No. 71
$4.99
ISSN 0847-1851
Canadian Publication Sales
Product Agreement
No. 40065638
DIGITAL PLAYERS: The universal player,
from McCormack, and the highly-praised
Simaudio Equinox
NEW CONNECTORS: We try new minimummetal connectors from WBT and Eichmann,
and we try several cables from Atlas
PLUS: Small but potent speakers from
Totem, Reference 3a and Studio Lab.
Paul Bergman lays out the arguments
for the two-channel and surround sound
protagonists
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Castle
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Target
Vandersteen
Audioprism
Goldring GR1
“I’ve now found a way to recommend LPs to many audiophiles
who bypassed that stage altogether.”
Albert Simon, UHF No. 70
AY
JUST M
AUD
IO
Justice Audio
9251-8 Yonge St., Suite 218
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9T3
Tel. : (905) 780-0079 • Fax : (905) 780-0443
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sales@justiceaudio.com
McCormack
Rega
WBT
Gamut
Apollo
GutWire
ASW Speakers
Goldring
Milty
Perfect Sound
Nitty Gritty
Gradient Speakers
McCormack UDP-1
“No matter what recordings you’re collecting, this could be
your next player. And you might have it a long time.”
Gerard Rejskind, UHF No. 71
JUSTI
CE
AU
DIO
Just May Audio
9251-8 Yonge St., Suite 218
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9T3
Tel. : (905) 780-0079 • Fax : (905) 780-0443
LAST record care
WATTGate
Audiophile CDs
Audiophile LPs
DVD and SACD
Five Atlas Cables
Who? That’s what everyone has been asking us.
We do a blind test on some of these British cables.
32
Simaudio Moon Equinox
35
Good enough to be your last Red Book CD player?
Issue No. 71
Simaudio Moon I-3
Like the company’s other integrated amplifiers, it
looks deceptively small.
37
Reference 3a Dulcet
Can the company’s distinctive front-slanted
loudspeakers be scaled down and still sound right?
39
Totem Rainmaker
A speaker to bring some sunshine into your life
42
Studio Lab SLB 102 Speakers
Too much bass? Just add a subwoofer. No, really!
44
muRata Super Tweeters: a Second Look
So, how high can you really hear?
47
McCormack UDP-1 Player
50
Silver discs? It plays ’em all. Now we set out to find
out…how well?
Cover story: Two of three small speakers reviewed in
this issue: the Totem Rainmaker and the Reference 3a
Dulcet. In the background: a field in the Eastern
Townships of Quebec
NUTS&BOLTS
Multichannel and Stereo
by Paul Bergman
Is stereo slated for replacement? Dig into the
history of the medium, and it turns out that it
depends on what you mean by stereo.
19
Cinema
Stories from the home theatre front
TiVo versus the establishment, the end of a DVD
copying program, and the fight over DVD’s
successor.
55
Software
Rendezvous
WBT Gets Religion
WBT’s VP, Gabriele Hofmann, explains why her
connector company has chosen a new direction.
26
Think Small: Eichmann Connectors
Eichmann’s Rob Woodland explains to UHF why
most connectors contain too much metal.
28
Requiem
by Reine Lessard
How Masses for the dead have brought comfort to
the living
56
Software Reviews
by Reine Lessard and Gerard Rejskind
62
Departments
The Listening Room
Making the Connection
Do connectors change the sound of a cable? We
compare three connectors on the same cables.
Preview
53
Amplifiers from Exposure, Rogue and Connoisseur,
a universal player from Lexicon, and much more.
30
Editorial
Feedback
Free Advice
Classified Ads
Gossip & News
State of the Art
2
5
7
66
69
72
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
1
UHF Magazine No. 71 was published in December, 2004.
All contents are copyright 2004 by Broadcast Canada. They
may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any
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PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Reine Lessard
EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Reine Lessard, Albert Simon
PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon
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2
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Editorial
SACD vs DVD-A
Did we stir up a hornet’s nest by declaring a winner in the battle (How
SACD Won the War, in UHF No. 70)! We got a number of reactions, not all of
them courteous. You’ll see a few of them in the Feedback section of this issue.
Beyond the usual letters to the editor, there has been considerable discussion
of the article on the Internet.
A number of people have taken us to task because they believe that pulsecode modulation, the encoding system used by DVD-Audio (and Red Book
CD too, of course) is superior to Direct Stream Digital, the less-familiar
method used for Sony master recordings and for SACD. But at no time did we
claim that SACD was better than DVD-A, only that it was a better-designed
system, and therefore could survive, whereas DVD-A cannot.
That is of course a prediction, and we are all too aware of the ways predictions can go wrong. The fact is, however, that we were convinced from the
first that the very existence of these competing systems was choking both of
them off. And we were telling readers that, if it were our money, we wouldn’t
buy either system until we knew which would win. We believe the time has
come to choose, and the rational choice is SACD.
Of course, failed systems don’t necessarily vanish. There are still user groups
and underground support resources for old computers like the Apple II, the
Amiga and the Newton, and for supposedly dead formats like the Elcaset and
(yes!) Betamax. Similarly, some producers will continue to make DVD-Audio
recordings. They will claim that those recordings are superior to SACD, and
perhaps they are right. However I don't think they’ll have any luck getting
their products into record stores.
As I’ve said before, one thing I learned from our original publisher, Michel
Prin, is that the magazine must always have a point of view. Of course that
point of view must not be selected at random, but it is important that we take a
stand whenever it is appropriate, in order to help you make the right purchasing choices.
That is our mission, and I’m not about to apologize for it.
Measuring loudspeakers
You can’t measure speakers without a good microphone, and we’ve just
gotten in a pair of really good ones: model QTC1 from Earthworks. We
became aware of these microphones because they are used extensively by one
of our favorite classical record companies, Analekta (see The People Behind the
New Sound of Analekta in UHF No. 54). The QTC1 goes out to 40 kHz, and
has variations that stay well within a ±1 dB envelope. Just the ticket!
But we’ve made some other changes too. At one time we had been reluctant to show any speaker frequency response data, because our method gave a
much less “pretty” graph than that of most of our competitors, and that could
lead to unfair comparisons. Since then, we’ve gone overboard the other way,
reproducing raw graphs. The huge variations look rather disconcerting, and
tend to mask much more meaningful variations.
The response graphs we will use from now on show averaged results in
bands a third of an octave wide. I think you’ll be able to figure them out more
easily…and so will we!
DOG-EARS ARE FOR DOGS!
Some audiophiles snap up every single issue of UHF, yet they
hesitate to subscribe. Why? What they tell us is that they’re
afraid of getting copies that are dog-eared or torn.
So here’s a strange fact: dog-eared copies may be
awaiting them at the local newsstand.
It makes sense if you think about it. Where do copies
sit around unprotected? On the newsstand. Where do
other people leaf through them before you arrive? At
the newsstand. Where do they stick on little labels you
can’t even peel off? Well…
Surprise! At a lot of newsstands, they do exactly that!
We know that what you want is a perfect copy. And the perfect copy is the one
in your mailbox. No tears or bends, because each issue is protected by a sealed
plastic envelope. With the address label on the envelope, not on the magazine.
Of course, you’ll have to make a certain sacrifice.
Are you willing to pay, oh, maybe 23% less for the privilege of having a perfect
copy? And be protected against the price rise of February 2005?
And are you willing to qualify for a discount on one or both of our original books
on hi-fi (see the offer on the other side of this page)?
You are? Then perhaps the time has come.
JUST SUBSCRIBE
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5!
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Feedback
Box 65085, Place Longueuil
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4
uhfmail@uhfmag.com
this month, because that is what I was
shopping for?” I don’t believe you will/
should change your editorial personality,
because the arrogance you display got
you where you are. I think that fleshing
out your articles some would be of real
help to your readers.
I will probably check you out online,
or purchase more stuff from your audio
store, but I will have to do it without the
benefit of the hard copy. So ever onward,
and best of success for you.
John Loveless
HILLSDALE, MI
I very much enjoyed reading your
comparison in UHF No. 70 of the
screen technologies available for home
theatre systems, the discussion of the
SACD/DVD-A format war and the Linn
Unidisk 1.1 review. Here’s my two cents
on these topics.
First, I was puzzled by the statement
that no LCOS screens are available today
for home use. This should perhaps read
not available in Canada — Philips claims
to use LCOS technology in their Cineos
line of widescreen TVs. The 55” model
lists at US$ 4,000 and a quick Google
search finds Internet retailers offering
it for about US$3,000. This is less than
plasma, and it is competitive with LCD
and DLP technology.
On the question of SACD vs DVD-A,
I think it’s premature to declare SACD
the winner. Sony scored a hit with the
hybrid disc concept, but the DVD-A
camp seems to be belatedly waking up
to the necessity of backward-compatible
discs with their DualDisc. What keeps
me from declaring either side victorious
is that neither seems to have grasped the
lesson of the Beta-VHS battle, namely
that victory will go to the party that
successfully f loods the market with
inexpensive hardware and software.
Finally, while I was very impressed
with the Linn Unidisk 1.1 at this year’s
I can only say that I disagree with you
completely on what you wrote in issue
No. 70. If you try to compare DVD-A
and SACD you will discover that DVD-A
is by far the better medium soundwise.
Everybody in the business, from audio
critics to audiophiles, is experiencing the
same quality difference between the two
formats. SACD is a laugh when it comes
to the quality of the sound.
I am fortunate that I have a very good
high end system. I have, together with
other experienced music lovers and listeners, compared directly the differences
between DVD-A and SACD (yes, it’s
possible!!). There is absolutely no doubt
that DVD-A is so much better. I am only
talking about two-channel reproduction
of music here. Multichannel has nothing
to do with high end audio if the aim
is to create a truthful reproduction of
recorded music. If you cannot, as a result
of the standard and quality of your reference system, hear this difference, I think
you have a problem.
Further, I find it totally ignorant
that you declare a “winner” when all the
other high end magazines, such as TAS
and Stereophile, have an open mind about
this issue. I like the concept of an open
mind instead of the ideas that your magazine publish. Just read Robert Harley’s
editorial in the latest issue of TAS. Keep
an open mind, it is always the best way
to make a magazine interesting.
My subscription ends with issue
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
5
Feedback
Although I have enjoyed your magazine, and found it helpful, I will not be
renewing my subscription for a variety
of reasons, and I thought you would like
to know.
I like the way you review equipment,
with all three of you sitting in at once.
However it is a little difficult to discern if
your sonic preferences differ at all, therefore often making two of you redundant.
A statement of sonic preferences would
be helpful, and if you all listen for the
same thing, get some alternative listeners.
I like your general source-down
philosophy.
I think your Free Advice is a good idea,
but (by necessity) it needs to be so brief
I think most inquirers would be better
served if they paid for it, and got a more
complete statement.
I find your feature articles always
lacking. They are good, but incomplete,
a novel without a last chapter. I almost
always feel you were not knowledgeable
enough to do a thorough job.
A most irritating aspect of your writing is a pervasive attitude that you and
your ears are right and the rest of the
world (and audio press) is somehow lost
in wonderland. Maybe you have been
hearing how great you are from so many
people that it has gone to your head.
As a physics teacher, I realize that you
don’t know it all, as I have found errors
in your magazine and books. Nothing
earth-shattering, but they shake my
confidence in you.
You, like all audio rags, are stuck in a
rut as to the equipment you review. I got
really tired of all the Chinese tube amps
you were fascinated with for a while.
Having shared this with you, (because
I believe you care what readers think),
I am not oblivious to the problems that
publishers face, and the difficulties of
a fickle market that in essence says,
“why didn’t you review $1000 preamps
Festival Son et Image, I’m not yet convinced that the dream of a universal
player has been practically realized.
