work, not the first-album fittings of a studio dilettante. While listening I often thought of (again) Daniel Lanois, who uses the same sonic palette to paint very different land-scapes. Like Lanois, Berry offers nothing actu-ally "new," but the tried and true lovingly and uniquely recycled.

Listening to the disc before reading the flack sheet, it reminded me of the records that for-merly acoustic folkies began to make in the lat-ter half of the '60s in the wake ofDylan's elec-trified Bringing It All Back Home: gingerly applied drums and electric guitar recorded like a chamber instrument. Sure enough, Heidi Berry represents the singer's first-ever work with drums, and it's done with considerable taste; from time to time you'll be convinced you're listening to an early Fairport Convention album—not at all a bad thing. In fact, Berry's evocation of a folk scene that was pretty much dead and buried by the time she was born seems quite deliberate, even to the titles of such neo-folk anthems as "Darling Companion," and the use of former Pentangle double-bassist Danny Thompson on several tracks. And B.J. Cole does meltingly well on "Dawn:' in an arrangement built around his pedal steel. The weak spot is Berry's lyrics, which are

very much those of a young and not very wise woman: lots of loneliness, rain, trains, and for-lorn hopes that things will get better: "I'm searching for the rose that has no thorn" ("For the Rose"); "If it's not the kind of dawn / That I had hoped to see / Take it, oh take it away" ("Dawn"); "I wish that I'd been born in 1900" ("Distant Thunder"). Forget it, sister. Nowhere is there any indication that the listener is meant to take such pathetic plaints any way but literally.

Ah, well—in five years Berry may be a for-midable singer/songwriter with something

important to say. For now, she's a consummate musician who writes soaring melodies, crafts songs and arrangements with a watchmaker's elegance, and has impeccable taste in influ-ences—three out of four ain't bad at all. Sound is spacious but diffuse, Berry's voice sound-ing perpetually shrouded in a gauzy mist which goes well with the album's rainy-day langueur Recommended. —Richard Lehnert

THE CANDY SKINS: Fun? DGC DGCD-24494 (CD only). Pat Collier, prod. M.D. TT 42:26

Like a Cadbury's Flake bar, the real deal is the chocolate inside, not the tasteful yellow French letter in which the thing is wrapped.

Still, it's good of The Candy Skins to acknowl-edge that, like M&Ms, guitar pop music is a quick sugar hit; their second album, Fun?, is just that. Recorded at Rockfield Studios with the no-frills approach reflecting Rockfield's founders (Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe), Fun? shimmers with that look-ma-no-hands transparent approach to technique that charac-terizes a lot of UK popsters. Overdub touches which could be a mandolin, a zither, or just an NED provide decorative paintwork on an album which is really just a beautifully made toy top: wind it up and watch it spin.

Notable also as a find of eccentric A&R talent spotter Tom Dutaut, the Candy Skins, by luck or design, also cunningly hold a mirror to those who would make of entertainment a lot more than it can be. "Let's take over the world—if not today, tomorrow:' they placate a presence (possibly the thin, small voice of conscience in the guise of their labelmeister, David Geffen, who's come out of the closet with political ambitions).

"We're not out to change your world:' says rhythm guitarist Mark Cope, "just your mood." Like Squeeze, which also excelled at observant three-minute takes on the daily grind, the Skins write fine, small, personal songs that work hard to stay out of the gloom-and-doom and elude the compulsion to say something significant that has dogged self-styled British monsters of rock from King Crimson through Paul Morrissey, Throbbing Gristle, and Joy Division. Keep it up, lads. You could be the next Kursaal Flyers.—Beth Jacques

CARLENE CARTER: Little Love Letters Giant 74499-2 (CD only). Howie Epstein, prod.; Joe Romersa, eng. AAD? TT: 42:33

Okay, I admit it. With the exception of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Patsy Cline, and a couple of other redneck mothers, I'm an ignoramus when it comes to C&W. In fact, until I heard Carlene Carter dueting with Dave Edmunds on his anthology release, I knew her

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only as Mrs. Nick Lowe. Well, pardon my ignorance. Given the cur-

rent crop of today's country-music acts and Ms. Carter's own musical heritage, I expected Little Love Letters to be filled with twangy, blue-collar mentality. Boy, was I wrong. Sure, LLL is a country album by a country artist, but it has just enough rockabilly with a boogie-woogie back beat and all-around oomph! to keep the whole thing interesting.

In addition, not being a ballad aficionado, I found the ones included in this release to be fairly tolerable; they don't drip nearly as many tears in the beer as do many country ballads. Combine all this with a stable of first-class musicians (David Lindley and Benmont Tench, among others), fine production work by Howie Epstein, and Carlene's smooth-as-silk vocals, and you have an album that would make some of your harder-rocking headbangers (such as myself) take notice. This album is a nice surprise; coming from

one who rarely listens to country music, that's quite a compliment. Grab yourself a copy of Little Love Letters, slap it in your player, and see if you're not two-steppin' across your living room by the second track. I was.

—Steven Stoner

SKARTAGLEN: Last Night's Fun City Spark CDF-3342 (CD only). Tom Mardikes, prod.; Lane Turner, eng. (No SPARS code.) TT: 41:20

Much is made in the publicity that accompanies this disc of the fact that Skartaglen is a Celtic band from Kansas, and that lead singer Connie Dover punches cows in her spare time—which makes perfect sense when you consider that the greatest epic poem of Ireland (the Tain bo Culaigne) is about cattle rustling. Besides, if they can make a movie about an Irish soul group, then Americans can surely turn the tables.

Since everything in Celtic countries occurs in threes, it's fitting that there are three types of Celtic bands? Type is (eg, the Chieftains) are traditional purists. Type 2s (eg, Silly Wizard) play traditional and traditional-style music on old and new (mostly) acoustic instruments. And Type 3s (eg, the Pogues or Black 47) include "New Celtic" styles.

Skartaglen is a fine example of Type 2. They open this set with a lively series of tunes that feature Dover singing in Gaelic, and then move to a fine rendition of "The Banks of the Bann," which features Dover singing in English with-out (thanks be to St. Bridget) any attempt at an Irish accent. Her voice is, in fact, lovely, pure, and entirely suited to this music. We also get

2 It's like the Three Unhappy Unearthings of the Island of Britain. Anthropologists refer to this as "binary opposition in triadic sets"—for reasons too incomprehensible to mention.

some non-Celtic songs here, including the Vic-torian "Rosemary Lane" (done beautifully by Bert Jansch on his album of the same name), and a Civil War lament by group member Michael Dugger. Connie and the boys have the idiom down pretty well; I've heard some bar bands full of authentic Celts who do no bet-ter, or a good deal worse. If these guys come down to Morley's Pub, I'll be sure to stop in for a Harp or two. The sound is decent, with good instrumental

timbre, and Dover's voice sounds clean and unprocessed. There's not much depth or sense of space, but after a six-pack of Guinness, you'll hardly notice. —Les Berkley

PAUL WESTERBERG: 14 Songs Sire 45255-2 (CD only). Mart Wallace, eng.; Matt Wallace, Paul Westerberg, prods. AAD? TT 48:33

Paul Westerberg, once the mastermind behind the Minneapolis quartet The Replacements, has finally released his solo album. Where Mats guitarist Tommy Stinson's band Bash & Pop took up bar-band instincts for its coda, and drummer Chris Mars went pop, Westerberg has kept true to Mats form on 14 Songs, present-ing songs of force and unbridled fervor. Wester-berg tempers the raucously sloppy lead single "World Class Fad" and the rockin' intensity of "Something is Me" with the gorgeously tex-tured ballads "First Glimmer" and "Dice Behind Your Shades." He's able to move his voice from plaintive plea to exuberance, some-times within a single song.

All Shook Down, the last Replacements album, was a virtual Westerberg solo venture. 14 Songs follows suit with little outside help, mostly on drums and bass. All guitars are played by Westerberg in his plunking, chopped style, and he adds bass, keyboards, and sax to his reper-toire. The songs are concise vignettes rather than full-blown stories, Westerberg's sense of humor keeping them from slipping into maud-lin wordplay. This is especially true on "Man-nequin Shop," a paean to plastic surgery, when he croons, "You're lookin' great / You're losing face / You're lookin' fine/My little Franken-stein!' Fitting right in with the album's raw feel is "Black Eyed Susan," a demo of a delightful acoustic love song recorded in his kitchen. Many wondered what The Replacements

might have sounded like had they not been such a rowdy, sloppy, drunken band. 14 Songs indi-cates that maturity and sobriety don't neces-sarily diminish such music's impact. Westerberg has pulled together all of The Replacements' best components: a melodic acoustic sense, a rockin' electric edge, unfettered humor, play-fulness, and a modest beauty. The mix is a seamless pleasure. —Geary Raczorowski


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M ANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS

SONY MD, ATRAC, & PASC Editor: Mr. Harley and Mr. Mitchell raise funda-mental points about perceptual coding and its assessment. To get sufficient recording time on small

music carriers, one must reduce the amount of data of PCM encoding. Audio signals have many empty bands in their short-term spec-tra. A perceptual model predicts which deliber-ate encoding errors (discarding empty bands, efficiently encoding remaining ones) will be masked by the encoded signals themselves. With more data space, one can be liberal about preserving very small components; with less data space, more stringent selection is needed. The resulting sound quality depends on the amount of data reduction, on the algorithm and its hardware implementation, and on the nature of the signals. PASC, ATRAC, and similar codings attempt

to reduce data while preserving sound. Data reduction by perceptual coding unavoidably changes the waveform and adds to the origi-nal a coding error, the residue, which is in-tended to be inaudible in the presence of the signal on which it rides. Simply put, a data-reduction algorithm without, occasionally, a substantial level of residue is over-designed, performing less efficiently than it could. To compare residues from diffèrent codings

is legitimate. ATRAC compresses data 33% more than PASC. A higher residue level is to be expected from ATRAC, as observed. It does not follow that one format is over-designed or the other insufficient. To judge a residue's potential impact on sound quality in the absence of its parent signal (to deduce, from the fact that ATRAC's residue is rhythmical, bass-heavy, cyclical. . . that it is objectionable) is log-ically dubious: If ATRAC is an efficient per-ceptual coding taking advantage from masking, then such behavior is precisely what one would expect; further, audibility of the residues depends directly on the signals they belong to. The crucial question is whether the presence of these residues on top of their parent signals is objectionable, and this question receives some

encouraging answers from both authors. Better to §tudy whether encoding reproducibly affects sound quality; then, for cases where degrada-tion would be established, investigate what makes residues perceivable and thus objec-tionable. Formats for such systems as MiniDisc or

DCC are not set once and for all. Their imple-mentation, though, is in real-life silicon, with many real-life constraints. The portable MZ-1 does not compare directly to a desktop unit— DCC or otherwise. A desktop unit can more easily be fitted with advanced A/D and D/A cir-cuits, and more powerful circuitry for imple-menting a given format (for audiophile com-parisons, DAT—well-established, more com-pact than DCC, linear PCM, no data compres-sion—might be a better choice). And, like most advanced audio formats, successive generations of MiniDisc products will also offer improve-ments in ATRAC encoding/decoding circuitry. The results of sound quality assessment

(encoded vs original) reported by Mr. Harley and Mr. Mitchell deserve attention and much further, rigorous study. Their findings remind one of the period when CD was introduced. Didn't the LP supposedly have more spatial definition, depth, warmth? Possibly, but ten years of experience with a superior format have led to marvelous CD recordings. Would a Compact Cassette recording of Hogwood's and Handel's Messiah have less delicate a spatial rendering than the CD? One would expect so: formats and criteria are different. The conclu-sion would not be Compact Cassette's inferi-ority, just its difference. Investigations of what warrants improvement in ATRAC sound qual-ity are important and welcome: as with CD, they will motivate engineers to get the most out of the new format. Every consumer product has its technical

tradeoffs and targets. MiniDisc has less data space; DCC has tape. MiniDisc's target is to replace Compact Cassette with a balanced, convincing, superior digital alternative. Its main aim is a Walkman enriched by CD technology. With its present data rate, MiniDisc is viable: good enough sound to satisfy present users of


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Compact Cassette; small enough size for CD-length recording time with well-established, CD-level optical technology, and for better-than-Walkman compactness. Increase the data rate by 50% and you have much less compact hardware or much riskier technology. Mini-Disc-formatted DCC would remain tape-based; DCC-formatted MiniDisc would not be Mini enough for Sony. We are very confident about ATRAC: It is

the right perceptual coding for MiniDisc and the right format for the successor to the Com-pact Cassette. DR. ROGER LAGADEC