C$16,000 is out of reach for all but the
most affluent, and even the “less expensive” Unidisk 2.1 or SC models cost what
most audiophiles have invested in their
entire system. I don’t think that music
lovers of modest means (and isn’t that
most of us?) can really consider it safe
to do a major source upgrade until there
are universal players below C$5,000 and
C$3,000 price points that do a credible job of reproducing Red Book CD,
DVD-A and SACD. You can see why
I’m looking forward to the reviews of
the McCormack and Lexicon universal
players slated for UHF No. 71!
John Schmidt
ÎLE-BIZARD, QC
Feedback
No. 71. I will not renew it, because I find
your magazine simply not good enough
by any standard. In my opinion you are
concentrating your reviews only on a
handful of manufacturers, your show
reports in the latest issue were a joke
(two pages from each show!), and you
give advice and recommend equipment
to your readers. In my opinion this is not
what an objective magazine should do.
I am sure that you will manage without
my subscription. I hope you will print
this in issue No. 71 so that you can start
a debate on these issues.
Jan Petter Egidius
ASKER, Norway
Jan, to paraphrase the robot voices on voice
mail systems, “your subscription is important
to us.” However we would consider it even
more important if we could see evidence that
you actually read what we write. In issue
No. 70, “two pages from each show” was
actually five pages from just one show.
Wow! Those are quite the definitive statements you have been making
regarding SACD versus DVD-A: (issues
No. 67 and 70): “The war is over,”;
“DVD-A is Betamax,”; “How DVD-A
blew it big time.” Well yes, I think
they may have too, however I have no
particular allegiance. They can both
sound wonderful, or they can sound
lousy (whatever works, eh?).
6
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
This is part of an e-mail to me from
Neil Wilkes, proprietor of Opus Productions in the UK:
We have been very busy lately, and have
recently got out a couple of DVD-A masters,
at last, which should be getting the OK from
the band’s label and management very soon.
Then I will be clear of the non-disclosure
agreement I’m currently under and will be
able to share what and who it is. I’ll be happy
to look at this magazine (UHF) and also try
to point out to the editor just why I think
that DVD-A is way superior to SACD, the
DSP/PCM arguments notwithstanding.
I hope he responds to you. And I
simply adore UHF Magazine — always
have, always will.
Mike Bennett
HALIFAX, NS
Just wanted to say I was a bit disappointed in reading the Reference 3a
Royal Virtuoso review (UHF No. 70). I
own the Royal Master, and was hoping
for more of a direct comparison, but did
not find much of that.
Dave Ruel
ORLEANS, ON
The Royal Virtuoso is a successor to the
Royal Master, which we also liked a great
deal, and it is a cousin of the Suprema II
used in our Omega reference system.
I have been reading your magazine
for many years. I know how difficult it
is to convince the non-initiated to spend
more money on a good system that they
would on a mass market one. Besides
the obvious superior sound, there is
another aspect they should be aware of,
namely the good service offered by the
audiophile companies.
I bought a Simaudio W-5 amplifier
a few years back in Chile. One of the
amplifier channels blew up three years
later and I had to return the equipment
to Simaudio for repairs. They serviced
the equipment at no charge and even
changed the power supply to work on
the 220 V power of the Chilean grid.
Unfortunately, the amplifier suffered
another breakdown, this one minor, last
year. Before doing the repair, Simaudio
took the trouble to contact the speaker
manufacturer to ensure compatibility
with the amplifier, and they made
changes to the amplifier circuits to make
it more stable under the difficult load
presented by the speaker. This is not
the service you would get from a mass
market manufacturer.
Richard Proulx
SANTIAGO, Chile
A note from Nicholas Wickenden of Edmonton, in a possibly recognizable format:
Summing it up…
Brand/model: UHF Magazine
Price: C$50 for 13 issues
Dimensions: 272 x 210 x 4 mm per
issue
Most liked: Straightforward appraisals of equipment, including differences
of opinion where they occur
Least liked: Inability to spell “metre”
and its cognates properly
Verdict: A must-read from cover to
cover
Thanks for making us smile. As a Canadian publication with a large US readership,
we have a style guide that includes some
Canadian usages ( judgement, not judgment,
and synthetizer not synthesizer), but also
American usages (color, not colour). The
spelling “meter” is dominant in Canada,
despite its ambiguity: a meter is also an
electrical instrument. It’s a difficult balance,
but you could be right.
Free Advice
Box 65085, Place Longueuil
Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4
uhfmail@uhfmag.com
I am a longtime reader of UHF. Very
good magazine, hey!
My system consists of a Teac VRDS T1
drive and DT1 DAC, Copland CSA 28
amplifier and KEF Ref 104.2 (old, I know).
The CD cables are UltraLink Discovery and
the speaker cables are Monster M-1. I’m
using a Van den Hul “The Mainstream”
power cord for the Copland.
The speakers are old but I like their
sound. They have a good bottom end a good
mid too. Perhaps the sound is sibilant on high
notes. It may be the recording, but I suspect
the CD player.
Fernand Fournier
PALMAROLLE, QC
I need some professional advice. I have a
5.1 channel home theatre system, an Integra,
along with the CD and the DVD players. It’s
not a Copland, but its not a home theatre in a
box either. I also have a two-channel system,
currently not in use, with a NAD 7600
receiver. My speakers are not too bad either.
I have the Energy Reference Connoisseurs
and the PSB Stratus Golds, currently being
used in the 5.1 system.
I would like to know if I should keep the
NAD 7600 and the PSB as a starter for
a two-channel system, or use the Energy,
which I really enjoy. I also would like a opinion on which would be a better two-channel
Brian, you can probably already
guess what we’re going to say about your
Energy speakers, since we are also using
that model in our Kappa home theatre
system. Though it is getting a little
long in the tooth, it was an astonishing
product in its day, and it remains much
better than what you might replace it
with. We tell you this with no intention
of demeaning the PSB Stratus Gold,
which is no slouch either.
The down side to the Energy is
that it has been so long out of production that there is no matching centre
speaker available. In our reviews in
UHF No. 67, we found two speakers that
matched well, the Thiel MCS1 (which
we purchased), and the ProAc Response
CC-Two. Neither is cheap, but both are
worth what they cost.
You may or may not choose to stay
with the Integra components, though
for the moment you possibly will. We
don’t consider any receiver to be a path to
maximum quality, however, and you may
ultimately want to consider alternatives:
either a high end preamp-processor
(expensive but potentially excellent), or
a freestanding processor for video sound
matched to a high end preamplifier with
the requisite six inputs.
Planning the upgrade is a little like
playing chess: you see where you are
on the board, and you find a way to get
where you want to be — with your opponent checkmated — in the minimum
number of moves. More specifically,
sketch out what your system should look
like in three years, or five years, and see
how you can get there with a minimum
I am planning to built a stereo room in
the basement of my new house. Is there a
perfect size room, or are there certain sizes or
forms I should keep away from? How about
the material that should be use for the floor
and the walls? Is there a math equation that
could help me optimize the dimensions?
An architect in Montreal wanted to
charge me $2000 for just for a plan. And
I was not asking for any fancy finish. I was
already told by a few local contractors that
they would not do this type of room, due to
the special work that would involve.
I feel the room is the most important
component of the system.
Basile Noël
OTTAWA, ON
The room really is very important,
Basile. For those designing their own
rooms, we would suggest reading the
series of Paul Bergman’s series of articles
on acoustics, published in UHF No. 30
through 36.
Having a competent architect handle
the design may involve much less hassle,
however, assuming you’ve selected someone with a solid grounding in acoustics,
not just structures. It rather sounds
to us as though your local contractors
have gotten fat on the building boom,
and can’t be bothered doing something
they haven’t done before. Talk to your
architect. Unless this is his very first
acoustical project, which wouldn’t
necessarily be good news, he will have
worked with contractors for whom his
plans don’t look like gibberish.
I’ve been reading you since issue No. 15.
Bravo for your magnificent work!
I need advice on the purchase of a home
theatre system. I have a Linn system, and so
naturally I’m leaning toward that company
for my next purchase.
However a friend of mine says he doesn’t
recommend buying a high end system. His
reasoning, which seems logical to me, is as
follows. He says the sound track of a DVD,
unlike that of an audio CD, is highly compressed, since the picture takes up most of
the space available. Consequently, a high
performance system would probably not be
able to give audio quality in line with the
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
7
Free Advice
So do we, Fernand. Assuming your
speakers have weathered the years well
and are not suffering from cracked
tweeters or dried-out crossover capacitors, they could give you plenty more
service, and they were not noted for
excessive sibilance. Indeed, they could
be your most valuable component.
The Teac transport is superbly made,
the converters are known for digging
out astonishing amounts of background
detail. Finesse in the highs? That's something else again. We have suspicions
about your interconnect cable too.
speaker, the PSB or the Energy?
Should I get rid of everything and get
a really good 5.1 channel sound system, or
should I keep some of it and just add?
Brian Johnstone
DELHI, ON
of wasted moves and the maximum
number of improvement at each step.
coils unable to reproduce high frequencies plausibly. Despite those important
source problems, it was possible to get
great improvements by selecting a high
performance amplifier or superior speakers.
Moderately-priced electronics (in a
relative sense at least), such as those from
Rotel, offer a good quality/price ratio,
and their performance can certainly be
satisfactory. Can better units outperform
them? Yes, no doubt, but we suggest
listening for yourself. Does your Linn
dealer have a home theatre demo room?
You may want to spend a bit of time
there, to see for yourself. And especially
to listen for yourself.
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cost. Of course he’s not suggesting I buy a
low-end system, but he thinks audio units
of more modest price (Rotel, etc.) would be
quite adequate. It is also true that one might
be less interested in subtleties of explosions
8
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
in an action film than in those of a classical
recording.
Since I will be buying a ceiling-mounted
projector (more costly than an ordinary TV),
I don’t want to spend money for nothing on
the audio side. I’m nonetheless open to other
possibilities if the stakes are worthwhile.
Jean Dufresne
SHERBROOKE, QC
Well, Jean, your friend appears to be
one of our disciples. We have also always
insisted on the quality of the source,
and it is true that DVD sound is highly
compressed, with limitations that even
the best electronics cannot overcome.
But…and there is always a “but.”
The priority given the source cannot
be absolute. If it were otherwise, you
would constantly be upgrading your CD
player or turntable, and you would never
think about getting a better amplifier, let
alone better speakers.
Though Dolby Digital sound is not
perfect, it will sound more or less good
according to the quality of the downstream system. Also, remember that
some DVDs have an alternative DTS
soundtrack, which is less compressed
and usually sounds better.
Since you’ve been reading us so
long, you’ll understand the following
comparison. Think back to a time
when all phono pickups were made with
elliptical stylii and high inductance
I have a Naim 3.5 CS player with a
Flat Cap power supply, a Conrad-Johnson
Premier 14 preamp combined with a Mark
Levinson 23.5 amplifier, and a pair of
Energy Veritas 1.8 speakers. None of these
was selected for the current house I have.
(Eight moves in 17 years says it all).
Turns out the Veritas are a little
overwhelming in the bass area in my large
living/dining room. This fact, combined with
a very positive previous experience with a
pair of the original Aerius from the other
“ML” manufacturer (Martin-Logan, that
is), is driving me back to flat speakers, one of
which I have recently auditioned, the Magnepan 1.6. Curiously, I do not remember
any review from your magazine on those.
The American mags have a good word on
the 3.6, but their size do not make them a
favorable choice for my current environment
(I’ll maybe have better luck on my next
relocation).
Still what’s your insight on that technology and that specific model?
Would there be a benefit in trading
the C-J for a Naim preamp, based on a
hypothetical manufacturer design integration with the CD player, or is this a case of
“if there’s nothing wrong with it, leave it
alone”?
Benoît Labelle
HULL, QC
Since we would expect very good
results from both the Conrad-Johnson
and the Naim, we probably wouldn’t
try to fix what ain’t broke, Benoît. It’s
possible you would prefer the Naim
to the C-J, but equipment swaps are
I have read and enjoyed your review of
the Foundation Research LC-2 line conditioner (UHF No. 58). I understand you
have adopted it as a component, connecting it
to the YBA power amp in one of the reference
systems.