Technical Director, Sony Europe

DCC & MD Editor: Mr. Harley's comments about the relative merits of DCC and MD for portable applica-tions include no mention of the fact that he has yet to examine either DCC or MD portable equipment. As one who has had the chance to live with both an MD portable and a DCC portable, I can offer the following points: • Battery life is only 75 minutes playing time for the MD portable, whereas the DCC port-able has a playing time 0f21/2 to 3 hours per bat-tery charge. • Blank MD media costs about 79% more than the same amount of DCC media on a per-minute basis. In the first year of ownership, it is not unreasonable to assume that a new user would purchase two dozen blanks, which would cost the MD user $180 more than the DCC user. In addition to the cost savings, the DCC user would also get the flexibility of blank cassettes with up to 120 minutes record-ing time; MD media are limited to a maximum of 74 minutes. • Hands-on experience with both types of portables clearly shows that DCC is shock-proof, while MD is still shock-sensitive. For true on-the-go applications, DCC portables win hands down. • Comparing the Philips DCC-130 to the Sony MZ-1 or MZ-2P, the DCC portable is 33% lighter and 30% smaller. • The issue of compatibility with existing music libraries is especially important in the portable market. Many audiophiles who may not lis-ten to analog cassettes at home have extensive cassette collections which they use for outdoor or car listening. The fact that DCC portables play these analog tapes with excellent fidelity is a major benefit. • As for sound quality, Mr. Harley's findings speak for themselves. DCC simply sounds bet-ter; in fact, it is CD-quality sound. Mr. Harley's opinion about the DCC car-

rier being slow and clunky seems to be based on a comparison ofits functionality in the living

room vs that of a disc-based system. However, most cassette listening takes place outdoors, where jumping back and forth between tracks has virtually no significance. Consumer tests indicate, and first user reactions confirm, that a longer (2- to 3-hour) playing time gets far higher satisfaction ratings. As a user of the first DCC portable, I can

confirm that the actual winding times are indeed faster than on the first home DCC decks. The search speed is a machine-dependent characteristic, and not a limitation of the carrier itself. For those who desire very fast search speed, home DCC models that incorporate this feature will soon appear in the market. These points bolster our argument that the

superiority of the PASC coding system is well matched indeed with a superior music carrier, the Digital Compact Cassette.

DAVID BIRCH-JONES Marketing Manager, Marantz USA

MARTIN-LOGAN QUEST Z Editor: Was Mr. Olsher present at our R&D meetings? His analysis of the challenges and solutions to hybrid design read like a chapter from the "Martin-Logan Book." The problems of impedance, efficiency, driver matching, driver optimization, control issues, woofer align-ments, crossover alignment tradeoffs, and test-ing priorities vs listening experience are very similar to our journey and the solutions that resulted in the final Quest (hah). One of my beginning personal design goals

for all Martin-Logan products was to create a transducer that operated in actual performance as closely as possible to the ESL concept. This required that the transducer be allowed to oper-ate in an uncompromised environment. To me, this meant that the membrane must operate unhindered in a massless condition or the acoustic wave launch could be disturbed, resulting in significantly compromised perfor-mance. This is why we developed the vapor-deposit membrane (adding no mass) with a super-high-resistivity surface for the charged membrane, and why it was so important to completely insulate the stator system, obsolet-ing the need for grillecloth or any other pro-tective system. The result contributes greatly to the "heightened soundstage transparency" that Mr. Olsher detailed. When it comes to testing, Mr. Atkinson

would have gotten a chuckle listening to that same design team in those early days when they made the first frustrating attempts to decipher the cryptic code that lies between traditional test documentation and what our listening experience tells us. Our large panels behave very differently from traditional drivers, and


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it has taken significant work to divine from the data what dictates good performance and what is less meaningful for our specific technology. There is still a time or two when we ask our-selves, "Why does the speaker sound great and the tests look weird?" Thank you for a thorough and revealing

review. GAYLE SANDERS President, Martin-Logan

ROTEL RB-960BX Editor: I can only say it comes as quite a shock not to have Corey mention Rotel Tomatoes in his review of the RB-960BX. (Yes, there really is a brand of tomatoes called Rotel; however, it has no connection to our company.) I'm still looking for a can to try, Corey!

Seriously, though, Ido agree with Corey's assessment of the RB-980BX power amplifier, and certainly the RB-990—they are sonically superior to the RB-960BX. But, as an entry-level amplifier, the RB-960BX is a great place to begin building a "real world" audio system. Like all Rotel products, it's a very musical amplifier. The '960 is also a very versatile product.

Presently in my "video room," I'm using an RB-960BX for rear-channel amplification with an additional "bridged" mono unit for the cen-ter channel together with my Rotel Dolby Pro-Logic decoder. The idea of a separate room for Home Theater and a music system may seem a bit extravagant (I toyed with mixing the two), but in the end it all comes back to music. I really need/desire/want my music system to be the best. Thank you, Corey and Stereophile, for your

thoughtful evaluation of our RB-960BX. Our warranty of five years is better than almost any other company's; we think when you build it better, you can back it better. We are obviously pleased with CG's comments, which affirm our original design goals for this product: to build an affordable, musical amplifier that provides a first step into the world of high-end.

M IKE BARTLETT Rotel of America

BRYSTON 7B NRB-THX Editor: Thank you very much for Tom Norton's highly favorable review of our Model 7B NRB ampli-fier. We certainly agree with his (and Dick Olsher's) positive sonic impressions. In addi-tion, his very thorough instrumented testing adeptly illustrates Bryston's company policy that the best audio equipment is simply that which preserves the greatest waveform linear-ity. We would like to take this opportunity, however, to amplify upon (pun perhaps slightly

intended) a couple of technical details. First, we should clarify our owner's man-

ual as it refers to the choice between series and parallel modes in the setup of the 7B. This is a simple decision, and is based on the speaker manufacturer's nominal impedance rating. If that rating is above 3 ohms, use the series mode; if below, use the parallel mode. Dips in imped-ance, even to what seem like very low values, will easily be taken in stride by the 7B's extremely high current limits. (The parallel mode on the 7B is really intended for loads in the 2-ohm-and-below range, and will com-fortably handle speaker loading nominally rated down to a large fraction of an ohm.)

Second, the THX version, as tested, differs in gain from the 7B-NRB by about 1.5dB, to comply with THX system specifications. It also has a 10k impedance on the unbalanced input as part of this same intended application. The regular 7B-NRB is supplied with input imped-ances of 50k unbalanced and 80k balanced. (Incidentally, though your samples had pin-3-hot on the XLR inputs, all Bryston products now follow the new AES convention of pin-2-hot.)

Finally, though not mentioned in the review, I thought it might be pertinent to point out that our fully transferrable 20-year warranty may be yet another reason why owners of Bryston products "will never regret their purchase."

CHRISTOPHER W. RUSSELL VP Engineering, Bryston Ltd.

PS AUDIO LAMBDA Editor: Sincere thanks to Stereophile and Robert Harley for the enthusiastic review of our Lambda CD drive. We concur with RH's assessments, and are flattered to have him place the Lambda on that exclusive list of products he refers to as benchmarks. "Just as the UltraLink redefined what we can expect from a $2000 digital pro-cessor, the $1695 Lambda sets a new bench-mark in affordable transport sound quality." Thank you. The Lambda's success as a design is not an

accident. It is the result of months of refine-ment, listening, careful measurement, and ulti-mately to a strongly held belief that low jitter is the single most important aspect of a trans-port's design. Our listening tests corroborated what we measured in the lab. The Lambda is vanishingly low in jitter—in the low 20 picose-conds region—and we believe this is a key rea-son the Lambda sounds so good. A second reason, and one that RH discusses

in the review, is the approach we took in overall power-supply design. We took great care to narrowly isolate critical circuits from each other. As the Lambda's design was evolving,


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we continued to add regulators and power-supply components until we reached the point where no further improvements could be heard.

At any rate, thanks once again for the review and the strong recommendation; and, as always, for the opportunity to respond.

RANDY PATTON President, PS Audio

Ps AUDIO REFERENCE LINK Editor: We would first of all like to thank Robert Harley and Stereophile for a thorough and exhaustive review. While it is always gratifying to receive a positive review and a Stereophile recommen-dation, I cannot help but comment on the care with which RH approached the review, the extent to which he understood and commu-nicated the special nature of our product, and his appreciation for the importance of Reference Link LS as a new kind of product. RH's metic-ulous attention to the fine details of the Refer-ence Link LS goes far beyond our expectations from a product reviewer. A few points do bear comment, however: 1) "In its fully realized form, the Reference

Link would have multiple digital sources con-nected to it, a digital recorder on the Reference Link's digital tape loop, an analog cassette deck plugged into the analog tape loop, a tuner and outboard phono stage driving the analog inputs, and the Reference Link's output con-nected to a power amplifier." We agree that the Reference Link LS is intended to act as a fully functional digital/analog control center that may ultimately replace the historical pream-plifier. However, first and foremost, the Refer-ence Link LS is an outstanding DIA processor, representing the culmination of 18 months of technical refinement following the introduction of the UltraLink. Our retail dealers, distribu-tors, design team, and customers all agree with RH that the Reference Link represents a true "step above" the UltraLink. Considering how highly regarded and successful the UltraLink is, we feel that is a significant accomplishment.

2) "In all comparisons the LP alone sounded best, followed by the LP digitized by the Reference Link, with the CD a distant third." ". . . when I compared the signal digitized by the Reference Link to the CD version of the same records, it was instantly obvious that the Reference Link's ADC was vastly better than the ADC used during the CD mastering. . ." As Stereophile readers are well aware, most crit-ical reviewers prefer LPs to CDs. Those readers who have followed the recent advances in CD technology, including Pacific Microsonics' HDCD,' Sony's SBM,TM and Chesky's and others' usage of 20-bit, 128x-oversampled ADCs, can appreciate the qualitative improve-

ments in digitizing offered by the Reference Link LS. For the first time, an audiophile has the ability to make digital recordings that rival the sound of his LPs. Considering that the availability of LPs continues to decline and that new digital sources are being regularly introduced to the market, PS Audio felt it was time to advance the digital encoding and decod-ing technology available to high-end con-sumers. Hence the Reference Link LS.

3) Postscript: We just want to assure Stereo-phile readers that the few pops, clicks, and extraneous sounds RH reports hearing in his original review sample were indeed removed before final production models began coming down the line. We therefore sent a second unit—from current production—for RI-I's con-tinuing evaluation and verification of per-formance.

4) "Twenty years from now, when your grandchildren ask you why an audio system's digital control center is called a 'preamplifier,' you can regale them with stories of the time when electromagnetic transducers recovered tiny and highly equalized signals off spinning pieces of 12" vinyl." While we and most audio-philes regret the decline of the LP as a playback medium, we trulybelieve that the Reference Link LS is not just a new product type, but offers a real advancement over the current state of the digital recording art . . . today! Thanks once again to Stereophile and RH for

the review and recommendation. Thanks also for the opportunity to comment.

RANDY PATTON President, PS Audio

MARTIN-LOGAN AERIUS Editor: Never in my audio career did I think that I would hear one of our speaker systems referred to as a "flying mule"?. . . and like it; especially from you guys! So much for expectations. The Aerius represents the beginning of

our long-developed design-team efforts and demonstrates what must be a basic "law" of Audio design: "That which is most frustrat-ing and difficult to implement will give you the most back in the long run." This was definitely a speaker that did not fall off the drawing board and into the audio market! On the contrary, when we started the Aerius

project, I innocently thought we would simply implement a few reduction techniques from our more expensive Sequel speaker system and would be off and running with a new, less expensive speaker. After one year and three completed concepts ending in failure, I began to have serious doubts as to whether Martin-Logan would ever have a speaker system less expensive than the Sequel. I was also deeply


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concerned about whether we could ever achieve a true hybrid blending at a higher crossover point than 250Hz. This reminded me of the time when we first introduced hybrids into the market. At that time every major manufacturer and audio connoisseur maintained that it was the wrong thing to do. We introduced both the Sequel and the Monolith into a market that did not want, nor would it embrace, the hybrid concept. Even though the Sequel and the Mon-olith were the beginnings of our complete hybrid line and the resultant positive market response and shift toward the acceptance of the hybrid concept, it was a definite challenge.

After our initial failed attempts to build a bet-ter, less expensive speaker, I had turned my interest to other projects and had given the Aerius some rest when our head engineer, Joe Vojtko, appeared in my office with some ideas about how to achieve higher efficiency with a small ES driver. Immediately, he implemented these ideas (those Lexan strips, for one), and we began to see new excitement for the Aerius pro-ject. "Now, just develop an 8" woofer that can extend to 30Hz correctly and behave as well as our stats at 500Hz, and maybe. . .just maybe we'll have a real project," I said.