The technical information on the LC-2
states that it’s good for a Class AB power amp
of 240 watts total (both channels) maximum.
FR also states it can deliver current somewhere in the area of 20 amps. Have you ever
connected it to a more powerful amp, like the
W-5? If so, did it restrict dynamics?
I heard through the grapevine that Ed
Wolkow is developing an LC-3 for the largest amps. Have you heard anything about
this?
Ed Wong
VANCOUVER, BC
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Free Advice
inevitably costly, and we wouldn’t do it
without a reason. In general, mixing and
matching brands presents no problem,
though some manufacturers may have
understandable reasons for suggesting
otherwise.
Some years ago we had an opportunity to review Magneplanars, but
back then our Alpha reference system,
which is in a small room, was our only
system, and fitting large planar speakers into it was out of the question. We
did review the Martin-Logan Aerius in
that room (UHF No. 39), but even that
was a stretch. We have of course heard
several Magneplanar models under good
conditions. They offer both advantages
and drawbacks, like all other speakers,
and their fan club rivals that of Star
Trek in its enthusiasm. In the right room
you might be really pleased with them.
However, unless your series of moves is
at an end (they say three moves equals
one fire), you may want to choose speakers that will work well with any size and
configuration of room.
By the way, our experience with larger
Energy Veritas speakers is that the way
they are built allows them to feed a lot
of low-frequency energy into the floor,
which unfortunately doesn’t vanish…it
returns to add a rather ugly bottomend signature to the music. When we
reviewed the Veritas v2.8 in UHF No. 53,
we found a major improvement when we
put them up on Tenderfoot cones rather
than the spikes supplied.
*Brass is 28% IACS conductivity (International Annealed Copper Standard) where copper is 100% IACS.
Our LC-2 works well with our YBA
One, Ed, but we have heard it sound
much less good with some large amplifiers, especially tube amplifiers. The
LC-3 never did reach production, and
has reportedly been replaced on the
drawing board by the LC-100, which
uses different technology.
My system consists of a Rega Planet
2000, Linn Pre-Tek, Bryston 3B (original,
but it just came back from Bryston last
year with all new insides: caps, outputs
transformer, etc.), Paradigm Studio 40
v.2 speakers, and a Monster Power 2600
with high quality interconnects and speaker
cables.
About two years ago I wrote you and
asked for some advice about my system being
a little uninvolving, and asking for help. I
appreciated the help you gave me, and ended
up buying a Rega Planet, and finding my
amplification for a good deal on the used
market.
If I could never upgrade again I would
find it livable, but like all other audio
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
9
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Free Advice
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nuts/music lovers, I am wanting to be closer
to the music. Currently I find the system a
little forced and strained. I know my Rega
has more to offer than what I am hearing,
so I am looking at my speakers and amps. I
was hoping that you could help me out and
tell me your initial thoughts on the Totem
Rainmakers.
Two major bonuses of the Rainmakers
are that they are very affordable, and seeing
as my current stands are already filled with
shot (and too heavy to ship), I can use them
for some additional savings.
Also the Rainmakers are relatively easy
to drive (compared to the Hawks and Model
One), which means I can sell my current
amplification and buy a high quality lowerpowered integrated instead of spending a
small fortune on high-quality, high-powered
separates. I was thinking of the Bryston B60,
Simaudio I-3 and Plinius 8200, or even a
YBA Intégré.
I am really just trying to get closer to
the music and feel what the artist is trying
to relate. Whatever speaker I choose needs
to have life emanating from it. When I am
listening to someone singing, I would like it to
10
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
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59 REGINA ST. N.
WATERLOO, ONTARIO N2J 3A6
(519) 885-4750
sound like the singer is in the same room with
me, and the same goes for instruments.
Nick Way
CRANBROOK, BC
The Rainmaker is indeed reviewed in
this issue, Nick. This is an inexpensive
speaker, possibly destined to replace the
Totem Rokk, which has always left us a
little cool.
We’re pleased to say that the Rainmaker is much more “Totem-like” than
the Rokk, and we do mean that as a
compliment. However we would point
out that Totem has other speakers that
could be driven fairly easily, including
the Arro and the Sttaf. Both cost more
than the Rainmaker. They don’t need
stands, but you’ve got them.
I have an older (used, mid 80’s?) Rega
Planar 3 turntable with RB300 arm. The
RB300 had the bearings replaced by Rega
about 12 years ago. At that time I also had
a Rega Elys cartridge installed. Recently I
found the cartridge seemed to be riding low,
and was told by a Rega dealer technician that
the cantilever mount was at fault.
I had a Shure Me95ED cartridge, which
I installed with a new stylus sourced from
new Shure stock. It sounds fine to me.
A friend of mine gave me his Sony PSX40 turntable which he bought with a Shure
V15 Type III mounted. The original stylus is
damaged. A new stock stylus from Shure will
cost about $150 plus tax. It is the VN35MR
Microridge, which turns out to be an upgrade
from the original hyperelliptical stylus.
This is still quite an investment for an
old cartridge. Do you think that the V15
Type III will mate well with the RB300 (will
shims be needed, etc.)? Would I be better off
investing in a newer cartridge (the Audio
Technica 440ML could be had for about the
same price as the Shure stylus), or is the V15
Type III worth keeping? It must have been a
good cartridge for Shure to keep manufacturing replacement styli for so long.
Keith Tombs
LADYSMITH, BC
Keith, the V15, in its various incarnations, has long been Shure’s top phono
cartridge. It had advantages that were
difficult to beat: though its stated list
price was high, its street price could be
surprisingly low, and it was initially alone
among affordable cartridges in having a
line contact stylus, offering better tracking and lower noise than a conventional
elliptical stylus.
However the V-15, right through
version IV, shared a major flaw with
most moving magnet pickups of the
day: its high inductance limited its high
frequency response, and the extreme
highs you could hear were the product
of resonances in the cantilever. It was
only with version V, released 20 years
ago, that more powerful neodynium
magnets allowed Shure to reduce coil
size and reproduce highs in natural fashion. We wouldn’t spend $150 on a stylus
for version III. The Audio-Technica
440ML is a much more modern pickup
and includes a line contact stylus.
It’s possible that you’ll need to add
spacers to your Rega arm, but it’s worth
the trouble.
I have asked advice before and you have
been very helpful with my selection of a YBA
DT Intégré. I am very happy with this amp,
which just never seems to run out of steam.
I now want to turn my attention to my
digital source. I have a multitude of boxes
which make it up. The transport is a Cambridge CD4, the DAC is a heavily modded
MSB Link DAC III with a Monolithic
high current power supply, and I also have
a Monarchy Audio 24/96 upsampler unit
feeding the MSB Link.
I have auditioned many one-box players
in the sub-$2K Canadian range, but I have
yet to find one that offers anything better
than my current setup. I recall listening to
the Audio Aero Prima, and I was impressed
with its “wall of sound” effect. I find that
most CD players I have auditioned offer a
good centre (2-D) soundstage, but I haven’t
found one yet that offers the side-to-side and
front-to-back 3-D soundstage.
Dan Fillion
HAMILTON ON
I recently purchased the Cambridge
Audio Azur 640A integrated amp and
640C CD player (using an Atlas Equator
interconnect), and paired them with the
Quad 11L bookshelf speakers. I am fortunate to have a dedicated music room — 10
x 12 feet in size — with plaster walls and
hardwood floors.
I absolutely loved the sound of the system
at the store. Unfortunately, in my room the
new system sounds harsh, especially at higher
volume levels. I suspect that part of the problem is the size of the room and the abundance
of hard surfaces. Any recommendations on
warming up the sound?
J.S. Haick
TORONTO, ON
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Well, Dan, there are people who
would say your three-brand player is a bit
of a kluge, and it’s certain that lots can
go wrong in a complex setup. However
you’ve spent some money on it, and by
what you say it works pretty well. Should
we be surprised that at least some $2000
player can’t match it?
Fortunately, the sort of quality we’ve
associated with very high end players has
found its way down into prices that don’t
result in foreclosure on your mortgage.
We’ve said good things about affordable
players from Creek, Vecteur and Rega,
to name only three. One of these might
match your present player. Whether
one of them might actually be better is
something you’ll have to discover.
YourYour
shortlist…
shortlist…
www.europroducts-canada.com
Well, we think at least one of your
suspicions is correct: the abundance of
hard surfaces is playing hob with the
sound. (Did you ever play hob? It’s even
tougher than quidditch, though possibly
less dangerous.) Of course your room’s
tiny dimensions are also causing some
problems, especially at lower frequencies, with standing wave frequencies
tending to bunch up, but the harshness
is at the other end of the spectrum.
Solving this problem is a process
that defies summarizing, and we would
recommend Paul Bergman’s acoustics
series in UHF No. 30 through 36, as well
as the acoustics chapter in our book, The
World of High Fidelity. Still, perhaps we
can make some suggestions.
The hard surfaces in your room are
allowing high frequency sound waves to
bounce off with little attenuation, and
to make hundreds, possibly thousands,
of trips across the room before dying
out. The result is that the sound seems
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to be coming from multiple sources,
and — worse yet — it keeps right on
coming, smearing the music. It seems
evident that adding soft surfaces, such
as carpets and curtains, will reduce
the number of bounces somewhat, but
some of these additions will attenuate
high frequency reverberation without
having much effect on lower frequencies,
including the midrange. The midrange
is of course where most of the music is
found.
A thick carpet with a thick natural
fibre underlay can do a lot. So can heavy
drapes, with lots of folds, hung behind
the speakers a few centimeters out from
the rear wall.
That’s only a start, but it’s where we
would begin.
I own a Linn Basik turntable with an
Akito arm. Recently the arm refuses to play
to the end of some of my albums. It just sticks
there towards the end of the last song. I have
made sure that the setup is correct and that
the turntable is level. Do you have any suggestions? I enjoy reading your magazine.
Jan Palmer
QUISPAMSIS, NB
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enjoythemusic.com
Brat
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M1
The speaker is one of the best pieces of high-end equipment to grace my living room.
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and so I have to disagree with him, at least circuit, but it is dedicated to these two. I have
This is a really easy one, Jan.
tried floating the grounds.
Like most tone arms, the Akito is not from my subjective experience.
Chris Barnsley
designed to rotate 360 degrees, but only
I just hate to think about using a different
HAMILTON,
ON
far enough to travel from the arm rest to speaker, and, judging from your review you
the outer edge of the record label. What might be loath to give them up as well.
You’ve wondered whether you should, finally, find out what’s so enjoyable about
Chris, normally we would trot out a
has happened is that the entire arm post
By the way, I think your Web site is the
Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and all those other composers celebrated years and
number
of suggestions, but since you’ve
has been turned counterclockwise, so best I have seen for my hi-fi interests.
even centuries after their death? But you didn’t know where to start?
tried
them
all you’re saved us the trouble.
that the arm reaches the end of its travel
Grant Fergeson
This collection of 50 gold audiophile CDs of European artists is how to build
As
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before getting all the way over to the end
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
a basic library all at once. For just $4 per CD, an unheard of price.
have
eliminated
all of the obvious posof the final track.