Well, the rest, as they say, is history. Our team worked tirelessly to complete this project. That relentless work that goes into listening and test-ing in order to wring the last, best sonic per-formance took almost as much energy as the original conception, but your comments and our committed customers worldwide have made it all worthwhile. Thanks again, Mr. Atkinson, for a very clear

and comprehensive review. They say I'm stubborn as a mule, but hey, I'm

flying, I'm flying . . . or at least, playing music. GAYLE SANDERS

President, Martin-Logan

AUDIO STREAM PREMIER R—SERIES RACKS Editor: Our thanks to SS for his thoughtful review of our Premier Equipment Racks. As he discov-ered, these racks offer excellent value and are capable of very good performance The follow-ing provide some ways in which performance can be further enhanced:

1) We recommend filling the posts with #9 lead shot rather than sand. SS is right: the card-board inserts will not provide a complete seal for sand, but they work fine with lead shot. The added mass of lead shot makes for a much more stable rack.

2) The spikes are smallish to ensure that they will pierce thick carpet. Many times a larger spike simply sits on top of the carpet. To min-imize any rocking motion, the locking nuts

provided must be very firmly tightened to keep the spikes in place.

3) We chose to use cardboard inserts because they do quite a reasonable job of damping the posts. Tolerances of steel posts, tubes, etc. vary enough that a rigid plastic insert has the poten-tial to rattle. The rough edges of the cardboard inserts provide a more consistent friction fit. While they are not pretty, we found the card-board inserts to be more effective. And, once they are assembled inside the post, they are completely hidden. SS is right: these inserts will probably not survive disassembly and reassem-bly. For anyone who needs them, we will be happy to supply new cardboard inserts at no charge.

4) The shelves can be damped by placing iso-lation pads on the flanges that they sit on. We have these available at no charge to anyone who encounters the lively shelf situation that SS refers to.

5) Finally, the cable channel is now supplied with a stronger adhesive tape to prevent any chance of cables coming loose. The basic design of the Premier racks is

sound. The combination of filling the posts with lead shot and using isolation pads under the shelves optimizes performance. This, com-bined with the modular design and inexpensive cost, makes for a very flexible and attractive solution for the equipment-housing needs of many audiophiles and videophiles. Our thanks to SS for his informative and fair

review. We invite all readers to check out Pre-mier Equipment Racks for themselves and dis-cover the highly flexible and inexpensive sup-port solutions that they offer.

W.A. VANDERMAREL Dir., Sales & Marketing, AudioStream

ARCICI SUPERSTRUCTURE II SPECIAL Editor: We greatly appreciate your fine review of the Ardd Superstructure II Special (SSB-2S) Com-ponent Rack System. There is, however, one issue which needs to

be addressed. SS felt that the SSB-2S was not stable enough for use as a turntable stand. He attributes this to: 1) the height of the SSB-2 vs the SSB-1 (6" shorter), and 2) to the thread size of the spikes supplied with the Superstructures. Actually, neither is a factor in regard to the sta-bility of the SSB-2S. Height is only one dimen-sion of the structure If the width and depth are commensurate, it can be as high as the World Trade Center and still be stable. The footprint of the SSB-2 is larger than the SSB-1; there-fore, even though it is taller, it is just as stable. As to the thread size of the spike, as a general

rule, the larger the thread, the greater the toler-


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ance or "slop" for that thread. This is why jam nuts are used. If there was little or no "slop" between the male and female threads, friction would make it virtually impossible to turn. The threaded spikes supplied with the Superstruc-ture have a slender shaft to allow them to pierce carpet to the flooring beneath, thereby provid-ing a good mechanical ground. However, if the Superstructure is placed directly on a hard floor (as was the case with Mr. Stone), the slender shaft of the spike can flex under a heavy load. The size of the thread has no bearing on the wobble. We feel, however, that this is a valid complaint. Therefore, ifanyone has experienced a similar problem, we shall be glad to send them, at no cost, four cone-point set screws. These are shorter and thicker than the spikes, and therefore much more resistant to flexing. A set of these set screws was eventually sent to Steve Stone, which we believe solved the problem.

Incidentally, the "Special" part of the SSB-2S refers to the 16 additional welds at the joints. This specifically provides the rigidity necessary to make the Special practical for turntable use.

RAY SHAB President, Arcici

RoomTuNE JUSTARACK Editor: Many thanks to Steven Stone for his review of

RoomTune's Deluxe JustaRack, and turning dedicated audiophiles on to the only rack sys-tems available that allow the user to "tune" components to his or her own individual taste and needs by providing a controlled-vibration pathway and the ability to fine-tune chassis res-onances. We've replaced the original threaded rods with a faster-threading type to get anxious audiophiles up and listening even sooner—a little less pain for the tremendous gain. The Deluxe JustaRack can inexpensively be up-graded to its massive big brother, the Clamp-Rack, by purchasing additional shelves. For a fraction of the cost of a high-dollar mega-rack, the thrifty audiophile can customize his own ultra-inert rack system to tune and tame even the nastiest vibes. MICHAEL GREEN

RoomTune

RF ENGINEERING RC-8-PS Editor: Thank you for sending the advance copy of Mr. Holt's review of our RC-8-PS. I wouldjust like to add a few comments on the most current version of the product.

1) The sequence timing is now all computer-controlled. This provides for very accurate delay times;

2) All potentiometer adjustments are clock-wise for longest delay time;

3) Although the RC-8-PS does not sense the

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AIR TIGHT ATM-2 & ATM-3 Editor: Our thanks to Dick Olsher for returning the original EL34s in the ATM-3 and vindicating its performance in the triode mode. As for Dick's use of the KT99s in our ATM-

2, we applaud his efforts in making an already great-sounding amp sound even better.

ART MANZANO Axiss Distribution

SPICA ANGELUS Editor: Having gotten caught in the wheels of a Ste-reophile mini-bureaucracy, I am frustrated. Maybe if I relate the events that occurred, you and your readers will understand my frus-tration. When I received the pre-publication copy

of the loudspeaker survey [September '93, p.107] which included our Angelus model, I immediately suspected something was wrong. Reviewers' comments on the treble response, such as "raspy?' "aggressive?' "splashy?' and "peaky?' are not adjectives I would associate with the Angelus. Nor is "restricted image depth." And when I saw your measurements showing a 4dB rise from 5kHz up, I knew something was wrong.

After stating my concerns to TJN, I came and got one of the speakers and tested it. It had a damaged tweeter, with 3dB peaks at 5.5kHz and 11kHz, frequencies naturally associated with resonances in a 1"-diameter diaphragm. I again talked to TJN, asked to see the other Angelus, and let him know I did not feel it was fair to include the Angelus results in the sur-vey. He responded that he would talk to JA about it, and have him call me back. The call never came. The second speaker also had a damaged

tweeter, its response being very similar to your measurements. Five days later, I had not heard from JA, so I called and spoke to TJN again, who told us to repair the speakers and perhaps Stereophile would take another listen to them, but the results would stand as they were. I would like it to be clearly understood that

the treble performance of the Angelus with damaged tweeters does not hold up well against competing loudspeakers. Another gripe I have is with the transient

3 IS STEREOPHILE, OCTOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

measurements. In the Angelus manual, the optimum vertical axis is clearly stated as being halfway between the woofer and tweeter centers. Yet your measurements were done on the tweeter axis. Why? Why disregard what we clearly state as the optimum vertical axis? Sigh. Moving on to the listening tests, I suspect

that the tweeter axis was used for the listening setup as well. And your listening was done without the furnished spikes, which turns the Angelus into a ported speaker. In our experi-ence, leaving the spike holes open destroys much of the solidity and foundation of the low-bass response. And why was the Angelus, and several other speakers, placed closer to the wall? Any experienced listener knows that even a couple of inches make a huge difference in comparative listening tests. Anyway, I feel that the Angelus results

should have been removed from the test. I mean, c'mon, guys: imaging is Spica's calling card. When someone starts to criticize the Angelus for restricted image depth, you should have known that all was not as it should be. I can only hope that music lovers interested in the Angelus will take the time to listen to a healthy pair of them, properly set up, and form their own opinions. And I wish that Stereophik would take the time to read our manuals and follow the instructions in them, so that they under-stand what we feel are significant setup param-eters for both listening and measurement.

JOHN BAU President, Spica

The Spica Angelus speakersfeatured in our September panel test were a pair that we had purchased some time back, and have been used as a reference ever since. They had not been subjected to abuse, nor had their sound drawn attention to itself by being different from what we expectedfrom our previous experience of the Ange-lus. Indeed, I understandfrom Tom Norton that they were the pair that Mr. Bau himself had updatedfor us some time in 1992. With all due respect to Mr. Bau, therefore, we had no reason to believe that the speakers' tweeters were damaged. Regarding Mr. Bau's feel-ing that it was "unfair" for the Angelus to be included in our September survey, TJN is adamant that he did not give Mr. Bau the impression that we would abort the review unless he heard otherwise. (I was in Europe during this period, which is why Mr. Bau didn't hear back from me.) As I've said before and will say again: a) while we will request second review samples when the first ones are damaged, a product's merely sounding disappointing (or below expectations, which was the case here) is no reason for us to suspect that that product is damaged; and b) Stereophile does not abort reviews.

Regarding the axis I used for my measurements, I chose the tweeter axis because of its repeatability. I did examine how the speaker's balance changed

for different listener height, however (September, pp.127-128), and I was probably at fault in not saying more strongly that the speaker's optimal axis is below the tweeter axis but above the woofer axis. TJN's deci-sion not to use the Angeluses' spikes, using instead the standsfor the Vandersteen 2Ces, was made to put the listeners' ears on the speaker's correct vertical axis. Prior to the formal listening tests, he had auditioned the speakers with and without their spikes and felt that there was no noticeable change in their bass balance.

It is always a problem in blind loudspeaker listening tests to ensure a level playingfieldfor the competing designs. TJN went to enormous lengths in our Sep-tember review to try to make sure that no speaker's performance was compromised; I'm happy that the overall test results did reflect where each speaker stood in respect to the others. —JA

ULTRA SYSTEMS Editor: Thanks for all the fun at the San Francisco Show. We were pleased to get some mention in your June show report, especially our rank-ing near the top of the "Best Sound" category. In a show environment it certainly helps to have a setup wizard like Michael Green, who now manages our Manhattan showroom in addi-tion to his ongoing responsibilities at Room-Tune, on the team. We were a little confused, however, by Robert

Deutsch's comments concerning his fear of the drive string on our Verdier turntable. Given the over 100-lb mass of the 'table, it will take more than a little string entanglement to topple this baby. In fact, we are told by one of our cus-tomers that he ties a catnip mouse by its tail to the drive string to amuse the cat! While we don't endorse this use of the turntable, it is nonetheless an area of clear superiority over the Forsell. . . ROBERT STEIN

Ultra Systems

GEORGE KAYE AUDIO LABS & CHE SKY Editor: Thank you very much for mentioning our work for Chesky Records in your July review of Orquesta Nova's latest release. I couldn't tell you how many hours of R&D

went into the proprietary circuitry of the Mark III A/D converter used so competently by the Chesky recording team. In 1994, Chesky fans can expect even better results from us, as a Mark IV version is on the boards. I think most of the improvements will be in the S/N area: Tubes are noisy buggers, as I'm sure you know, but we expect Chesky recordings of next year to have an eerier sense of quiet between the players—this effect stemming from improve-ments in the method of delivering smooth


power to the tubes. And yes, the band plays very, very well on

material I find fascinating. It's a shame most listeners will find the music somehow inac-cessible. As to a DIA converter, sure we can provide

them, custom-made and for less money than Levinson gets for their No30. The problem is that the audiophile community buys so much of its equipment with the idea of resale as a major concern, so one-off pieces are often tough to resell; though why someone would want to sell an upgradeable (viz, chip) version of a DIA of George's making is beyond me.

After the introduction of our statement amplifiers in a few months (500W OTL mono-blocks, $40,000 retail), and after our $499 multi-function small-signal tube checker is well established, we will look at marketing a DIA with chip upgrade capability (we feel it uncon-scionable to charge more than $2000 or so for dated technology). I will push George for a $2500 retail price point: If such a machine comes to market, there will be no reason to spend more.

Until then, thank you again for your con-sideration. JOHN C. HALLENBORG Dir. of Development, George Kaye Audio Labs

REFERENCE, MIKE GARSON, & HDCD Editor: Many thanks for making Mike Garson's album, The Oxnard Sessions, VoLII your June "Recording of the Month!' There is a great deal of misinformation and

misunderstanding about the High Definition Compatible Digital' (HDCD'") process. It is being developed by Pacific Microsonics, Inc., of Berkeley, California, and was co-invented by our recording engineer, Keith O. Johnson, and Michael Pflaumer. Our label had the op-portunity to make and release the first projects to use the prototype HDCD" analog/digital converter, four of which (and a sampler) are now on the market. HDCD" recordings are playable on any CD

player, and under these circumstances many of the sonic advantages of the process will be evi-dent. However, to retrieve all the information encoded on HDCD" discs, it is necessary to use a digital/analog converter which contains FEDCDTM decode circuitry. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved with this technology, there is still the widespread misunderstanding that there is to be a "black box" decoder which Reference Recordings will make and sell. This is not true. Pacific Microsonics, Inc. is actively engaged in developing HDCD" circuitry in microchip form, which will be licensed to many manufacturers of DIA converters.