Please understand, these aren't old mono transfers by fourth rate artists. All
We
also
disagree
wit
h
R
ichard
Here’s how to fix it. Around the arm
sibilities, the one that remains, no matter
of these recordings are in natural stereo, and includes some of the world’s most
base are two screws that hold the arm in Vandersteen concerning two-way speak- how outlandish, must be the correct one.
celebrated artists, from England, Austria and other European countries.
place. You’ll need an Allen (hexagonal) ers, Grant, because we are all too aware And the possibility that remains is a
And we’re not talking about mere excerpts, what some critics refer to sackey to loosen them. Before you do, put a of the sonic damage caused by complex gross level mismatch between the Audio
rcastically as “one hundred musical orgasms.” These are complete works. Want
pencil line along the arm pillar where it crossover networks (we have the great- Aero and the Simaudio.
to hear Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony? All four movements are here.
goes into the base, so that you can set the est respect for Richard’s own work,
For anyone reading this who is not
Want Vivaldi’s four Seasons. All four concertos are here, complete.
arm to the same height (we’re assuming however).
familiar with the components in quesThe whole collection is just $199.95 (Canadian), exclusive from UHF’s
the height is correct in the first place).
There’s a good reason your Arcam tion, some explanation is required.
Audiophile Store.
Rotate the arm slightly clockwise, so that amplifier has no tone controls: we con- Unlike most CD players, the Capitole
Hear samples on line. Or order the 69 minute sampler CD for $10, and get a
it is free to travel all the way to the label sider such controls to be distortion gen- includes its own tube preamplifier.
$10 credit if you decide to get the whole set.
edge. And then tighten those screws so erators, and we look with suspicion on That’s why you don’t need your I-3’s own
And you will.
they are really firm. We’d bet they were any amplifier designer who thinks they preamp section: you can feed the player
a bit loose to start with, and that’s how are a good idea. Though an upscale CD directly to the power amplifier section
your arm got turned.
player may well give you a more solid and of this integrated amp.
extended bottom end, there’s not much
Now here’s the problem. The player’s
I enjoyed reading your review of a pair to be done to extend the low-end exten- analog volume control is followed by a
of speakers I own, the Castle Inversion 15’s. sion of the small Castle Inversions. Oh... tube buffer stage. Tubes need not suffer
I use an Arcam 10 integrated amp/preamp except what you suggest: a subwoofer.
excessively from hum, but since their
with them and an Arcam CD player. These
The Vandersteen sub is probably a hum level depends on the individual tube
speakers and the Arcam are a beautiful good choice. Years ago, in UHF No. 23, and not simply on the circuit design, it
match, very musical and a perfect joy to listen we successfully matched one to a pair is not unusual for tubes to have detectto.
of Quad ESL-63 electrostatic speakers, able hum. On the other hand, Simaudio
However, there has been a lack of a a major challenge. We’re not sure the amplifiers have higher gain than most.
sturdy low frequency foundation and power Vandersteen would be the best option for This probably means that you can’t turn
to much of the programming. There are a home theatre system that needs major up the Capitole’s volume very high.
individual recordings where this seems not kicking power, but its gentle and subtle When you run its volume control low,
so distracting, but I find myself increasingly work is a good choice for a music system it sends a diminished music signal to the
unsatisfied by the status quo. The Arcam such as yours.
output. Any hum from the tube buffer
has no tone controls, so solutions will have to
won’t be diminished, however, since it
I have an Audio Aero Capitole MkII originates after the volume control.
come through a better CD player or a speaker
change. The Arcam CD is middle of the road CD player running directly to my Simaudio
There are only three possible cures.
at best but still a decent player. I will probably I-5’s amp section, bypassing the Simaudio’s
You can lower the gain of the Capget a more sophisticated unit at some point internal preamp.
itole’s buffer, you can lower the gain of
I’m getting a very slight hum from the the Simaudio’s amplifier stage, or you
anyway, so I am focused on the speakers for
speakers when run this way. I’m told that can get a pair of inline attenuators (a
now.
I am looking, therefore, at adding a Audio Aero and Simaudio inherently have feedthrough plug that drops level by
Vandersteen 2Wq powered subwoofer to the this problem when run together in this mode. 10 dB), such as the one from Rothwell
system. What do you think of this idea? I I’ve tried switching cables, the Audio Aero Audio Products). The third solution
want to have it blend seamlessly with the dealer has tried various grounding options, is the only one that won’t require a
current setup, or it won’t be worth it. I spoke and I have very good power conditioning on technician and make your equipment
with Mr.. Vandersteen and he thought that a dedicated line. I’m at a loss. When I use impossible to resell.
the 16 cm woofer in the Castle would work the Simaudio I-5 in normal integrated mode,
I feel pretty stupid as I write this, but I
well with his 2Wq subwoofer, although he there is no hum.
There
are
no
other
components
in
the
have
done a stupid thing!
is in general not impressed with two-way
mix.
Chassis-to-chassis
ground
has
been
Our
CBC reception is pretty terrible
speaker systems and their midrange capabilitried.
The
cables
are
all
Cardas.
The
player
through
my
receiver, so when I found an old
ties. I have heard several two-way designs
and
amplifier
are
on
the
same
electrical
set
of
bunny
ears without a base, I thought
that are great, those of Linn for example,
Free Advice
Discover classical music
14
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Rega
ProAc
Neat
Naim
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic”
Sir Arthur C. Clarke
hi fi fo fum
The Goods
Are
Odd,
But
!
The
Odds
Are
Good
935 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto 416-421-7552
Ringmat
Royd
When setting up loudspeakers in a
room, isn’t it also important to make sure
that either the distance to the side wall or the
wall behind do not equal the distance from
the woofer to the floor?
John Tiong
SIBU, Sarawak, Malaysia
Visonik
What an interesting question, John…
if of course you meant it as a question!
In the absolute you’re right, and that
goes for a lot of other dimensions too,
starting, naturally, with room dimensions. Distances of all sorts should,
ideally, not be identical, nor should they
be multiples of each other. Otherwise the
standing waves will get reinforced.
But it’s difficult to avoid some relationships, and in the case of the wooferto-floor distance, it may not be worth
bothering about. At low frequencies,
the woofer itself is not the only source
of sound. Indeed, in some speakers the
enclosure actually radiates more lowfrequency energy than the driver itself.
If your speaker were an infinitely small
point source, as the ideal loudspeaker
would be, then it might be worth paying
attention to its distance from floor and
sidewalls.
I recently purchased the Cambridge Audio
A500 integrated amp and a D500SE CD
player (using AR interconnects), and paired
them with the Paradigm Monitor Series
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
15
Free Advice
Your system is a basic one, Pierre,
but you have a reasonable source, okay
amp, and elderly but decent speakers. Of
course you may at some point want to
plan a (possibly gradual) upgrade, but we
do think that at the moment your cables
are the weak point.
We know the Prisma interconnects
well, since our own Audiophile Store
sells them. Their main claim to fame:
much better connectors than most
economy cables, and a wonderful choice
to replace free junk cords. As for Audiostream cables, it’s easy to do way better,
and you should. Those two improvements will give you both the sparkle
and an increased dose of magic, not to
mention sound that is both warmer and
more pleasant.
Epos
Isoblue
Crimson
Eichmann
My existing setup: a dedicated electrical
outlet, Creek 4140 s2 integrated amplifier,
Cambridge CD500se CD player, Prisma
interconnects, Audiostream speaker cables
in and out of a Mirage BPS 100 gently set
up to Camber 3.5 ti loudspeakers.
Not the system of my dreams, but a
warm and pleasant sound for almost all
kinds of music (but definitely not the “nec
plus ultra” for appreciating big orchestras).
Of course I would like the music to expand
out of the speakers with a little more sparkle
and magic.
What would be your suggestions for
valuable and progressive upgrades? Is
this system worth the investment of better
interconnects and speaker cables, or should I
keep it as it is?
Pierre Vaillancourt
LAVAL, QC
Creek
Ecosse
There’s an old saying in electronic
circles, Victor, sort of a variant on
Murphy’s Law: during any electronic
malfunction, a major component will
always burn out in time to protect the
fuse.
Yes, the amplifier is supposed to be
protected against short circuits, but
Murphy supersedes all that. In our
amplifier reviews, we often note that a
unit is protected against short circuits
by a fuse, breaker, or current-limiting
circuit, but we never, ever test this out for
ourselves.
Oh…except when we do it inadvertently, just as you did. Don’t feel bad. It
happens to us too.
Arcam
Cyrus
I would use that as an antenna. I took the
bunny ears and started waving them about
to see if I could improve the reception. I
accidently waved them across the speaker
terminals on my speakers. Well, there was
a loud pop, or amplified signal, that faded
out as I pulled the plug on the amplifier, a
Celeste 4150se. I thought I had blown the
speaker, but I then plugged the speakers into
the receiver, and verified that they are both
working. Obviously there is an amplifier
problem.
Are you able to tell me what I have done?
I must have shorted out the amplifier. Will I
have caused major damage? Are amplifiers
not protected against this kind of stupidity?
Victor Curell
TERRACE, BC
Compact Monitor speakers. A Rega Planar
3 completes my equipment. I absolutely
loved the sound at first, but now I am not
so sure about the speaker. I am using heavy
gauge speaker wire and I am bi-wiring the
system.
What am I doing wrong ? Any recommendations? What would be the better choice
of speakers for this system? The speakers
seem dull, muted, not loud enough, maybe??
I don’t know…
Stanko Botic
WESTBANK, BC
It does seem likely that your speakers
are not up to the quality of your player
and amplifier. You could certainly have
done worse, buying one of those famous
name hollow boxes that wouldn’t even
stay together if it weren’t for the imitation wood veneer. Better speakers would
be indicated, though of course which
ones would depend on what budget you
can free up. In general we don’t recommend making small upgrades, because
trading equipment is always costly.
But the cables could possibly use an
upgrade too. Your AR interconnects
might be one place to start. As for the
“heavy gauge speaker wire,” we presume
you are using some of the inexpensive
generic speaker wire available from
diverse sources. We’ve actually reviewed
such cables, and they were the very worst
we have ever heard. Your initial upgrade
should definitely include them.
You can have it all
in Toronto...
Creek
Cyrus
DNM
Epos
Eichmann
Isoblue
Ringmat
Soundcare
Visonik
Free Advice
I have a question regarding tube amp
design and why certain tubes are only used
in certain configurations.
A friend recently purchased a Mastersound Due Venti 220 S.E. (single-ended)
class-A, integrated amplifier that uses four
EL34 tubes in a single-ended configuration.
I had just purchased an EL34 tube integrated
amplifier myself after listening to many
different models from many manufactures,
all of them push-pull designs. I eventually
settled on the Audiomat Arpège Référence,
considering it to be superior to all but the
more expensive Audiomat amplifiers such as
the Prélude Reference and the Opéra.
When I took my amplifier over to my
friend’s house to compare our respective
choices, and secretly with the intention of
trouncing his amplifier, I was astounded by
what I heard. The sound from the Master-
sound single-ended integrated was so lifelike
and realistic that for the first time in all my
years of listening seriously to audio equipment have I had the experience of thinking
that the singer was actually in the room
singing just for me. So realistic was the
midrange of the single-ended amp that its
reproduction of vocals was actually spooky.
Now I understand why so many people
pour so much money into their systems: to
reach this benchmark. Moreover the highs,
particularly with regard to the reproduction
of the harp and violin, were just astounding.
The single-ended designed only was bettered
by the Arpège in terms of bass information,
but not weight.
I’m recounting this experience not to
compare one manufacturer’s product against
another’s, but to ask about amplifier design
topology, independently of who is making the
respective amps. I have owned single-ended
amplifiers in the past that have used 300B
tubes and heard ones that have used 845
signal tubes, and both have traditionally
sounded euphonic to me: too artificially warm
and rounded. To the best of my knowledge,
no one else other than Mastersound makes
a single-ended amplifier using EL34 tubes.
But only at....
Hi Fi Fo Fum
935 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto. M4P 2L7
Tel: 416-421-7552
www.hififofum.ca
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
17
Discover the Classics…
at $4 per CD!
It’s all here, with complete works, not mere excerpts: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven,
Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin…a complete classical library
on 50 CDs, enough for a voyage of discovery. And these are gold discs, with good,
sometimes top-grade, artists. And natural sound!
See the complete list of contents, and even listen to on-line excerpts:
Free Advice
www.uhfmag.com/discreviews/Classics.html
This configuration seems like such a logical
choice for a tube amplifier maker as I have
long considered the EL34 tube to be the most
musical tube available (and I know you do
too). Proof of this seems to be vast number
of companies that use the EL34 tube in
push-pull designs. The tube is inexpensive,
especially compared to 300B tubes.
Why don’t other manufacturers use
EL34’s in a single-ended configuration? Is
there a drawback I am not aware of, as this
design path seems just too good to be true?
The Mastersound amp is said to use many
of the same component parts as the higherend models, and my friend says he was told
that it is sold as a loss leader. However, I
know the Audiomat amps are designed with
exquisite attention to detail and use superior
parts as well. Hence, I’m attributing much
of the difference in performance that I heard
to the single-ended vs. push-pull design. I
would love to know your thoughts.
Rick Meyers
VANCOUVER, BC
18
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Rick, there’s a good reason most
makers of single-ended amplifiers use
tubes such as the 300B and the 845, and
at least one manufacturer uses a tube
designed for the output stage of broadcast transmitters! Using one tube instead
of two reduces the available power, for
obvious reasons, and the higher harmonic distortion of a single-ended tube
makes it inadvisable to squeeze every
last milliwatt from it. A big tube gives
you a fighting chance to get a non-trivial
amount of power out of the amplifier.
In the case of the Mastersound
amplifier, there are two EL34 tubes
in each channel, just as there would
in a conventional amplifier, but they
are simply paralleled instead of being
arranged in the usual push-pull arrangement. Push-pull, which is used in nearly
all amplifiers, both tube and transistor,
provides a greater voltage swing and also
cancels out some of the even-harmonic
distortion. Mastersound has sacrificed
this advantage, and has also sacrificed
the lower harmonic distortion it could
have obtained by using inverse feedback.
Talk about playing with fire!
But there is an advantage to singleended operation. That pair of EL34’s is
amplifying all of the sound wave. In a
push-pull amp, one of them would be
amplifying the positive half of the wave
and the other the negative half. It’s
difficult to maintain perfect symmetry
when the tubes cannot be perfectly
identical. Push-pull is way superior to
single-ended at high level, but may sound
less good at very low level, when the
asymmetry becomes more evident.
By the way, using more than one
output device in a single-ended configuration is also a compromise, but then life
is full of compromises.
I have a good CD player now (47 Lab)
and I want to keep it, but would like also to
have a good player for all SACDs and DVDAudio . The Esoteric is quite pricy.
Do you think such players will be more
common in the future and come down in
price? If so, when?
Mark Garmaise
TORONTO, ON
It has already begun happening,
Mark. It’s true that our own player,
the Linn Unidisk 1.1 has come close
to setting records in selling price, but
at the same time other companies have
brought out lower-cost universal players.
One of them, the McCormack UDCP1, is reviewed in the current issue. It is
considerably cheaper than the Esoteric,
and it is worthy of a good music system.
There will be more universal players in
the next year, as Linn licenses out its
technology.
Our own point of view is that one can
now safely afford to ignore DVD-Audio
in favor of SACD, and if you agree, that
will considerably widen your possible
choices. We are searching for affordable
SACD players good enough to make the
technology seem worthwhile.
FREE ADVICE
UHF MAGAZINE, Box 65085
Longueuil, QC, Canada J4K 5J4
OR ON LINE uhfmail@uhfmag.com
Multichannel and Stereo
A
re two channels enough for
musical reproduction? There
has never been a consensus
on this question, and there is
not still today. Do you wish or need to
be “surrounded” by music? Would you
be if you were present at an actual music
venue? Can a multichannel system truly
simulate the sound of such a venue?
That’s a lot of questions. I shall now
set out in search of answers to at least
some of them.
It is common today to hear from
stereo purists who believe that using
more than two channels does not add to
music listening, but actually takes away.
A frequent adjunct to this claim is that ,
after all, we have just two ears.
Whether that is relevant to the present question depends on interpretation
of the nature of stereophonic sound
itself.
The camera has two lenses and takes
two photographs from slightly different
points of view. You then arrange for the
viewer’s left eye to see only the picture
taken with the left lens, and the right eye
to see only the picture taken with the
right lens. The result is a 3-D illusion,
and the impression of solidity.
Could the same principle do wonders
for sound? Of course.
Instead of two lenses, we use two
microphones. You could use unidirec-
tional microphones spaced about 25 cm
apart, like our two ears, then send one
signal to the left ear and the other to the
right ear. Such microphones do exist,
and are sometimes even placed inside a
dummy head.
This t wo-eared approach, f irst
developed in the 19th Century, is today
called binaural sound. Its popularity
was limited by the need to listen with
headphones. I am, of course, aware that
an entire couple of generations listen to
music in that fashion, so binaural could
be slated for a major return.
Binaural sound can indeed sound
“solid,” but many decades ago engineers
set out to provide such 3-D sound with
loudspeakers. The word “stereophonic”
was applied to such multispeaker sound,
though as we shall see it is not always
appropriate.
The birth of stereo
You might be surprised to learn how
old stereo actually is. In the early part of
the last century, one enterprising company brought out two-channel versions
of the cylinder phonograph, with two
horns rather than one. Much of the pioneering work on modern stereophonic
sound was carried out in the 1930’s by
Bell Laboratories, a division of the then
dominant US telephone company, which
Is stereo slated for
replacement? That
depends on what you
mean by stereo.
would later invent the transistor and the
Unix operating system.
Early experiments actually date
back to 1928, but in 1932 Bell Labs
engineer Arthur C. Keller produced
stereo recordings of the Philadelphia
Orchestra, with an enthusiastic Leopold Stokowski conducting. The first
recordings used two separate grooves,
requiring two tone arms and cartridges
to play them. Not long after, however,
the lab produced stereo discs employing the 45-45 groove setup that would
be adopted for the stereo LP nearly a
quarter of a century later.
The engineers at Bell Labs did not,
however, consider two channels to be
ideal, and by 1933 some of their experiments were done with three channels.
Even this, I should add, was considered
a compromise. Bell engineers thought
that the ideal system would use an infinite number of microphones, with the
sound from each reproduced by separate
speakers, also infinite in number. This
is, in my view, where the very concept
of stereo began to shift and become
something quite different.
To be specific, the Bell engineers
put the emphasis on the positioning of
musical instruments. It can be supposed
that with a hundred channels you could
perfectly position each of the hundred instruments of a large symphony
orchestra. If we wish to be a little more
realistic, we could use three channels
to reproduce groups of instruments in
the correct position: violins at left, say,
wind instruments in the centre, and
violas and cellos at right. Attractive
though this compromise then seemed,
a three-channel system was ill-suited to
a disc which had just two groove walls.
Hence the modern state of stereo: much
as we might prefer an infinite number of
channels, we have had to settle for two.
Let us, then, consider the gap that
had opened up between binaural sound,
the original “solid” sound, and the Bell
Labs concept of stereo.
In binaural, and in another interpretation of stereo, the analogy with
stereoscopic photography had been
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
19
Nuts&Bolts
Binaural sound
You don’t need a degree in the
languages of Antiquity to know that
“binaural” means two-eared. That said,
where does “stereo” come in?
The Greek word stereos means “solid,”
or three-dimensional. In the 20th
Century the word “stereo” first became
popular in conjunction with stereoscopic
photography. This is a typical stereo
camera, made by Kodak in the 1950’s.
by Paul Bergman
Nuts&Bolts
Get the whole article
This fascinating article by Paul Bergman is the longest he has ever written for
us. Read the whole thing in our print issue.
preserved: the two microphones were ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
picking up the same signal, but from a eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
slightly different perspective. In the ideal nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
Bell Labs version of stereo, the three dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
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save for inevitable leakage.
dolore diat praesecte tat.
In the two-channel version this was
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not quite true. Early stereo recordings
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were actually three-channel recordings,
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sity for a minimum of three channels
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to reproduce the spread of orchestral
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sound. The centre channel was added
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left and right channels. If the listener sat
in the exact centre position between the
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centre channel.
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
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width.
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very different, concept of stereophonic
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tories, at the British recording company eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
EMI.
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat uerae- nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
strud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Blumlein stereo
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
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utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla eugiamet vulla autatio commod te fac- dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscconsequis dolobortie minit, sequam
idunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem idunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
si.
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipdelissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
erit, siscili quisi.
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
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tisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
20
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Virtual microphones
A Blumlein stereo recording setup is
o Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
Multimicrophone stereo
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quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
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tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore
Quadraphonic sound
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
21
Nuts&Bolts
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
ismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore
Nuts&Bolts
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do
eugiamet vulla autatio commod te facidunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis
22
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit
venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum
niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos
autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercip-
Dolby Surround
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor.
True 5.1 channel surround
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
23
Nuts&Bolts
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do
eugiamet vulla autatio commod te facidunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis
atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit
venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum
niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos
autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
Nuts&Bolts
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Building on Blumlein
I have already mentioned that Alan
Blumlein was aware that playing his
coherent stereo recording through a pair
of widely-spaced loudspeakers would not
24
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
result in correct spatial reproduction.
Over the years there have been attempts
to bring speaker listening closer to binaural headphone listening.
The main problem is that, with
loudspeakers, each of our ears hears
both channels, and not merely the right
or left. One can minimize this channel
“crosstalk” by listening in the nearfield,
in other words from very close to the
speakers. Listening in this fashion
minimizes the contribution of room
reverberation, which tends to diffuse
the source of the sound. You can actually
experience the effect by listening to a
boombox from a couple of feet away.
Other methods have been devised.
Some years back JVC developed a system
which greatly emphasized separation
by cancelling out the channel mixing
electronically. This was done by adding
some of each channel to the other channel, but at lower level (-6 dB) and in
reverse phase. The feeling of depth and
spaciousness was greatly enhanced.
Subsequently, a firm called QSound
built on this idea by adding tailored
out-of-phase signals to each channel.
The early version of QSound was actually used to process some recordings,
including one by Madonna. It turned
out, however, that people listening in
mono (on a non-stereo radio for example)
were hearing something rather messy.
The system was subsequently modified
to improve mono compatibility. QSound
today is used primarily on playback
equipment, including mini-systems and
computers.
Is stereo dead?
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore
Back Issues
THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION:
Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of
print): nine issues available for the price of five
(see below). A piece of audio history. Available
separately at the regular price.
No.70: How SACD won the war…or how
DVD-A blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal player and Shanling SCD-T200 player.
Speakers: Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso,
Equation 25, Wilson Benesch Curve, preview
of muRata super tweeters. Other reviews:
Simaudio W-5LE amp, the iPod as an audiophile source. Plus: future video screens, the
eternal music of George Gershwin, and two
reports from Montréal 2004.
No.69: Tube Electronics: Audiomat Opéra ,
Connoisseur SE-2 and Copland CSA29 integrated amps, and Shanling SP-80 monoblocks.
Also: Audiomat's Phono-1.5, Creek CD50, as
well as a great new remote control, GutWire's
NotePad antivibration device, and a musicrelated computer game that had us laughing
out loud. And there’s more: Paul Bergman on
the return of the vacuum tube, the Vegas 2004
report, and the story of how music critics did
their best to kill the world’s greatest music.
No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus
Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur
I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated amplifiers, Copland 306 multichannel tube preamp,
Rega Fono MC. Also: Audio Note and Copland
CD players, GutWire MaxCon power filter. And
there’s more: all about power supplies, what’s
coming beyond DVD, and a chat with YBA’s
Yves-Bernard André.
No.67: Loudspeakers: A new, improved
Reference 3a MM de Capo, and the awesome
Living Voice Avatar OBX-R. Centre speakers
for surround from Castle, JMLab, ProAc, Thiel,
Totem and Vandersteen. One of them joins
our Kappa system. Two multichannel amps
from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for a
DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop
any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of
acoustics, and women in country music.