HDCD" technology is not proprietary to Reference Recordings. We have every expec-tation that when the encoding (recording) pro-cessor is in its final production form, and when decoding converters are on the market, HDCD' technology will become the standard of the industry. Thank you for the opportunity to clarify

these points. J. TAMBLYN HENDERSON, JR. President, Reference Recordings

FRIED & BOXES Editor: In the August issue of Stereophile [p.9.5], Robert Deutsch seems to question Bud Fried's long-term commitment to rid the world of "box" speakers by stating that our new Beta V "looks suspiciously like a wooden box!' Every model that Fried manufacturers employs nonreactive aperiodic enclosures: transmission lines, line tunnels, or, as in the Beta V, distributed loading. The differences between these enclosures and bass-reflex, or sealed-loading, speakers can be seen quite clearly by comparing impedance curves. More importantly, the resulting benefits can be heard by anyone familiar with the sound of live music. ANDREW A. ORR, JR.

President, Fried Products

Kss mohoo Editor: I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stereophile for the incredibly positive reception of our model 100/100 amplifier [in LG's August '93 CES report, p.103]. This is the world's only direct-coupled (input to output) pure-triode amplifier that uses no capacitors or transformers in the signal path and can drive low impedance loads. There are also several patents pending on the circuit design. This amplifier has been in research and development for three years. And after initial production four years ago, the design has been modified and improved. I do, however, need to make some corrections

in the report. LG incorrectly stated that the amplifier is rated at 60Wpc, when in fact our model 100/100 is rated at 100Wpc into 8 ohms. LG also stated that the output tubes were 6DJ7s, whereas the nine-per-channel output tubes we actually use are 6AS7s. However, our four-per-channel input tubes are 6DJ8s. Lastly, LG referred to "Fred Abrams' KSS Audio Engineering,' while in fact my position is with Sales and Marketing. KSS Audio Engineering is the brainchild of designer Kirk S. Simmons. Our West Coast office is at 2973 Calle Gau-

cho, San Clemente, CA 92672; on the East Coast, 218 Baldwin Street, Philadelphia, PA 19127, Tel: (215) 487-3478.

FRED ABRAMS, KIRK S. SIMMONS KSS Audio Engineering


Listen and Learn. Musical truth revealed by the best and brightest minds in audio today. As they present a cornucopia of components on the cutting edge of technology never before heard or seen in any store. A unique series of seminars, debuts, and special events. The best in music, the finest in refreshments.

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October 14, 1993

Lew Johnson, Vice President John Reagan, Sales Manager

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conrad-johnson: The New Line of Vacuum Tube and Solid State Amplifiers, Preamplifiers and DIA Converters

From the maker of the best tube equip-ment in the world comes the new Premier 12 Mono Vacuum-Tube Power Amplifier. With basic circuitry derived from the world's finest tube amp, the brilliantly

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will drive almost any speaker, delivering dollar for dollar the most exquisite tube sound you've ever heard.

Amplifiers: D MF 2100...1,495.00 0 MF 2200...1,995.00 D MF 2300...2,795.00 D Premier Eleven...3,295.00 D Premier Twelve...6,590 pr.

Preamplifiers: D PF2...1,795.00 D PF2L Line Stage...1,395.00 D PV12...2,395.00

O PV12L Line Stage...1,795.00

DIA Converters: D D/A-1...1,695.00 D Premier Nine...3,495.00

conrad-johnson MF 2300 FET Power Amp The MF 2300 is a stupendously musical FET amplifier combining the authority and drama that high power provides with the exceptional transparency, clarity and inner detail that has made c-j's tube amps famous, all at an affordable price. Clearly a best buy.

Come one, Come all. conrad-johnson presentations are scheduled for 5:00PM, 6:30PM,

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Listen and Learn. Join us for the U.S. introduction oft

The Real World Reference Wilson Audio Specialties, Inc. Presents:

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Imagine, 90% of the sonic performance of the awesome Wilson WAMMTm at less than half its price. Picture, a speaker with a foot print slightly larger than the Watt III/Puppy II; efficient enough to be driven by a single 25 watt stereo amplifier without bi-wiring yet capable of delivering more than 115dB of pure music power from subsonic to beyond the range of human hearing. Consider, a cost no object design that pushes the edge of speaker performance one step closer to live than anything in its class and you might come close to appreciating the new real world reference: The Wilson X-1/Grand SLAMMTm. But why use your imagination when you can live the experience yourself.

Come one, Come all. Wilson Audio presentations are scheduled for 5:00PM, 6:30PM,


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The Krell IT-l0 stands as a milestone of audio engi-

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ST- 1 CD Transport. A full featured reasonably priced drawer loading transport, the ST-1 is the perfect com-panion to the Krell Studio and Studio II DIA converters and represents the best performance of any CD Transport in its class. Price to be announced.

KSA5OS Power Amplifier. With sustained plateau biasing and pure class A power the Krell KSA5OS shares all of the technological innovations and sonic characteristics of the larger KSAIOOS, 200S and 300S. Outperforming other brands of amplifiers rated at 3 to 4 times its 50

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Come one, Come all. Krell presentations are scheduled for 5:00PM, 6:30PM,


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200 Park Ave S. Between 17th & 18th Sts Plattsburgh Alpha Stereo 11 Smithfield Blvd Pleasantville Audio Excellence 343 Manville Rd Queens T.D. Electronics 115-36 229th St Rochester Fairport Soundworks 3400 Monroe Ave Rowe Audio 1737 Mt. Hope Sound Concepts 2314 Monroe Ave Rockaway Park Hi Fi Classics 115-09 Rockaway Beach

Blvd Scarsdale Listening Room 590 Central Park Ave Syracuse Clark Music 2922 Erie Blvd E. Gordon Brothers 2739 Erie Blvd E. Walton Audio Classics US Post Office Bldg West Babylon Audio Visions 1067 Montauk Hwy

NORTH CAROLINA Boone Mr. Audio Rt 6, Box 21, Hwy 105 S. Cary Advanced Audio 1263 Kildaire Farm Rd Charlotte Mr Audio 601 S. Kings Dr #F Durham Audio Visions 4600 Chapel Hill Blvd Raleigh Audio Advice 3532 Wade Ave Winston•Salem Platinum Audio 133 Jonestown Rd

OHIO Cincinnati Ohio Valley Audio 5330 Glenway Ave

Stereo Lab 4582 Montgomery

Stereo Lab #1 11419 Princeton Rd Columbus Needle in a Haystack 2384 Wellesley Ln Progressive Audio 1764 N. High St Stereo Lab 2244 Neil Ave Dayton Audio Etc .. 2616 Col. Glenn Hwy Dublin Audio Encounters 4271 W. Dublin

Granville Rd Findlay House of Hindenach 830 N. Main St Lakewood Play It Again Sam 12611 Madison Ave Lyndhurst Hi-Tech Hi Fi & Video 5280 Mayfield Rd Toledo Boogie Records 3301 W. Central Jamiesons' 5431 Monroe Paragon Sound 5450 Monroe St Westlake New Image Electronics 31017 Center Ridge Rd

OKLAHOMA Stillwater Cartones 1302 E. Sixth Tulsa K-Labs Audio 4715 E. 41s1 St

OREGON Beaverton Chelsea Audio 7733 SW Cirrus Dr Corvallis Northwest Audio Labs 1557 NW Monroe Portland Chelsea Audio 935 SW Washington St Fred's Sound of Music 3760 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sixth & Washington News 617 SW Washington St

PENNSYLVANIA Allentown Take 5 Visual Sound Systems

1985 S Fifth St Altoona Greenwood Electronics 1635 E. Pleasant Valley Blvd Ardmore Danby Radio 15 W. Lancaster Ave Berwyn Sound ex 747 Berwyn Ave Camp Hill Hi Fi House 3300 Simpson Ferry Rd Carlisle Sound Solutions 150 M.J. Mall Doylestown Trac Records Doylestown Shopping Center

Erie Custom Audio 1550 W. 26th St

Harrisburg Hi Fi House 3350 Paxton St I.PD. Distribution Services 2323 Woodlawn St Jenkintown The Stereo Trading Outlet 320 Old York Rd Philadelphia Chestnut Hill Audio 149 N. Third St Levy United News

(Wholesaler) 850 E. Luzerne St David Lewis Audio 8010 Bustleton Ave Pittsburgh Audio Options 5824 Forbes Ave Monk's Audio 3047 W. Liberty Ave Selinsgrove Village TV & Stereo Shop 19 N. Market St State College Paul & Tony Stereo 121 S. Burrowes St Tipton Tipton Audio Video US Flt 220 Willow Grove Soundex 1100 Easton Rd

PUERTO RICO San Juan Nova Electronics Ave De Diego 270 Interior Puerto Nuevo

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia Upstairs Audio 746 Harden St Greenville American Audio 101 Verdae Blvd #800 Rock Hill Record Cellar Rock Hill Galeria 2301 Dale Lyle Blvd #192

TENNESSEE Johnson City The Soundroom 701 W. Market St Knoxville Hi Fi House 8373 Kingston Pike #900 La Verona Ingram Periodicals 1226 Heil-Ouaker Blvd #31 Nashville Cumberland Audio 4119 Hillsboro Rd Nicholson's Stereo 115 19th Ave S.

TEXAS Amarillo Don's Hi-Fidelity 7402 W. 34th St Sound Systems Ltd. 2502 Paramount Arlington Texas Audio 4211 S Cooper #111 Austin Austin News Agency 2830 Real St Cochran Corp. 2830 Real St Dallas Audio Insight 13929 N. Central Expwy #G441

Fine Print Distributors 6448 Hwy 290 E. #8-104

Krystal Clear Audio 4433 McKinney Ave Omni Sound 19120 Preston Rd Preston Trail AudioNideo 3953 Beltline Rd Shakespeare Beethoven Galleria #3200 El Paso Soundquest 6800 Gateway E. #1D Houston Audio Concepts 2200 Southwest Fwy Esoteric Ear 15219 Stuebner Airline #32-B

The Groove Audio Video 2624 Westheimer Lubbock The Sound Wave Salem Village 4601 S. Loop 289 #13 McAllen Showery Stereo 320 S Tenth

UTAH Orem Crandall Audio 1202 N. State St Salt Lake City Audition Audio 2144 Highland Dr

VERMONT S. Burlington Audio Den 100 Dorset St

VIRGINIA Abingdon Alpine Audio 323 W. Main St Centreville Gifted Listener Audio 5720 Pickwick Rd Danville Aeolian Products & Services

215 Main St Falls Church Audio Buys 5177 Lisberg Pike High Technology

Electronic Services 228 W. Broad St Richmond Audio Art 2215 E. Broad St Stereo Trading Post 8705 W. Broad St Virginia Beach Digital Sound 64'77 College Park Sq

WASHINGTON Bellevue Eastside Daily Planet News 156600 NE Eighth #33 Hawthorne Stereo 13107 Northup Way The Vikings 15015 Main St Bellingham The Landing Discs & Tapes 1307 11th St Everett Audio Waves 607 SE Everett Mall Way Seattle Adams News (Wholesaler) 1555 W. Geier St Bulldog News 4208 University Way NE Definitive Audio 6017 Roosevelt Way NE

University Bookstore 4326 University Way NE Silverdale Nuts About Hi Fi 10100 Silverdale Way

WASHINGTON, DC Serenade Records 1800 M St NW Tower Video #630 2000 Pennsylvania Ave

WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown Sound Investments 59 S. University Ave South Charleston Absolute Sound 4008 MacCorkle Ave

WISCONSIN Cudahy Cudahy News & Hobby 4758 S. Packard Ave Germantown Nobis Technologies W.114 W.18605 Clinton Dr Glendale Sound Investments 2500 W. Silver Spring Dr Green Bay Hi Fi Heaven 2781 S. Oneida St Madison Specialized Sound 621 S Gammon Rd University Audio 402 5 Park St Wisconsin Rapids Salon I 2551 Eighth St S.

CANADA National Distributors DeWinton, Alberta Ruehle Marketing Box 24, Site One, RR1 Ajax, Ontario Disticor 695 Westney Rd S.