No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the
Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state
amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player,
Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control
that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on
biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s
alternative take on music downloading, and a
chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson.
No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog
system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and
phono preamps from Rega, Musical Fidelity
and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system
for home theatre: how we selected our HDTV
monitor, plus a review of the Moon Stellar DVD
player. Anti-vibration: Atacama, Symposium,
Golden Sound, Solid-Tech, Audioprism,
Tenderfeet. Plus an interview with Rega’s
turntable designer, and a look back at what
UHF was like 20 years ago.
No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and
Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré
amp, Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better
batteries for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about
upsampling, an improvement to our LP cleaning machine, an interview with Ray Kimber.
.
No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion
A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 interconnects (Harmonic Technology Eichmann),
5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH ,
Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power
cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology,
Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on
ce
NOTE : Pri
soundproofing, how to compare components
in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away
from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.
mend to friends, ATI 1505 5-channel amp,
Bergman on impedance, why connectors
matter, making your own power bars.
No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I- 4, Musical
Fidelity Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab
MG-S11DT. Passive preamps from Creek and
Antique Sound Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player.
Interconnects: VdH Integration and Wireworld
Soltice. Plus: the right to copy music, and how
it may be vanishing. Choosing a DVD player by
features. And all about music for the movies.
No.50: CD: Cambridge DiscMagic/DACMagic,
Primare D-20, Dynaco CDV Pro. Analog: Rega
Planar 9, Linn LP12 after 25 years. Also:
Moon preamp, Linn Linto phono stage, Ergo
and Grado headphones. Speaker cables:
Linn K-400, Sheffield, MIT 750 Also: 15 years
of UHF.
No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge
Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport.
Speakers: Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM9. Soundcare Superspikes. And: new surround
formats, dezoning DVD players.
No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9,
Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5,
Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage
subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul
Bergman on reproducing extreme lows.
No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi
and Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500.
Plus: Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter.
And: transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital
radio, digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48.
No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10
& I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference,
Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique
Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation
Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord,
Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building
your own machine to clean LP’s.
No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3,
Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super
Triumph Signature, Castle Inversion 15,
Oskar Aulos. PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music
Revolution: the next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi
a Fall Tune-Up.
No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-5, Roksan
Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA
AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem
Forest. Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann,
Audiomat. Interconnects: Actinote, Van den
Hul, Pierre Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on
power and current…why you need both
No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland
CDA-289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other
reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta
ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for
the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the
explosion of off-air video choices.
No.54: Electronics: Creek A52se, Simaudio
W-3 and W-5 amps. Copland CSA-303, Sima
P-400 and F.T. Audio preamps (the latter two
passive). Musical Fidelity X-DAC revisited,
Ergo AMT phones, 4 line filters, 2 interconnects. Plus: Making your own CD’s.
No.53: Loudspeakers:Reference 3a Intégrale,
Energy Veritas v2.8, Epos ES30, Totem
Shaman, Mirage 390is, Castle Eden. Plus: Paul
Bergman on understanding biamping, biwiring,
balanced lines, and more.
No.52: CD players: Alchemist Nexus,
Cambridge CD6, YBA Intégré, Musical Fidelity
X-DAC, Assemblage DAC-2. Subwoofers:
Energy ES-8 and NHT PS-8. Plus: Paul
Bergman on reproducing deep bass, Vegas
report, and the story behind digital television.
No.51: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré DT,
Alchemist Forseti, Primare A-20, NVA AP50
Cambridge A1. CD players: Adcom GCD-750,
Rega Planet. An economy system to recom-
No.49: Power amps: Simaudio Moon, Bryston
3B ST, N.E.W. DCA-33, plus the Alchemist
Forseti amp and preamp, and the McCormack
Micro components. Also: our new Reference
3a Suprema II reference speakers, and a
followup on the Copland 277 CD player. Plus:
how HDCD really works.
No.48: Loudspeakers: JMLabs Daline 3.1,
Vandersteen 3a, Totem Tabù, Royd Minstrel.
CD: Cambridge CD4, Copland CDA-277. Also:
An interview with the founder of a Canadian
audiophile record label.
No.47: FM tuners: Magnum Dynalab MD-108,
Audiolab 8000T, Fanfare FT-1. Speaker cables:
QED Qudos, Wireworld Equinox and Eclipse,
MIT MH-750. Parasound C/BD-2000 transport
and D/AC-2000 converter. And: Upgrading
your system for next to nothing.
No.46: Electronics: Simaudio 4070SE amp &
P-4002 preamp, Copland CTA-301 & CTA-505,
N.E.W. P-3 preamp. Digital cables: Wireworld,
Audiostream, MIT, XLO, Audioprism, and
Wireworld’s box for comparing interconnects.
Also: YBA CD-1 and Spécial CD players. YvesBernard André talks about about his blue diode
CD improvement.
No.45: Integrated amps: Copland CTA-401,
Simaudio 4070i, Sugden Optima 140. CD:
Adcom GDA-700 HDCD DAC, Sonic Frontiers
SFD-1 MkII. Interconnects: Straight Wire
Maestro, 3 versions of Wireworld Equinox.
Plus: Yamamura Q15 CD oil, and “Hi-Fi for the
Financially Challenged”.
No.4 4: CD players: Rotel RCD970BX,
Counterpoint DA-10A DAC. Speakers:
Apogee Ribbon Monitor, Totem Mite, more
on the Gershman Avant Garde. Also: LaserLink cable, “The Solution” CD treatment,
AudioQuest sorbothane feet, Tenderfeet,
Isobearings. Plus: Inside Subwoofers, and
the castrati, the singers who gave their all
for music.
No.43: The first HDCD converter: the EAD
DSP-1000 MkII. Speakers: Gershman Avant
Garde, Totem Mani-2 and Rokk, Quad ESL63 with Gradient subwoofer. Plus: Keith O.
Johnson explains the road to HDCD, and our
editor joins those of other magazines to discuss
what’s hot in audio.
No.42: Electronics: Spectral DMC-12 and
Celeste P-4001 preamplifiers, amps and
preamps from Duson. Also: Sonic Frontiers
SFD-1 converter, power line filters from
Audioprism, Chang, and YBA. Plus: Inside
the preamplifier, and how the tango became
the first “dirty” dance.
No.41: Digital: Roksan DA-2, EAD DSP-7000,
McCormack DAC-1, QED Ref. Digit. Cables:
Straight Wire LSI Encore & Virtuoso, Wireworld
Equinox, van den Hul The 2nd & Revelation,
Cardas Cross & Hexlink Golden, Transparent
Music-Link Super & Music-Wave Super. Plus:
Bergman on recording stereo.
rising in
early 20
05!
960, Sugden A-25B, Sima PW-3000, Linn
Majik, Naim NAIT 3, AMC CVT3030, Duson
PA-75. Stereo: what it is, how it works, why
it’s disappearing from records.
No. 39: Speakers: KEF Q50, Martin-Logan
Aerius, Castle Howard, NEAR 40M, Klipsch
Kg4.2. Plus: QED passive preamps, followup
on the Linn Mimik CD player.
No. 38: CD players: Roksan Attessa, Naim
CDS, Linn Mimik, Quad 67, Rotel 945,
Micromega Model “T”. Plus: How the record
industry will wipe out hi-fi, and why women
have been erased from music history.
No.37: Electronics: Celeste 4070 and McIntosh
7150 amps, Linn Kairn and Klout. Plus:
RoomTunes acoustic treatment, why all
amps don’t sound alike, and how Pro Logic
really works.
No.36: CD players: YBA CD-2, Linn Karik/
Numerik, Sugden SDT-1, Mission DAD5 and
DAC5, Audiolab 8000DAC, QED Digit, Nitty
Gritty LP cleaner, Plus: an interview with
Linn’s Ivor Tiefenbrun, and part 7 of Bergman
on acoustics: building your own acoustical
panels.
No.35: Speakers: Castle Chester, Mirage M7si, Totem Model 1, Tannoy 6.1, NHT 2.3, 3a
Micro Monitor, Rogers LS2a/2. Plus: Tests of
high end video recorders, hi-fi stereo recordings of piano performances of 75 years ago.
Acoustics part 6: Conceiving the room.
No.34: Cables: MIT ZapChord & PC2, Monster
PowerLine 2+, M1, M2 Sigma, Reference 2,
Interlink 400 & MSK2, Straight Wire Maestro,
Isoda HA- 08 -PSR, Audioquest Ruby &
Emerald, AudioStream Twinax, FMS Gold
& Black, NBS Mini Serpent. Acoustics 5:
Diffusing sound. “The Plot to Kill Hi-Fi,” the
much-reprinted article on audio retailing.
No.33: CD players: Spectral SDR-1000SL,
Esoteric P-2/D-2, Micromega Duo.BS, Proceed
PDT2/PDP2 and PCD2, MSB Silver, Esoteric
CD-Z5000, Carver SD/A-490t. The future of
audio, according to Linn’s Ivor Tiefenbrun.
Acoustics part 4: Absorbing low frequencies.
No.32: The Audio Dream Book: Our 152-page
guide to what’s out there. Acoustics part 3:
Taming reverberation.
No.31: Amplifiers: Counterpoint SA-100 and
SA-1000, Audio Research Classic 30, QED
C300 and P300, Sugden Au-41, Audiolab
8000P, Carver C-19, Arcam Delta 110 and 120.
Why balanced lines? Buying audio by mail.
Acoustics part 2: Predicting standing waves.
No.30: Speakers: Castle Winchester, Energy
22.2, P-E Léon Trilogue,NHT 1.3, Celef CF1,
Polk RM3000, Response II by Clements.
Acoustics part 1: Room size and acoustics.
No.29: Turntables: Linn Basik & LP12 with
Lingo. Oracle Delphi MkIV, Oracle Paris.
Pickups: Goldring Excel, 1022 & 1042,
Revolver Bullet, Talisman Virtuoso DTi, Sumiko
Blue Point, Roksan Shiraz. Test CD’s. Dorian’s
Craig Dory.
No.28: Integrated amps: Linn Intek, Naim NAIT
2, Arcam Alpha II, Audio Innovations 500 II,
Mission Cyrus Two, Creek 4141, Sugden A-21.
Aiwa cassette deck, a guide to distortion.
To see a list of older issues:
http://www.uhfmag.com/Individualissue.html
No.40: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré, Rotel
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WBT Gets Religion
Rendezvous
W
ell, perhaps religion isn’t
the right word, but this
famous German connector manufacturer
has long kept the faith, and brought both
disciples and apostles together (include
us in both of those categories). The faith:
a connector must connect under pressure, else it isn’t truly connected at all.
Now there is a new article of the faith:
a connector must have enough metal to
get the job done, and not a molecule
more.
Gabriele Hofmann is vice-president
of WBT, responsible for sales and marketing. We talked with her about the
company’s “nextgen” minimum-metal
connectors.
UHF: How old is WBT now?
Hofmann: It’s exactly 19 years old, it
began in 1985.
UHF: And how did it start? Was there a
strong public demand for a better connector?
Hofmann: I don’t think so. The company grew out of the experiments of
Wolfgang Thörner. He realized that the
connectors of the time were not up to the
26
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
quality of the equipment available. He
saw that the quality of amplifiers, CD
players and loudspeakers was constantly
improving, and that this was true even
of mass-market products, but that connectors were not improving accordingly.
He therefore began looking closely at
connectors, especially RCA connectors,
because there was not even a standard
size. He searched for a solution in that
area in particular, and he created the
famous WBT-0100. This first connector
was solid and made perfect contact with
the jack. Consumers had a good chance
of installing the cable solidly, since it
was easy to solder, it used Teflon as an
insulator, and it was adjustable.
UHF: Because of the collar…
Hofmann: Yes, you could tighten the
collar by turning the outside sleeve.