ALBERTA Calgary K&W Audio 1424 Fourth St SW Loyalty Sound Ltd. 1107 Eighth St SW Smart Audio Video 4216 12th SI NE #1 Sounds of Music 220 Seventh Ave SW The Boutique of Sound 1333 Eighth St SW Edmonton Audio Ark 10745 124th St Audio Plus 9934 82nd Ave The Gramophone 10020 101A Ave #115

BRITISH COLUMBIA Burnaby Book Warehouse 4820 Kingsway #M163 Coquitlam Austin Books 1105 Austin Ave Courtenay Clarion Books & Music 480 Sixth St Richmond Book Warehouse 6340-9 No.3 Rd

STERI,.OPHILE, O CIOBER 1993 329

WorldRadioHistory

uy & Sell Pre-Owned Audio Equipment Nationwide!

Equipment lists from dealers and individuals are continuously updated on our computer and mailed to our subscribers on the 1st and the 15th of each

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Victoria Sweet Thunder Records 575 Johnson St

NOVA SCOTIA Halifax Atlantic News 5560 Morris St

ONTARIO Concord Audio One 3200 Steeles Ave W. Hamilton Village Audio—Westdale 1059 King St W. #2 Kingston House of Sounds 277 Princess St Vern Napier's Cameras 333 Princess St London London Audio 716 York St Multimag 150 Dundas St #3 Oakville Oakville Audio 210 Lakeshore Rd E. Ottawa Distinctive Audio 903 Carling Ave Euphonics Audio 8. Video 685 Bank St Stereo Trading Post 242% Bank St Petawawa Pacific Sound 2 Victoria St Peterborough The Audio Room Ltd. 300 George St N. Rexdale Audio Empire 1003 Albion Rd Richmond Hill American Sound 9108 Yonge St Scarborough Audio Excellence 1600 Brimley Rd #2 Sudbury Total Sight 8. Sound 818 Barrydown Rd Thornhill Brack Electronics North 7616 Yonge St

Toronto Bay Biser Radio 55 Bloor St W. Brack Electronics 69 Front St E. Great National Sound 615 Oueen St W. L'Atelier Grigorian 70 Yorkville Ave Waterloo Soundstage 59 Regina St N.

QUEBEC Anjou Son-Or 7339 St-Zotique Montréal Opus Audio 5154 boul. Decade God bec C.O.R.A. 131-18 Rue E Ste-Foy ROTAC électronique 2873 Chemin Ste-Foy

AUSTRALIA National Distributor Hawthorne, 3122 Victoria Audio O Imports 544 Burwood Rd, lot Floor Pirimai Hi-Fi 8. Video 165 Burwood Rd Burwood, NSW 2134

BELGIUM Hasselt Ghijsens Hi Fi Sint-Truidersteenweg 14

CIS 8i BALKAN STATES Russia 125171 Moscow Neo Tek Leningradskoe Shosse 18 #212

CROATIA National Distributor Split 58000 Media Audio Trogirskih Zrtaw 1

DENMARK National Distributor Charlotlenlund DK.2920 Matrix Aps Viggo Rothes Vej 23 Copenhagen Fredgaard Radio Norrevold 17 Hi-Fi Entusiasten Tagensvej 162 Rungsted Hi -Fi Huset Pennehave 7

Wile SK Sound Vissingsgade 71

GERMANY Frankfurt Eclectic Audio Fichtenweg 65366 Geisenheim-Stephanshausen 6000 Franklud-Main 75 Rhein-Main Audio/Photo Centre Rhein-Main Air Base

HONG KONG YK Audio Ltd. Room 203, Man Yee Bldg 60 Des Voeux Rd YK Audio Ltd. 248 Ocean Terminal Kowloon

ICELAND National Distributor 125 Reykjavik Stein i HF, S. Danielsson Skulagata 61

INDONESIA Jakarta 11230 MUS Electronics 96 Pasar Pagi

IRAN National Distributor Teheran CP 11316 Gramophone Company Ave Djomhouri Eslami Rue Massoud Saad No.21

IRELAND National Distributor County of Dublin Cloney Audio 55 Main St Blackrock

ISRAEL National Distributor Tel Aviv 61500 The Music Room Ltd PO Box 50087

ITALY National Distributor Lucca 55100 Sound 8. Music Via della Formica 496

JAPAN National Distributor Tokyo AXISS Corporation 210 New Kokusai Bldg 3-4-1 Marunouchi,

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MALAYSIA National Distributor 60000 Kuala Lumpur The Sound Stage Sdn Bhd 10 Jln Tun Mohd Fuad 2 Taman Tun Dr Ismael

MEXICO National Distributor Col. Minoan C.P. 03910 Mexico 19, OF Heaven Sound Blvd Adolfo Lopez Mateos 1384

NETHERLANDS National Distributor Amsterdam 1079 HR Rat HIFI/Stereo Rynstraat 142-150

NEW ZEALAND National Distributor Petone, Wellington D.R. Britton 3 Sydney St

PHILIPPINES National Distributor Quezon City Ramcar 78 Greenmeadows Ave Greenmeadows Subdivision

POLAND National Distributor Warsaw 02-743 Horn Distribution UL Bacha 101303

PORTUGAL National Distributor 2700 Amadora Ajasom Praceta Jose Regio N8-A Damaia de Babo

SINGAPORE National Distributor Stereophile Audio 1 Coleman St #04-40/45 The Adelphi Singapore 0617

SPAIN National Distributor Valencia Sarte Audio Elite Padre Jot re, 22

SWEDEN National Distributor Stockholm 11438 HiFi Art Grey Turegatan 24

SWITZERLAND Geneva Hi-Fi Portier 11 Rue Verdaine

TAIWAN National Distributor Taipei Audio Vertex 4F No.2 141 Ln Chung Shan N. Road Sec. 7

THAILAND Bangkok Focal 2177 Bangkok Bazaar Rajadamri Rd Future Land Amarin Plaza, 3rd Floor Pleonchit Rd Pathumwan, Rumpinee SM8M3 Amarin Plaza, 3rd Floor Rajprasong

UNITED KINGDOM National Distributor Mislead, Bedford Moth Marketing 10 Dane Ln Glasgow G2 Music Room 98 Bath St London Audio T 190 West End Ln Douglas Brady Hi Fi 18 Monmouth St Covent Garden KJ Leisuresound 26 New Cavendish St Manchester Music Room 50 Bridge St Reading Berks Reading Hi Fi Harris Arcade,

Friar St

VENEZUELA National Distributor Caracas Ardica Centro Comercial

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STEREOPHILE, O CTOBER 1993

WorldRadioHistory

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AUDIO NEXUS STEREO COMPONENTS THAT HONOR MUSIC

MELOS The smoothness, clarity and sweetness of their preamps. CD players, and D/A converters make musicality available to all budgets. Highly praised in TAS and Stereophile.

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VANDERSTEEN Legendary baifieless designs; openness and imaging comparable to planar speak-ers. Superb values, outperforming competitors twice their price. The awesome model 3 must be heard to be believed, as well as the fabulous model 2Ce!

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A UDIO M ART

RATES: Private, 90e per word, $18 minimum on phone-in ads; Commercial, $2.75 per word, $110 mini-mum on all commercial ads. (A word is defined as one or more characters with a space, dash, or slash on either side.) PAYMEN'll All classified ads must be prepaid with order. Phone-in ads are credit card only: Master Charge, VISA, American Express. MAIL TO: Stereophile, Classified Ad Department, P.O. Box 5529, Santa Fe, NM 87502, or CALL: (505)983-9106. DEADLINE: Ms are due on the first working day of the month, two months in advance of the issue in which your ad will appear. No refunds.

FOR SALE ANNOUNCING

STEREOPHILE's '94 HIGH-END HI-FI SHOW in Miami—April 29-30, May 1. At the Doral Resort and Country Club, 15 minutes from Miami's Air-port Experience musical goosebumps galore! Marvel at over 70 high-end audio and Home Theater sys-tems, many set up by their own designers and inven-tors. Audition experimental/pre-production models. See and hear more high-end equipment in one Show day than you could evaluate in months of store visits throughout the USA. Enjoy live concerts daily. Par-ticipate in question-and-answer sessions with Stereo-phile's editors, writers, and other industry experts. Shop from a wide selection of accessories, collect-ibles, records, and CDs. Tickets by mail, $15 each until March 15, 1994—or at the door, $25 each. All tickets valid for all Show days and all events. A limited num-ber of hotel rooms are available at deep discounts (regular price, S300/night plus tax). Reserve your r00111 and mention the Stereophile Show and the price will drop to $160 plus tax. All regular hotel amenities will apply. So invite J. Gordon Holt tojoin you in a yogurt flip at the spa (a 5-minute walk within the gated premises), or challenge Larry Archibald to a smashing game of beachside volleyball at the Doral Ocean Beach Resort (a 20-minute shuttle ride), or maybe you can prevail upon John Atkinson to join you for a foursome on the Doral PGA Champion-ship courses (1 minute from your door). For Doral Resort and Country Club reservations, call (800) 223-6725. Show tickets, call (505) 982-2366, or Fax (505) 989-8791. For exhibit room/booth information, call Ken Nelson, Nelson &Associate_s, Inc, (914) 476-3157, or Fax (914) 969-2746 Overseas calls and Faxes welcome!

THE AUDIOPHILE NETWORK—"To keep you informed, entertained, and connected with audiophiles nationwide." By modem, (818) 988-0452, featuring: clas-sifieds, databases, forums, online shopping. E-mail, news-room, library, conferences, and more. For brochure, write TAN, 14155 Kittridge St., Van Nuys, CA 91405. Or for infor-mation, call our voice/mail/information system, 24 hours, (818) 782-1676, Fax (818) 780-6260.

STEREOPHILE's ALMOST COMPLETE INDEX lists every article that has appeared in Stereophile from Vol3 No.1 through Vol.16 No.9 (1971-1993), and every component reviewed by Stereophile since Vol.] Na 1. Currently available only on 51/4 " or 31/2" floppy disks (MS DOS, raw ASCII only). Send $19.95 to Ste-reophik Almost Complete Index, 208 Delgado St., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Indicate disk size.

STEREOPHILE's RECORD-REVIEW INDEX indexes every record review published in Stereophile from Vol.10 No.1 through Vol.15 No.12 (1987-1992). Also includes indices to "Building A Library" and musician interviews. Available on 51/4 " or 31/2 " floppy disks (MS DOS, raw ASCII only). Send $9.95 to Ste-reophile Record-Review Index, 208 Delgado St., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Indicate disk size. Updated hard-copy version available in January.

"SOUND YOU CAN TOUCH," featuring: Apogee, AudioQuest, Cary Audio, Classé Audio, Encore, Enlight-ened Audio, Grado, McCormack, Magnum Dynalab/ OCM, Micromega, NEAR, NHT, Power Wedge, ProAc, Straight Wire, Target, Unity Audio, Well-Tempered, Wire-World, JF Woodworks. Custom cable terminations. Audio Excellence, Liverpool, NY, (315) 451-2707. Visa/MC/Amex.

DIGITAL ANTIDOTE (pat. pending). Passive design, uses analog out of CD or D/A. Reduces time-domain errors, restoring harmonic overtone integrity. Awarded "Product of Merit" by Bound for Sound. Be "Digititis-Free"—send $169.95 to: Tadtko Loudspeaker Ca, 2604 Elm-wood Ave., Rochester, NY 14618, (716) 244-6027.

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WATT III, mint, $5500; Entech SW-5, $1300; both, $6200. David, (713) 528-0723.

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USED AND DEMO SALE: Mark Levinson ML-2, LNC-2, No 27; niel CS3.6 & 22; Apogee Duetta, and Stage with sub; Vandersteen; B&K M200 Sonata; B&W 801 Series 3,802 Series 2 & 3, 803 Series 2, 804; Coun-terpoint DA-10, SA-1000, SA-2000, SA-3000, SA-5000, SA-100, Solid 8; Audio Research LS-I, SP-9, D-125, D-70, Jeff Rowland 5; Klein 5; Proceed Series 2 & 3 product, Krell KSL, KST-100, KSA-150, 64X; Theta Pro Genil, Pro Basic Pre, Vimak 2000 & 1800, Vidakron 1GS-200; Harman 6ml& 6rnIdata-grade; Mark Levinson, and Krell. Call Audition, (801) 467-5918, or Fax: (801) 467-0290

AUDIO ALCHEMY DDE v1.0, never used. (313) 697-8877.

MARANTZ: 10B, $1395; 20, 500, 2500, 10B ocilloscope (N.O.S.), $135. Mac: C11, $550; 2505, $495; MC60s, $1100; MI200, tuners. Fairchild 275s. Fisher: 50As, FM1000. Futterman H3as. Hadley. MFA triode mono-blocks (all), $1800. Crown DL2 with MC phono, $695. Cotter B I/FR66. LeTellec-Stasis. Nak: Dragon with remote, $900; 1000ZXL Gold, $995. Revox: A700, G36 III, Tandberg TD20A. Technics 1700 with remote. Prerecorded 1/4 -tracks (hundreds). Plasmatronics, $2600. More vintage and esoterica! (718) 377-7282, M-F (2-6pm).