This clamping device was the subject of
WBT’s first patent.
UHF: Was there an initial resistance on the
part of manufacturers to this new connector
that was, inevitably, expensive?
Less metal…does it
result in more sound?
Hofmann: It took some years to convince dealers and the audio industry
that this new sort of connector was an
essential component of a quality product.
What’s interesting is that it was initially
the consumer who first adopted these
phono and banana plugs, and convinced
dealers to pick them up. The improvement was audiophile-driven.
UHF: So initially WBT connectors were
perceived as a sort of tweak.
Hofmann: Yes, exactly. Then the dealers followed, realizing how much interest
there was. The industry reacted years
later, because the dealer demand was
there.
We’re often asked why we go to
shows and explain to consumers the
details of crimping and the like, instead
of staying in our role of supplier. But
we know where we’ve come from, and
we know how the different sectors of
the industry — consumers, dealers and
manufacturers — interact.
UHF: One price you’ve paid as a result of
your success is that your products are widely
imitated.
Hofmann: Yes, and it’s not a problem
we had anticipated at all. We hadn’t
expected that the way we build our
connectors would be so popular that our
Taiwanese and Chinese friends would
want to adopt our designs too. Our RCA
connectors have been especially copied.
I can’t count how many times we have
resorted to lawyers. It’s less of a problem
now, but we have had to fight to insure
that a connector that looks like a WBT
also has WBT quality.
UHF: Which is not always the case.
Hofmann: In the case of copies, certainly not. Some consumers have actually returned to us products that turned
out to be counterfeits, even though they
had paid WBT prices.
UHF: You’ve also been attacked by competitors whose designs are different from yours,
and who claim that what you make is not
the best, that your locking system is not a
good idea.
Hofmann: Not really.
UHF: We’re thinking about Tiffany, for
instance.
Hofmann: (laughs). Yes, but we haven’t
been much attacked by anyone else. The
industry adopted us because using WBT
connectors meant one less problem.
copper or pure silver, and make a connector with 75 ohm impedance, at the
same time. The impedance of a connector is determined by its geometry.
We’re proud of the fact that, with
our nextgen WBT-0110 plug and WBT0210 RCA jack, we can offer connectors
which make a perfect match, especially
with digital cables.
UHF: The nextgen connectors must be soldered. WBT has always favored crimping.
Hofmann: Absolutely, and we still do,
particularly with speaker connections,
where proper soldering is sometimes
difficult to accomplish. Our best Topline
RCA connector is the 0108, which is
a crimp-type connector, but with the
nextgen crimping hasn’t been possible
as a first step.
Still, we haven’t halted our development. Our original RCA connectors
were solder types, and the crimping
system was developed only later. With
the nextgen it’s more complicated,
because we’re no longer using an alloy,
but pure copper, which is a very soft
material. So making a crimping connector, with fine threading and tiny
screws…that won’t be easy. Take a look
inside one of the nextgens, and imagine
connecting a crimped wire in there.
UHF: It would be difficult.
Hofmann: You see, the metal parts
inside the nextgen are essentially just a
small extension of the wire itself. Perhaps
Mr. Thörner will find a solution, but we
have to consider the possibility that the
nextgen idea will stop here.
UHF: Will there be nextgen bananas or
binding posts?
Hofmann: Certainly. The pure copper
banana has long been on our drawing
board. However WBT has a great many
manufacturers among its clients, and
so our first point of focus has been the
binding post. That will be next, and the
banana will follow. However we need to
design it so that anyone can easily solder
to it. That means using a material that
won’t melt, but also one that is very rigid,
because it will make up the body of the
connector. We use Ultramid for the
body of our nextgen RCA’s, because it’s
very strong, and inside we use Dyneon,
which resists heat.
And of course we have maintained
the principle of the collet-chuck device,
which can be tightened. The collet is
made of aluminum and magnesium, but
it is electrically insulated from ground.
However it helps protect the hot lead
against external interference.
So we’ve made what we think is the
ideal compromise, minimizing the metal
used in the ground lead, but without
abandoning shielding.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
27
Rendezvous
There were such wide size tolerances in
RCA plugs in particular, that our adjustable connectors offered the only way to
insure a tight connection.
UHF: How much importance do you give to
metallurgy, the quality of metals used?
Hofmann: A great deal. But we especially emphasize mechanical integrity.
We believe in a tight contact plus a
good basic material, which is to say a
material that has the greatest conductivity possible. Most of all, whatever the
material, it must make contact under the
greatest possible pressure, and the most
constant pressure. We’ve always used
materials that allowed us to put together
a mechanically complex structure. It’s
always been a copper alloy.
Our Midline connectors contain
somewhat less copper than our Topline
connectors, for reasons of economy. But
we do consider the best materials to be
either copper or pure silver, which offers
the highest conductivity. Our sandwich
spade, which came out in 1998, is made
of either pure copper or pure silver. We
will shortly be launching a binding post
made from pure copper also. We tried
to use the same materials in our RCA
connectors, but the mechanical requirements made that impossible. The parts
in an RCA plug are much smaller.
UHF: And therefore more fragile.
Hofmann: Exactly. We’ve been around
for two decades, and people expect
our products to be stable and to work
perfectly. So designs take a little longer
at WBT than at certain companies that
don’t have this history and responsibility.
UHF: WBT connectors have always been
high-mass, but your nextgen connectors contain much less metal. It’s a new departure.
Hofmann: Absolutely. You could even
say it is for us a major step forward in a
totally different direction. We’ve been
happy with past designs, and we’ve kept
using pure copper or pure silver conductor materials as the goal. However we
know that, when you have a hot lead
with a massive ground surrounding it,
the electrical field can cause a magnetic
field, and vice versa. Our experiments
indicated that, if you just open the closed
circle of metal around the hot lead, you
avoid eddy currents.
And it has been possible to use pure
Think Small: Eichmann Connectors
E
Rendezvous
verything about the cables
from Eichmann, an upstart
manufacturer in Australia,
is…well, different. And that
goes right down to its connectors.
Eichmann was the first manufacturer to
design most of the metal out of its phono
plugs and bananas. Of course there’s a
theory behind the design. We talk with
Eichmann’s Managing Director, Rob
Woodland.
UHF: Tell us about first meeting Keith
Eichmann.
Woodland: I met Keith Eichmann by
chance in 1997 when sourcing material
from a local cable manufacturer in Brisbane. It appeared we were the two people
in Brisbane prototyping high end cables,
so the manufacturer put us together.
As it turned out, Keith’s theories on
cable and connector design were more
compelling than mine.
We collaborated for a couple of
years to turn theory into practice, and
in 1999 Keith proposed an arrangement
whereby I would license his technology
and commercialize the products. Hence
the start of Eichmann Technologies
International.
The Company now exports products
to over 30 countries, and our connectors
are used by over 60 cable manufacturers
around the world.
UHF: Eichmann’s designs are certainly
more unusual than those of most other cable
designers. What convinced you that he was
right, and that so many others are wrong?
If “wrong” is the word.
Woodland: Keith Eichmann’s philosophy is to preserve electron flow from
wall socket to loudspeaker. For example,
our AC cable incorporates a unique
fractal shape that reduces resonance
and provides a cleaner flow of electrons
to the power supplies of components.
The interconnect and speaker cables
incorporate an EMF buffer system to
protect electrons in the signal carrying conductors, while our Bullet Plug
and Bayonet Plug connectors deliver
electrons in the most efficient manner
to sockets and binding posts.
The philosophy involves thinking
28
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
small. Very small! At the electron level,
and then designing a methodology to
enhance electron flow. However, the
proof is always in the listening, and this
is where I was convinced the Eichmann
philosophy is correct. In fact, the first
time I listened to a prototype Bullet
Plug, I was amazed by the detail, dynamics and transparency that was completely
hidden when using standard RCA connectors.
In a similar sense, the initial Eichmann cable designs also provided more
musical information and holographic
imaging when compared to many other
High-End cables. I recall telling Keith
that his cable was the great “untangler,”
where separation of detail was better
than anything previously encountered.
UHF: Was the idea behind the Bullet
plug and the Bayonet plug — that is,
using a minimum amount of metal —
part of Keith’s original designs?
Woodland: To a certain extent this is
correct, however our objective is always
to use the “optimum” rather than “minimum” amount of metal. That is, the right
mass and thickness of material to support current flow but to minimise skin
effect problems. When I mention skin
effect, hackles will raise on the half of
the audiophile community that believes
skin effect is not a concern at audio
frequencies. This may be so, however
when you listen to music via an optimum
thickness of metal connector rather than
a large thickness of metal connector, it is
evident that some electrical phenomenon
is taking place.
In the Bullet Plug, the hollow signal
pin not only allows for an optimum
thickness of metal to be achieved, but
also allows for connection of the signal
wire at the “tip” of the pin, which is
beneficial for many cable designs. The
hollow pin isn’t a new idea, as SME (and
perhaps other companies) adopted the
same principal for tonearm lead RCA
connectors decades ago.
In the Bayonet Plug (banana) connector, we again use the optimum amount of
metal — but this time to support genuine
current flow provided by the amplifier.
One of the more popular banana plug
designs on the market is a laboratory
connector with an extremely thin metal
contact pin. This is an example of too
little mass, where the contact pin doesn’t
support current flow. The result is a thin
sound, lacking in bass foundation. On
the other side of the coin we have huge
connectors that sound slow, colored and
bloated.
In most standard RCA and banana
plug designs, electrons have to travel
through large amounts of metal, in many
cases poor conductive brass. During
that process electrons are impacted in
a negative sense. For optimum electron
flow, we require an optimum mass and
thickness of the metal.
UHF: But hold on, high metal mass doesn’t
necessarily mean that the electrons have to
travel through a large amount of metal.
The signal path in many connectors may be
broad, but it isn’t necessarily long. Is that
still a problem?
Woodland: This is a good point.
However, when I say electrons travel
“through” metal, this encompasses travel
on the surface of the metal, and at depth
depending on frequency. When you have
a broad section of metal, electrons don’t
just go through the metal to reach the
In comparison, a hardwired system
is likely to sound clean, transparent and
open, with a wealth of detail. Images are
separated and solid in a three-dimensional sound stage. The stopping and
starting of notes is more precise, leading
to an engaging, exciting sound.
In the development of our connectors, we set out to design “no plug” at
all.
UHF: Well, as you mention, low metal mass
isn’t the whole story, and minimizing metal
can actually get you in trouble. Where is the
golden mean?
Woodland: The golden mean is the
“optimum” thickness and mass of metal
to suit the application. And determining
the optimum thickness is where the hard
work comes in. It means putting theories
into practice, multiple prototypes and
long listening sessions.
One theory used with great effect in
our Bullet Plug design is replacing the
standard RCA ground collar that surrounds the socket with a pin-like ground
that makes single point contact with the
side wall of the socket. We immediately
eliminate eddy type distortion where the
signal enters and exits the collar from
multiple directions.
We also place a great deal of importance on the conductivity of material.
For example, most connectors are made
from brass, due to low cost and ease of
machining. Brass offers around 28%
the conductivity of 100% IACS copper.
Cable manufacturers and audiophiles
take great pride in the use of high conductive wire for cables, yet terminate
the cables with a lump of low-conductive
brass. It defeats the purpose!
In our connectors, we use either high
conductive tellurium copper, which is
99.5% oxygen-free with the addition of
0.5% tellurium for hardness, to allow
machining, or hard drawn 4-nines pure
silver. Both materials offer huge sound
quality advantages over brass.
UHF: Are you among those who believe
that a connection must be made under
pressure?
Woodland: Yes, a certain amount of
pressure is necessary to provide secure
contact between conductive elements,
and to avoid capacitive problems. For
example, the Bullet Plug is a firm fit onto
RCA sockets, so the polymer collar can
force the ground pin against the side
wall of the socket. A loose connection
inevitably means poor performance.