PERFECT CONDITION LIGHT USED KRELL units with warranty: CD-DSP (with custom cover), $2250 ($3950); MD-10 (newest), $4000 ($6900); Studio, $2500 ($3900); 'CPA (with power supply), $1500 ($3200); KSL-2, $1800 ($2700); ICRC, $3500 ($6300); KSA-150 (latest), $2600; KSA-250 (latest), $3600. (718) 277-6123. (NY).

A/V MART, INC. IN LOS ANGELES/Alhambra and Cucamonga/Upland (So. Calif). Sony ES, Pioneer Elite, ICinergetics, Esoteric, TEAC, Parasound, Dynaco, Rotel, Mic-romega, Sumiko, Paradigm, Harbeth, Jamo, Advent, Bose, Infinity, Velodyne, Sharpvision. Monthly special: Levinson No.27 (U), mint, $2495; Elite C91 preamp (U), $780; B&W 802 III (D), $3100; Cary 300B (U), $1750; Aragon 24KSP (D), $890; 4004 (U), $995; Mirage M-1 (U), mint, $1900; Kinergetics KCD-40 (D), $1650; SW8130 mini tower (N), $2399 ($3000). Pioneer Elite PD-65, Teac VRDS-10, Sony CDPX-779, CDPX-707, all in stock. Limited-time offer, Parasound HCA-2200 II, $1700—includes full modification ($650 value), sounds like amps three times the money. Call Fred, (818)282-0520, (909) 980-2008.

HAFLER HEADQUARTERS! Now featuring Trans-Nova: The master of performance and value in power amplifiers (Stereophile Class B). FET preamps and profes-sional power amps with balanced inputs. Seven-year war-ranty. Free shipping. Call, write, Fax: Audio Arts, RD2, Wernersville, PA 19565, (215) 693-6740.

GUARANTEE 5% MORE than what my competitors quote you on your ARC, Cello, Krell, Levinson, Spec-tral, Threshold, Wadia, etc. Call me last. Dealer for Alón, Aragon, Acurus, Audio Alchemy, ATC, Counterpoint, Dynaco, Kimber, Space & Time, XL0. Audio Chamber, (510) 549-2178.

AUDIO UNLIMITED in Colorado offers Acoustic Energy, Acrotec, Air Tight, Audio Innovations, Audio-meca by Pierre Lumé, Audio Note, Aural Symphonics, Benz-Micro, Bitwise, Chario, Coda, Dynavector, Ensem-ble, Golden Dragon, Ikeda, JM Labs, Lazarus, Magnum Dynalab, Musical Design, Muse, Roksan, RoomTune, SOTA, Tice, Unity Audio, Wheaton Triplanar, and more.. .Call John Barnes, (303) 698-0138, or Fax (303) 922-0522. 2341 West Yale Ave., Englewood, CO 80110.

AUDIO BEST LA., Orange, San Bernardino, California. Hot components: NEAR M-50, API Power Wedge, Ceiestion 100, TARA, Counterpoint, PS UltraLink, Audi-ble Illusions Modulus 3, Haller 9000, Musical Concepts, Mod Squad, Acoustat, Spica, VMPS, Magnum, Fosgate, B&K, Music Reference, Sound-Lab, Monster, Straight Wire, AudioQuest. (714) 861-5413, appt.

AMERICAN HYBRID TECHNOLOGY introduces Ultra Resolution's 132 Twin-Balanced' interconnects, $350/1m. The best at any price. Write or phone for other Ultra Resolution products, including custom-made amplifiers and preamplifiers. American Hybrid Technology, 549 Centennial Ave., Trenton, NJ 08629, Fax/phone (609) 599-3828.

SME 3012-R: The latest version of this superb medium-mass archival tonearm. Suitable for all recorded sources, including LPs, 78s, 16" transcriptions, acetates, and metal. SME owners: Upgrade through Exchange!!! Trade-in older Series II and Series II Improved tonearrns for sig-nificantly updated 3012-R and 3009-R. Offer also applies to SME Series III. SME headshells, SME Fluid Damper kits for 3012-R, 3009-R, Series II, Series II Improved, and Series III-S; SME damping fluid, manuals, protractors, templates, and parts. Audio "78" Archival Supplies, • P.O. Box 387, Pacifica, CA 94044. Tel: (415) 359-7431.

TUBE TESTER, working with manual, $250. (615) 396-3630

ACCENT ON MUSIC—WESTCHESTER CO., NY Linn, Naim, Rotel, Arcam, McCormack, Magnum Dynalab, Regs, Creek, Epos, QED, JPW, Nitty Gritty, Goldring, interesting LPs and CDs. We care about your needs, regardless of budget. 175 Main St., Mount Kisco, NY 10549, (914) 242-0747.

REFERENCE LINE 3000 PASSIVE ATTENUATOR, Cardas silver wire, Tiffany jacks, etc, latest circuitry, $625; Bryston preamp, $375. Rick, (407) 791-3587.

REVIEW/TEST COMPONENTS—Krell MDA-500, $8200; TNT II with PLC, $1800; Graham 1St tonearm, $1600; Parnassus, 50 hours, $1200; all complete with dustcover, $4200; Clavis, 10 hours, $800; AudioQuest Dragon, 6' bi-wire, $1500; Diamond (3) 13m pair, balanced, $300; EAD 7000 DIA, balanced, AT&T, gold faceplate, $1400. Various other wires and power cords. Please call (201) 332-4249.

CODA MODEL 10 power amplifier, mint condition, $1600 OBO. Stan, (708) 898-4196 anytime.

AUDIOBALLS.'" Why pay more? Get rid of unwanted vibrations and greatly improve sound quality. Component isolation hemispheres, set of 4, $29. Each one supports weight up to 30 lbs. Higher weight capabilities available Joe, (201) 444-5291 after 4pm EST

SOUND-LAB DYNASTATS, mint, $1600; TARA Labs Temporal Continuum speaker cables, 10', $225; Music and Sound SP-65 power amp, $350; Celestion Si stands, 20", $100; split shipping, reasonable offers considered. Gil, (713) 578-2457 evenings.

EMINENT TECHNOLOGY LFT-8, less than 1 year old. Stereophile Class C speakers, $1100. Call Matt, (904) 373-5543 evenings.

MONITOR AUDIO SPEAKERS Studio 10, MA700 Gold, MA100 Gold. Call (301) 552-2152 after 6pm EST

POLK SDA IC SPEAKERS, excellent condition. Todd, (816) 525-1547 evenings.

ADCOM GTP-500 preamp/tuner. Todd, (816) 525-1547 evenings.


SEW CNV

CHESKY RECORDS NEW RELEASE FROM BRAZIUAN VOCAL STAR ANA CARAMI

maracatià

03104 ANA CARAMt MARACANÁ (ALSO AVAILABLE AS A GOLD CO, J0104)

.11Id Calauls fourth CHESKY release, MARACANA, cele-brates the uplifting rhythms of the samba and bossa nova. MARACANÁ. with Ana's beautIMI voice, masterful musicians and its upbeat repertoire, will provide an enchanting and invigorating journey through Brazil's lush musical heritage.

TRUMPETER TOM HAIRRELL'S HOT NEW CD FEATURING

PHIL WOODS & JOE LOVANO

TOM HARRELL

IlE

J0103 TOM HARRELL: UPSWING

JdZi. 1 r11111peler 10111 Harrell's second CHESKY release. UPSWING, realizes a plateau of expression unparalleled in any of his efforts to date. Featuring the talents of a swinging Jazz ensemble including renowned musicians Phil Woods. Joe Lovano and Danlio

Perez. UPSWING, simply put. 18 a clear reflection of Tom's maturity as a composer and improviser.

HANDEL'S MESSIAH REISUSSED ON 2-CD SET!

•••

HAN DEL:

re"

2-1.11 sit brings new life to Sargent's vibrant rendition of this sacred classic. Remastered using culling-edge tochnol• oaN Ibis timeless music IS sure to brighten holiday gift lists while continuing to thrill the year-round. Featuring the

CD106 HANDEL. THE MESSIAH (2-CD SET) Royal Choral Society.

SARGENT/RPO this release, the first multiple set in CHESKY's catalog. Is sure to be a favorite for years to come.

cliEsw RECORDS you can hear the difference

Cheeky Records CDs are available in Fine Audio and Record Stores, or order direct with Visa/Mastercard by calling 1-800-331-1437 or 212-586-7537 or send check or money order for CDs $14.98, 2CD Sets $24.98, Gold Cds $29.98, LPs $19.98 plus $3 postage a nd handling (add 8.25% sales tax in NY State) to fitheb CHESKY RECORDS Radio City Station. = IWYORO PO Box 1268, New York, NY 10101

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Performances Daily...

Â.

• Thiel 3.6 Speaker

• Martin-Logan Aerius

• Audio Research 0400

• Forté 44 Remote Preamp

• McIntosh MC7300 Amplifier

-itO RESEARCH • MARTIN-L • B&W THIEL • CALIFORNIA AUDIO LABS

ESOTERIC • DYNACO • WELL TEMPERED McINTOSH • SNELL • CELESTION • B&K

THRESHOLD • FORTE • MAGNUM DYNALAB MIT • GRADO • LUXMAN • PARADIGM ROTEL • SUMIKO • PIONEER ELITE TRANSPARENT • OCOS • SONRISE CWD FINELINE • STRAIGHT-WIRE

A U 505 S. Neil St.

Champaign, IL 61820

(217) 355-8828 Weekdays. 12-6 (Th. 12-8) • Sat. 10-5


CLASSE DR-5, made in 1990, with balanced output, $950. (617) 868-5366.

SONY STR AV-900 stereo receiver with equalizer, 100Wpc in good condition, $150. Call (210) 737-8338.

KSS AUDIO 100W direct-coupled CYTL amplifier (Olsher/Greenhill CES rave! Vol.16 No.4, April 1993, p.109 & Vol.16 No.8, August 1993, p.103), $3000 with mahogany base and cage (retail $5350); Mark Levinson 20.6 monoblocks, $9800; Krell KBL, $2500; Theta Pro Gen.III, balanced, $1700. Ed, (415) 567-1210.

KRELL STEALTH D-to-A, balanced with AT&T perfect with box and manual. Cost over $2000, $1095. (415) 753-1676 (CA).

CLASSÉ DR-9 amp, mint, $1650. (817) 776-9953.

SIGNET SL-280s with Sound Anchor stands, mint, $650. (914) 376-3256 evenings.

McCOFtMACK DELUXE LINE-DRIVE passive pre-amp, Stereophile Class A rating ($1195), $650; Onkyo T--4500 tuner ($400), $150. (313) 948-1057.

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CD UPGRADE EVER! Isolated stable clock module measurably reduces transport- and logic-induced jitter. Receive the full benefit of analog mods. Most players, $150 plus shipping. Analog upgrades also available. G&D Transforms, (602) 954-0155.

PHILIPS DCC900 digital compact cassette recorder, plus 15 DCC cassettes. Won in a contest, $450 (list $799). (301) 891-1038, Maryland.

MUSE MODEL 18 subwoofer. As new, one year old, factory-certified in sealed box, $2100. (415) 691-1012.

VANDERSTEEN MODEL 2Ce with bases, 3 months old, $1100. Call Brian, (414) 426-5950.

OCIDBER SALE! 20%-30% off selected new and demo components: McCormack, KEF, Unity Audio, Meridian, Totem, Acurus, PS Audio, Muse. Examples: McCormack DAC-1, $725; McCormack CD-Drive transport, $1400; Prism II, $1400; DNA-1 monoblocks, $3400; Unity Signature I, $2250; PS Audio Delta 200, $1500. (601) 362-0474.

FACE ONLY 20 PEOPLE of the thousands reading this advertisement will be fortunate enough to purchase an Audio Alchemy DDS v.1 Mk.II CD transport for the spe-cial price of $479.95! Call immediately for details! HCM Audio, (800) 222-3465, (916) 345-1341 . . . Hundreds of other items. Free list available.

CAT SL1R, black, mint, $2100; Snell M speakers, light oak, gc, $1200; Anodyne FET Adapt D/A, with 20-bit Burr-Brown DACs, ($1900) $750; EAD DSP-7000 D/A, $695; NBS King Serpent II, $675; Purist Colossus speaker cable, 27', ($3800) $1575; lots of ICs and cables. Call Bob, (602) 376-1734, or evenings (602) 956-4666 (tel./Fax), leave message.

HI-FI EXCHANGE—Large selection of quality used high-end components at huge discounts. We buy, sell, and trade. Call for inventory list. (718) 423-0400, or visit our showrooms at 251-11 Northern Blvd, Lek Nede, NY 11363.

MICROPHONES: NEUMANN U47, 87, 89, M49, KM54, 84, SM2; ELA/vl 251; AKG C12, Cl2A, C24; Sony C37A; Groove Tube, Schoeps, BedC. (201) 656-3936

OREGON MUSIC LOVERS—in/between audio sug-gests: Coda, Cary, F3/Audiovector, Bitwise, MAS, VPI, Oracle, Benz, TARA, Bradley, Scientific Fidelity, Aural Symphonies, Straight Wire, Ardd, SimplyPhysics, Nitty Gritty, Gold Aero, Chesky, Reference. For appoint-ment/catalog/monthly demo list, call (503) 638-5767.

GENESIS IM8300F MONITORS, rosewood, ($2798) $1695; Servo 12 subwoofer, piano black, ($1695) $995; both as new. (504) 769-0930 Wore lOpm CDT

STRAIGHT WIRE RHAPSODY speaker cable, 10' pair, $140 ($375). (407) 278-9540

CLOSEOUT TARA Labs Temporal Continuum speaker cable. Savings over 50%. Call now for details. HCM Audio, (800) 222-3465, (916) 345-1341.

VANDERSTEEN 1B with Sound Anchors, $500. (513) 446-3411.

THRESHOLD 400A amplifier for sale. Excellent con-dition, recently overhauled by Threshold Corp., asking $700. Call Greg Kelso, (706) 542-0585, 7am-3:30pm M-F EST or (706) 613-9824 evenings.

SYMPHONIC-LINE RG1 Midi amp, $1950; Nes-torovic 5as IV, $2800. (415) 459-2642.

APOGEE CALIPER SIGNATURES, black, mint, $1450. (908) 297-1856.

PARASOUND HCA-2200 MK.II power amp, mint, $1050; KEF 107/2 loudspeakers, black, mint, $2900; Tice Power Block MLR with adjustable A/C cord, less than 2 months old, $850; Goldmund Lineal 75-ohm cables, originally $500, $350 OBO; JVC RXV1050 surround Digi'fine receiver, originally $1500, $600 OBO. Call Barry, (314) 434-3252, morning or evening CST

SONY D2020 digital line-level, DolbyPro receiver, $295. Lots of laser rock/pop. (503) 994-9645.

SPECIAL MINT-CONDITION SALE: Audio Research SP3A-1, $475; Adcom 565 preamp, $500; Adcom 565 monoblodc amps, $1150/pair, Threshold S-150 Series Two amp, $750; Threshold S-150 Series One amps (have two of these), $650 each; Velodyne ULD-15 Series Two woofer, black, $1250; Philips DCC900 digital tape deck, $425. All units in very excellent condition with boxes, etc. Will consider any sensible offers. Phone (219) 942-6457 after 6pm CST

ROCKPORT SIRIUS turntable with air-bearing stands, current version, all latest mods included; $10,000. (203) 270-8705, 9am-10pm EST

STEREOPHILE back issues, 1983-present. Best offer. (703) 938-7220.

THIEL CS3.6, GLOSS BLACK, $3200 plus ship; Krell ICRC remote preamp, $3900; Tice Microblock, $235; Cello D350, $5250; Encore preamp, $5350; Wadia X64.4 with WT8, $4450. (315) 426-0513, 9-5 EST M-E

VERSA DYNAMICS TURNTABLE model 2.0, rose-wood finish, excellent condition. Also includes Koetsu rosewood cartridge, less than 18 hours of play. Also Nitty Gritty vacuum cleaning machine. Price $4500. (216) 333-9630

ATTENTION QUAD OWNERS! Factory-authorized sales and service for Quad, Gradient, Music Reference, Enter, and RAM tubes. New and used Quad equipment bought/sold. ESL/ESL-63 updates and stands. Custom subwoofer systems for ESL/ESL-63s available. For further details, contact Mike or Randy: QS8D Inc, 33 McWhM Loop #108, Fredericksburg, VA 22406, (703) 372-3711, Fax (703) 372-3713.

LOUDSPEAKER ICITS: Our pre-engineered loud-speaker systems feature SCAN-SPEAK drivers, excep-tional cabinetry, and the world's most advanced cross-over components. Please call or write for our compli-mentary catalog. North Creek Music Systems, 500K Route 8, Speculator, NY 12164, (518) 548-3623.


eeeeeeeeeeeeeee e e e e e e e e e e

e e e e e e e e

• AUDIO•

ADA • Adcom • AICG • Alon

Audioprism • Audioquest

Bang 8c Olufsen

Bryston • CAL • Canton • CVVD

Denon • Dual • Klipsch

Lexicon • Madrigal

Msgnutn Dynalab

Mark Levinson • Martin-Logan

McIntosh • N.E.A.R. • Niles

Paradigm • Proceed • Rote!

Sennheiser • Shure • Signet

SME • Sonance • SOTA

Satx • Sumiko • Terk

Vandersteen

Video Acoustics

• VIDEO •

jvc • Vidilcron • Sharpvision

WHY WE WON'T SELL... YOU! The Music Box sales team does not operate on a commission basis. We believe that commissions cause the store, the salesperson, and you to

become involved in an adverse relatio-ship. The purchase of equipment is complicated enough without this

added wrinkle. The Music Box tries to answer questions, not hard sell.

This method has worked for us since 1928. We like it, and so do our

customers.

fop trIGLArlD. SflŒ it

dihe Musk Box 58 Central Street • Wellesley, MA • 02181

(617) 235-5100

AUDIO RESEARCH APODES CREEK EPOS MICROMEOA

Enjoy the music.

-SELECT-

-SOUND - 6314 Northern Blvd East Norwich NY

(516) 624-2124

PROAC McCORMACK TOTEM PS AUDIO ROTEL UNITY

340 STEREOPHILE, OCIOBER 1993 WorldRadioHistory

CREEK 4140S2 integrated amp, Creek CD60 CD player, Epos ES11 loudspeakers plus matching stands. Musically satisfying experience for under $3000. (305) 891-9540, Florida.

B&W 801 AND 802 OWNERS: Our complete passive crossover replacements are the ultimate performance upgrades. Please call or write for our complimentary liter-ature. North Creek Musk Systems, 500B Route 8, Speculator, NY 12164, (518) 548-3623.

LINN LP12, black, Elms, Troika, $3500; Nairn NA072/ hi-cap, (2) NAP135 (mono amps), $4750; ProAc Response II, black, includes CSW stands, $2400; complete system, $9500. (312) 853-3432, M-F 8am-12pm, 1-5pm CST

STEREOPHILE Autumn 1971-August 1993, 138 issues complete, $450 OBO; TAS Nos.7-78, $200 OBO. (206) 546-4353.

ARC CLASSIC 60, balanced, ICT88, $2100; Lumley Sig-nature M75 tube monos, ($7000) $3000; !Clyne 7PX pre-preamp, ($3400) $1500; Audio Innovation L2 line-amp, ($1700) $900; Quad ESL-63 US, stands, mods, $2400; Esoteric D500 D/A converter, ($1000) $450. Most are new condition. Tel./Fax (315) 469-8384.

PREMIUM-GRADE PARTS for audio projects! Silver-contact toggle and rotary switches/attenuators; MIT MultiCaps, Solen, SCR, Wonder Caps/solder/wire; Vishay, Mills, Caddock, and Holco resistors, all types audio con-nectors, chassis wires, Copper-Foil Inductors, MIT Z-Stabilizer, tubes, isolation feet, custom cables and termi-nations, hospital-grade AC outlets and plugs, tools and accessories, request catalog! Michael Petty, Bat 524 Inverness, CA 9493Z (415) 669-7181, Fax (415) 669-7558.

SONY DAS/CDP RI CD system, mint, like new, original boxes and manual, new $8000, price $2895. (818) 349-1083.

COUNTERPOINT SA-4s, arguably the finest elec-trostatic amps made, $2500; Micro Seiki RX-5000 turn-table, $1000, lifetime build quality with no vacuums or air pumps; MFA Luminescence preamp, $1500. Jim, (414) 845-5055, WI.

SOUNDSCAPE AUDIO—Michigan's cutting-edge dealer Anodyne, ASC, Anna-Sphere, B.E.L. 1001 Mk.II, Bright Star, C.E.C./Parasound, Encore, Mango Audio, MSB Technology, Music Reference, Musical Design, Pur-ist Audio Design, Shun Mook, Soundwave, Unity Audio. Vintage tubes and accessories. (313) 737-0005.

KRELL KSA-150, 2 years, mint, $2700 plus shipping. (818) 795-0150, leave message, Hensley.

EPIK MONITOR JR. SPEAKERS, $1395; EM) T-1000 transport, brand new, $950; CAL Sigma D/A converter, $450; XL0 Type IV digital connect, $100. Mint condition, offers? Vincent, (707) 421-1390.

AUDIOPHILE-GRADE PARTS: MIT MultiCap, Won-derCap, ICimber, Solen, Wima, Siemens; Vishay, Cad-dock, Holco, Matsushita; Alps, Bourns, Noble, Gray-hill, ShallCo custom mono ladder attenuators; Cardas, Tiffany, Vampire, WBT, FAison-Price Music Posts, Neu-trik; Cardas hook-up wire/shielded cable; Teflon wire (multiple awg/color); Gold Aero tubes; RAM TubeWorks; Curcio Daniel Mk.I and Mk.II preamp kits/Dynaco rebuild kits; upgrade kits; PEARL Tube Coolers and Isnsrekets; Analog Devices (AD827JN, AD847JN), PMI; tube sockets; component modifications, etc.. . . Discounts up to 30%. Call, write, or Fax for free 1993 catalog: Sonic Frontiers Inc., 760 Pacific Road, Unit #19, Oakville, Ontario L6L 6845, Canada. TeL (416) 847-3245. Fax: (416) 847-5471.

AUDIOPHILE POWER ACCESSORIES!!! EMI/RFI shielding copper or aluminum, and magnetic shielding alloy foil tape, braiding, sheet stock, conductive cloth, and sheer mesh shielding for glass or vents. We have the very finest shielding cablejackets ever designed to wrap around and absolutely improve all your favorite audio and video cables. Doubly shielded Teflon power cords, speaker cables, interconnects, and coaxial cable. Conductive silver plating and silver lube. Teflon hook-up and grounding wire. Teflon tubing, spiral cable spacers, and electrical tape. Polarity/grounding checkers, voltage, amperage, and watt-age FUvlS meters, power-factor meters, power-line dis-turbance monitors, magnetic gauss and electrical-field meters; all items for sale or rental. Whole-house or individual surge-suppressor filters for power line, tele-phone, and video cables. Hospital-grade plugs, wall out-lets, and power strips. We feature the unique exceptional performance of Absolute Power, Uses, and Zero Surge power conditioners. We also carry the finest adjustable voltage power sources, uninterrupted power sources, and highly regulated laboratory-grade AC power supplies. Hundreds more power/shielding related items. 24 hours, call (800) 321-6512 now for your free catalog and liter-ature, to obtain technical consultation, and to place your order! Power Conditioning Expert Systems.

ENSEMBLE B50 TIGER integrated amp, with PA2 Phono module, ($2600) $1750; Dynalab FT101A tuner, $490. (206) 775-1876.

MAGNEPAN 33R, $1995; Krell KSA-150, $2600; Unity Audio Fountainhead Pyramid Signature, bi-wire, $2700. All mint, plus shipping, offers considered. (207) 589-4567.

UPGRADE FOR LESS. Offering best prices on used audio components. Buying and selling all types. (509) 966-4431.

WE CAN HELP YOU choose excellent-sounding, dependable audio equipment (plus video). We offer friendly, knowledgeable advice, hands-on experience, quick, free delivery. We carry: Mirage, Cary, KEF, Para-sound, Philips, Kinergetics, Quad, PS, Fried, Spica, many more. Free catalog! Read Brothers Stereo, 591 King St., Charleston, SC 29403, (803) 723-7276

GENESIS SERVO 12 subwoofer, $850; ICinergetics KCD20 Platinum, $650; B&K 202+, $425. Trades con-sidered. (215) 857-5325.

ADCOM GFP-565, $450 OBO; lm AudioQuest Lapis copper, $225. Call (203) 889-4449 after 5pm EST leave mes-sage. Will return calls.

WE ALWAYS PAY BETTER! Don't let go of your ARC, Aragon, Cello, C-J, Krell, Levinson, Proceed, MIT, or Threshold without calling us. Ship in UPS/COD. Call Superex Products Inc., CA, (209) 298-7931, Fax (209) 297-0359, Sennie.

SELL FOR CASH/TRADE, audio and video. Authorized: Acurus, Arcam, Audio Alchemy, Rotel, Sumo, Denon, H/K, Marantz, Celestion, Energy, Rogers, Signet, Audio-Quest, Grado, Monster, Niles, Sumiko, Target, et al. Ship anywhere Stereo Classics, 75 Church St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, (908) 220-1144, Fax (908) 220-1284.

CAL AUDIO DELTA CD Drive, $575; Essence Gem Zebrawood monitors, $800. Mr. Willes, (800) 227-6121.

ARC CLASSIC 120 amp, mint in box, $4200. (604) 431-0688, or (604) 685-4397 in Canada.

CYRUS Il with PSX, ($1700) $950; Cambridge CD2, ($1699) $850; Space & Time Phase II, 10' pairs, $95/pair. (310) 392-2460


electronics • c.d.

AUDIO RESEARCH AMC • BRYSTON DENON • FOSGATE MAGNUM • N.A.D. PROCEED • ROTEL

loudspeakers

"Rock Solids" by B & W M & K • MARTIN LOGAN PARADIGM • THIEL VANDERSTEEN

Phono • cables

Audioquest • A.R.C. Aural Symphonics GRADO • GRAHAM Monster / Sigma ORACLE • SME SOTA • SUMIKO Straight Wire

other good stuff

C.W.D. • BEYER NOISETRAPPER SOUND ANCHORS

SONEX • Tube Traps TARGET • L.P.s & C.D.s

The AudioVisions Customer The AudioVisions customer truly loves music. It's a basic part of his life. For him, audio components aren't expensive toys: They bring the power, the thrill, and the joy of music into his home. Video gear, no matter how good, will never give him so much pleasure. The picture is flat, it lacks magic, and it fails to compel or involve him. Stores now showcasing surround sound "entertainment centers" cannot satisfy his needs. He admires the Pursuit of Perfection (the guiding principle of the best audio manufacturers AND the best dealers). Since he doesn't necessarily have two Porsches in the driveway, his audio purchases must represent real VALUE. He's learned that he can hear the differences a dealer can make. (How many dealers have loaned a wide variety of cables to you, or made a special visit to your home?) He seeks out one of the very few audio specialists in the country. In the New York area, he comes to AudioVisions. We invite you to make an appointment to visit us; our knowledge, honesty, frankness, and concern will make the trip worthwhile.

DkudioVIMons 1067 MONTAUK HWY. • W. BABYLON, N Y. 11704 • (516) 661-3355y

Ofee kaUFY IWO 513-ere55 5330 GLEN WAY AVE. CINCINNATI 1:11. 45238

For Recommended Components, You'll recommend Ohio Valley Audio! Acurus * Aragon AudioSource BIC Venturi Bose * Energy * Fried * Genesis Technologies * H/K * JVC * JVC suPERDIGIFINE * KimberKable *

Klipsch * Niles * Onkyo * Pinnacle * Pioneer Laserdisc * Target * Zenith Projection

* Custom Home Installation * Trade In's Accepted * Home Theater

* Consultations * Accessories * Custom Cabinetry


The Connector _750

ACCUPHASE DP8O/DC81, previous Stereophile Class A (1987-90), $2250 OBO; LNC2 oak case, S40; mint. (303) 320-3921 evenings, weekends (MS?).

LEXICON CP3 WITH UPDATED chip, S2000; JVC HU-5500 super VHS, brand new with box, $600; Mirage M3 with Mod Squad Tiptoes, $2000; Mirage M990, $1000; Adcom GFT-555 tuner, $250; Velodyne Servo 1200, $750. All items immaculate in box. (312) 861-8066, 9-5; (708) 699-8969 after 6pm.

THETA DATA II AT&T, mint, $1850. (215) 525-6516

PS AUDIO II, $15; AR XA tunitable, Adcom cartridge, $25. (805) 481-7840.

SOUND VALUES—The only safe and guaranteed method for buying and selling your components! Pro-tection for the seller with guaranteed certified funds and freedom from telephone sitting. We take all of your calls. Protection for the buyer with a thorough inspection of equipment and transfer of funds to the seller only after confirmation. For more details, call or Fax Sound Values, 12545 Olive St., Suite 101, St. Louis, MO 63141, (314) 542-4068.

ITS TRUE! Obtain amazing sonic improvement with the Cormorant interconnect cable forjust $129! Recent TAO review praises all aspects of performance and rates it "highly recommended"! Customer CZ of Manville, NJ comments even more enthusiastically. 30-day zero-risk guarantee, plus $5 audition fee. Solid Core Technology, 3808 Westview Ave, West Palm Beach, FL 33407, (40 842-7316, (800) 484-8271, code 7281.

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Coming Attractions (continued from p.3)

amplifier that was driving Sound-Lab Pristines as being a 60Wpc model; it actually is specced at 100Wpc.

Finally, with this issu; we welcome Steven Stone to Stereophde's staff of Contributing Edi-tors. A music-lover, a rock'n'roll guitarist, a professional photographer with works in the collections of the Library of Congress and the Bibliothèque Français; and a protégé ofj. Gor-don Holt's, Steven was for ten years a stalwart of The Absolute Sound's reviewing staff. Among other ventures for Stereophik, he will be explor-ing tube components and value-for-money loudspeakers. Steven Stone is not to be confused with Steven Stoner, Stereophiles Credit & Col-lections Manager, who also writes the occa-sional headbanger record review.

—John Atkinson

110 `O..... ._.

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A DVERTISER INDEX

11-IE STEREOPHILE ADVERTISING STANDARDS

Advertising published in Stereophile is accepted on the premise that the merchandise and services as offered are accurately described, and are available to customers at the advertised price. Advertising that does not conform to these standards, or that is deceptive or misleading, is never knowingly accepted. If any Stereophile reader encounters noncompliance with these standards, please write Nelson fit Associ-ates, Inc., 62 Wendover Rd., Yonkers, NY 10705.

Acarian Systems 126 Accurate Audio Video 351 Acoustic Image 316 Acoustic Research 26 Acoustic Sounds 262, 263, 271 Adcom 122 a/d/s/ 156 Aerial Acoustics 120 Altair Audio 310 Ambrosia Audio 312 APC 158 Apogee Acoustics 82 Architectural Audio 344 ARS Electronics 312 Audio Advisor 72-74, 306 Audio Arts 350 Audio Center 352 Audio Connection 326 Audio Den 349 Audio Den Ltd 336 Audio Ensemble 314, 334 Audio Forest 347 Audio Haven 349 Audio Images 350 Audio Influx 170 Audiolab 162 Audio Nexus 334 Audio Outlet 272 Audiophile Selections 346 Audio Power Industries 162 AudioQuest 356 Audio Trading Times 330 Audio Video Alternatives 343 AudioVisions 342 Axiss Distribution 132 B&W Loudspeakers 21 Bay Area Audio 328 Billy Bags 351 BJ Audio 342 Bose Express 264 Bright Star Audio 258 Bryston Manufacturing 136 Cable Company 316, 318 CAIG Laboratories 258 Cardas Audio 152 Cary Audio 8 Celestion 58 Champagne Audio 338 Chattanooga Valley Audio 350 Chesky Records 338 Clarity Recordings 247 Classé Audio 48 Coda Technologies 114 Conrad-Johnson 118 Crown International 150 CSA Audio 330 Cumberland Audio 344 Definitive Audio 298 Denon America 56 Digital Ear 254 DMP 276 Duntech 160

Elusive Disc Energy Enlightened Audio Esoteric Audio Euroson 154, 336 Exposure Electronics 124 Fried Products 63 Galen Carol 351 Golden String 140, 252 Goodwins Audio 308 Gryphon 144 Hafler 66 Hal's Stereo HAVE, Inc. Headroom HiFi Buys HiFi Jones Highwire Audio Hsu Research lmmedia Infinity Innovative Audio 300-305 Jadis 46 JM Labs 168 JPS Labs 345 JS Audio 318 KEF 32 Kief's Audio/Video . 332-333, 344 Kimber Kable 156 Kinergetics 10 Krell 96 Michele Lauren 346 Lexicon 266 Listening Room 290 Lodestar 347 Lorentz Design 350 Lyle Cartridges 256 Madrigal Audio 134 Per Madsen Design 352 Magnum Dynalab 158 May Audio 154 McCormack Audio 68 McIntosh 76 Melos 246 Meridian 28 Mirage 22 Mondial Monster Cable Muse Electronics Music Box Music Hall Music Interface Technology NAD Naim NBS Nimtec NoiseTrapper Products Nordost Now Hear This 6 OCM 166 Oracle 17 Panamax 146

346 Paradigm 14 278 Paragon 60 100 Parasound 36 51 Pass Laboratories 118

Phase Technology 19 Precision Audio 292 ProAc 116 Progressive Audio 286 Pro Musica 349 PS Audio 38 RCS International 172, 246 Reference Audio/Video 345

348 Reference Line Audio 284 343 Rotel of America 31

78-79 Jeff Rowland Design Group 64 250 Sanus Systems 116 347 Savant Audio & Video 280 172 Select Sound 340 172 Sennheiser 70 166 Signet 130 110 Sonic Frontiers 12-13, 348

Sound & Music 345 Sound by Singer 321-324 Sound City 268 Sound Components 296 Sound Concept, The 346 Sound Connections 246 Soundex 282 Sound Goods 326 Soundings 328 Sound-Lab 308 Sound Resource 344 Soundworks 260 Stereo Dynamics 288 Stereo Plus 352 Stereo Shoppe 348 Straight Wre 40-41 Sweet Thunder 348 TARA Labs 160 Theta 42 Thiel 86 Transparent Audio Laboratory .... 128 Tubes By Design 314 Univocal 170 Valve Amplification Company 11 Vandersteen Audio 52

2 Velodyne Acoustics 94 112 Wadia Digital 355 164 Weltronics 148 340 Westlake Audio 106 164 WireWorld 142 108 XL0 Electric 54 34 Xponent 248-249 90 Yakov Aronov Audio Laboratory . . 168

274 24 172 138


T HE F INAL W ORD

In her fascinating article in the August 23/30 issue of The New Yorker,' Janet Malcolm2 ruminates on the subject of biography, and

particularly on Bitter Fame, Anne Stevenson's life of poet Sylvia Plath, which aroused signifi-cant controversy and condemnation when it was published in 1989. Though readers may think of biography as objective history—fact-telling—a biography may be as much about the writer as the subject. Among many other things in her lengthy piece, Malcolm observes that biographers become intellectually, emotionally, and historically involved with their subjects.

Hi-fi journalists are not immune to this phenomenon, a thought that rose to the sur-face when I read Ken Kessler's contribution to this issue's "Industry Update." Ken writes about the plight of British consumers faced with a sorry group of UK retailers. JA points out in a followup comment that things might be much better on this side of the pond, but to me this begs the question. You need spend not too much time among US manufacturers to hear stories to match those of Mana's John Watson—and worse. Interestingly, this mag-azine receives very few letters complaining of bad retailer behavior. But Watson's critique tells me little more than

that there's a fair chance he'll soon be going out of business. My observation is that changing from a dealer network to factory-direct is a fairly reliable predictor of the end of business for a hi-fi manufacturer. If something as special-ized, particular, and taste-matched as high-end hi-fi is going to work, it requires lots of individual attention to the needs of the cus-tomer. Tiny manufacturers may be able to pro-vide this attention to their customers, but no one who hopes to reach a significant group of people can hope to do it over the phone from their head office.

1 The New Yorker is continuing the tradition practiced by some ' publications of catching up their publishing schedule by put-

ting out cost-effective "double issues."

2 Malcolm, you may remember, was sued by psychiatrist Jeffrey Masson for libel based on her alleged use of inexact or fabricated quotations from her interview with him (also published in The New Yorker).

High-end audio's problem is not that existing retailers are bad, but that there is a shortage of really great ones. One of the reasons for this is that it's damn hard to be a great retailer, and even harder to make money at it. Once fixed overhead, interest, and sales commissions are taken care of, retailers' "big" profit margins, to enlighten KK, drop to 2% (video) up to 18% (some speakers and cable) of suggested retail price. That's before any discounts are given, which is why you find such discounts hard to get (or deepen). No one goes into high-end audio because of the easy money.

Great high-end retailers need to be good salespeople, good managers (so they can hire other good salespeople), fiscally astute, imagi-native direct-mail promoters, good music listeners (to avoid stocking inferior product that doesn't sell), great at system setup, effective negotiators with both manufacturers and cus-tomers, effective financial analysts, and, increas-ingly these days, part-time architects, contrac-tors, and interior decorators. I'm sure I've omitted some key qualities—like saintliness, prescience, bravery, and cleanliness—but the list is already long enough that you'd be lucky to find such qualities in two people put together, much less the one that usually heads up a high-end store. John Watson may want to "go on the record"

to hi-fi journalists about how lousy dealers can be, but other high-end manufacturers have to address the issue of how to effectively notify an enormous majority of the population of High End's existence and create conditions which encourage the development of great retailers. Kessler may see reviewers and retailers as vying with one another for first place in let-ting down the hi-fi public, but the High End's biggest problem is that hardly anyone knows we even exist. We disappoint primarily by our invisibility.

354 STEREOPHILE, Oçmg,,ER 19,) WorldRadioHistory

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