UHF: Does the plastic material used play
a sonic role as well? Of course it has to resist
melting, but beyond that?
Woodland: The plastic material is used
sparingly to hold the contact pins in
place and provide compression forces.
We select engineering grade polymers
that exhibit good dielectric qualities
plus high temperature deflection. So to
answer your question, we work to ensure
the plastic has minimal contact with the
conductive element and minimal effect
on the sonics.
You also mention the “M” word,
melting. Audiophiles need to realize that
even the strongest polymer will melt in
prolonged contact with high heat. When
soldering the Bullet Plug we recommend
inserting the plug into a discarded RCA
socket, which acts as a heat sink and
deflects heat away from the plastic.
In saying that, it takes around 15
seconds for a soldering iron at 425° C
in contact with the signal pin before
melting occurs. Most soldering can be
achieved within five seconds.
UHF: The banana plug seems fragile…it
bends easily. Do you see a way around that
problem?
Woodland: The challenge we face
with the Bayonet banana plug is really
the crimp ring. To allow the crimp
ring to work, we anneal — heat in a
vacuum — the contact pin following
machining. This makes the copper quite
soft and therefore prone to bending.
If we did away with the crimp option,
then we wouldn’t have the problem,
but there’s some advantage to crimping
larger diameter speaker cables.
The good news is we’re working on
a solution that will offer will best of
both worlds. Meanwhile, if the contact
element does bend, it is quite easy to
bend back into shape, and the motion
of bending actually hardens the metal
at this point.
UHF: Will you be developing other connectors, for instance RCA jacks?
Woodland: The next product due for
release in September is a binding post for
amplifiers and speakers. We’re confident
it will provide a sonic improvement over
any binding post now available.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
29
Rendezvous
contact point on the other side — they
also travel on the skin.
To take an absurd example, let’s look
at a plate a foot across and a quarter inch
across. If you apply a signal to the centre
of the plate, electrons will move through
the plate and also around the surface of the
plate, to join up on the other side. The
arrival time of electrons will vary, and
sound quality will be poor. If we reduce
the plate to a quarter inch diameter, then
life for electrons becomes much easier. If
we hollowed out the plate to form a tube
with optimum wall thickness, then the
result would be improved further.
Over the years audiophiles have
been conditioned to think that a quality connector needs to be large and
chunky with a layer of thick gold plate,
the bigger-is-better philosophy. When
people hear the Bullet Plug and Bayonet
Plug connectors, they hear their cables in
a new light, and realize that “optimum”
mass is perhaps a better philosophy.
UHF: You’ve done listening tests against
more traditional connectors?
Woodland: Yes, comparison testing
plays a big part in the process, and helps
in the understanding of how different
shapes and thicknesses of metal impact
on sound quality.
UHF: Can you be specific? What sort of
differences could you hear?
Woodland: The issue of connectors
having an influence on sound is the new
frontier of audio. Most people, including
manufacturers, have never extensively
listened to connectors. We all agree
capacitors, resistors, transistors, tubes
etc have a sonic signature, however we
overlook the importance of connectors.
Anyone who has hardwired a system
will attest to the sonic improvements
achievable with connectors removed. But
in real life, we need connectors.
Most connectors rob the music of
detail and add coloration and texture to
the sound. Large-mass connectors tend
to have a bloated, sluggish bass with an
overlay of dark coloration that extends
into the midrange. They sound veiled
and congested with limited separation
and sound staging properties. Music
lacks excitement. Some low mass banana
plug connectors sound thin, bright and
flat with a lack of bass foundation and
dimensionality.
Making the Connection
Listening Room
D
o all cables sound the same?
Hardly, and we’ve known
that for years (like all cashstrapped audiophiles, we
wish it weren’t true). Now here’s another
question: do all connectors sound the
same?
We know the answer to that one too,
and it’s no. To begin with, some connectors are tight, and others are loose. You
can spot this by ear. It’s one reason we
have long been fans of the locking connectors of WBT.
But there is more to a connector
than its tightness. The materials used
also matter, and we’ve heard horror
stories about the recycled materials
used in some connectors made to look
like famous-brand upscale connectors.
Now the spotlight has been thrown
on another aspect of audio connectors: how much material — specifically
metal — they contain.
Consider this. Audio cable designers
are picky not only for materials used for
their cables (oxygen-free copper, singlecrystal strands, pure silver, Teflon, etc.),
but also their geometry. If you accept the
claim that a cable’s geometry matters, it
becomes evident that most connectors
violate cable geometry in major ways.
Wouldn’t the cable sound better if its
connectors were closer in construction
to the wire itself?
Two manufacturers have adopted
the view that most connectors contain
way too much metal. The first of these
is Australia’s Eichmann, whose Bullet
Plug was first on the market with a body
that is mostly plastic (it also makes a
low-metal banana). And now the venerable WBT has launched its own line of
minimum metal connectors, under the
name “nextgen.” Interviews with key
people from both companies can be
found on preceding pages.
We have samples of connectors from
both enterprises, and we devised what we
think is an appropriate comparison test.
We installed both Bullet Plugs and nextgen RCA plugs on lengths of Wireworld
Equinox 5, the latest version of a cable
we long used in our own systems, and
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
We used two selections for all of these
cable evaluations. One was the Sanctus
for a cappella choir from Opus 3’s SACD
version of Musica Sacra (CD19516). The
other was The Best Thing for You Would Be
Me from Margie Gibson’s wonderful Say
It With Music CD (Sheffield CD-36).
which were offered in our Audiophile
Store. We also have a length of Equinox 5 with Wireworld’s own Silver Pipe
connectors, which the company claims
sound superior to the WBT-0108 plugs
we have long favored.
The listening was done in our Alpha
system, with the test cables running
between our Linn Unidisk 1.1 player
and our Copland CTA-305 preamplifier.
The Linn has dual outputs, which made
things convenient. We kept our Pierre
Gabriel ML-1 reference cable connected
to one output, and the test cable to the
other, running to a separate input on
the preamplifier. That meant we could
do quick comparisons.
We should add that we did not use
this setup as an opportunity to do A-B
comparisons, switching quickly from
one cable to the other, since we know
how easy it is to get fooled on such tests
(years ago we used such a test to “prove”
that a cassette sounds exactly like the
original). It was, however, convenient
to return to the reference cable, as we
did more than once, to confirm what
we thought we remembered hearing.
As ever, we found taking detailed notes
(about the music, not merely the sound),
was most helpful.
The Wireworld Silver Pipe
Wireworld was long happy about our
Audiophile Store offering its Equinox
cable (we started in 1995), and even
quoted our review on its on-line site, but
David Salz was also disappointed that
we were listing it with WBT locking
connectors, and never with the original
connectors. When Equinox III was
replaced by Equinox V (skipping over
version four), the company sent us not
only a length of bulk cable for us to try,
but also a factory version with its new
connector, claiming superiority over our
vaunted WBT-0108.
We initially assumed that the Silver
Pipe was yet another off-the-shelf connector, but it's clearly more ambitious
than that. The collar and central pin
are oxygen-free copper, not brass (or
worse!), and they are silver-plated.
The dielectric is Teflon, just as it is on
several of the company’s cables. And the
central pin is, as the connector’s name
suggests, a hollow pipe, to minimize
metal content. There is no tightening
mechanism, but it was clear that the fit
was much snugger than it had been with
any of the previous Wireworld phono
connectors we had tried.
The finished 1 metre cable is listed
in the 2003 catalog at US$194.95, but
may have changed since. Bulk Equinox
is listed at US$60/meter, not including
termination charge.
Physically, Equinox V st rongly
resembles the older version, though it is
clearly more flexible. Each cable contains
78 copper strands that are individually
coated with enamel, to make it into what
is essentially a Litz wire, with no jumping from strand to strand. The geometry
is what the company calls Symmetricoax:
the inner conductor is wrapped about
a central tube, then Teflon is wrapped
about that, and the outer conductor is
wrapped about the Teflon.
Wireworld’s upscale cables cannot be
terminated by most users. The enamel
insulation must be removed by dipping
the stripped end into molten solder of
around 520°C…not far from 1000°F!
All three of us agreed that, on the
Gibson song, it was a long step down
from our Pierre Gabriel reference to the
stock Equinox. For one thing the volume
appeared to have dropped. To be sure,
this is a subjective effect, not something
that would show up on a voltmeter, and
it could even be an improvement, if the
cable otherwise sounded better.
But it didn’t. Sibilance, though not
actually objectionable, was less natural,
the words less clear, the string bass less
weighty. Everything seemed smaller.
Albert complained of a lack of body
to the choir in the Sanctus as well. The
result was that the men, who initially
come in behind the women, were all but
inaudible. And we were rather too aware
of all the “S” syllables in the piece.
True, this cable costs a fifth the price
of our reference cable. However we long
used Equinox ourselves, and we didn’t
recognize its sound. Would the cable do
better with different connectors?
We were hoping so, and our optimism would be rewarded.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
31
Listening Room
WBT-0110 nextgen
The company insists on banishing
upper case letters from the name of its
new line, and we acquiesce with the
greatest reluctance. Connection is by
soldering, since the crimping system of
the WBT-0108 would add a lot of metal.
What metal is left is now gold-plated
copper, not gold over brass or copper
alloy. Just one of the jaws of the plug
collar is metal, the others being plastic.
The centre pin is a hollow tube.
WBT has adopted a plastic called
Ultramid for the plug body, with another
difficult-to-melt plastic called Dyneon
around the contacts. Connection is
easy, and indeed you can pour on the
heat without anything softening. The
trademark locking collet may look like
metal, but it too is plastic, and tightening
it adequately is a two-hand job. Indeed,
it is nearly impossible to do if there is
another connector in an adjacent jack.
These are not cheap connectors, with
a list price, in Canada, of $180 a box of
four. An upscale version using silver
instead of copper is close to $300.
We didn’t have to listen very far into
the Sanctus to hear that the connectors
made a huge difference. The depth had
returned, and no doubt for that reason
the male voices in the background were
easy to spot. “There’s better separation,”
said Albert, “not just of individual voices
but of the different timbres of voices. It’s
smooth, too, but not because it’s hiding
anything.”
Reine wasn’t quite as pleased. Nor
was Gerard, who was the one who knew
what cable this was. Reine complained
that the sopranos had more of an edge.
Gerard praised the spaciousness, but still
found the “S” sounds not right.
We were impressed with the cable’s
performance on the Gibson song. Her
voice was warm and expressive, with fine
detail right down to the nearly inaudible
final syllables. The plucked bass was
solid.
Those “S” sounds were bothersome,
though. Could it be that the wire itself
was to blame?
We would soon see.
Eichmann Bullet Plug
This was, to the best of our knowledge, the first phono connector to be
expressly designed with a minimum
amount of metal. The metal used is gold
over copper, what there is of it.
Like the other two connectors, the
Bullet Plug has a central pin that is a
hollow pipe. The outer collar is entirely
plastic, with only a tiny spring that
presses against the jack body. The fit
is snug to a fault, and we had difficulty
pushing the plugs into the jacks on our
Copland preamp.
Connecting to a Bullet Plug is harder
than to a WBT. The solder lugs are
small, with that of the ground especially
tiny. And you have to do your work
quickly, because the plastic used will
melt if you dawdle (Eichmann suggests
inserting the plug into a jack while you
work). Speaking of plastic, we wish the
colors didn’t make them look like something from Toys’R’Us.
The Eichmann plugs are much
cheaper than the WBT’s, with a Canadian suggested list price of $65 for a box
of four (just over US$51 at the current
exchange rate). The silver version (inevitably called the Silver Bullet, and which
comes in more muted colors, happily), is
C$149.
We listened to the Margie Gibson
selection, and we listened initially for
those troublesome “S” sounds. The
finding was not as we had hoped. We
were pretty much split in fact. Reine and
Albert now noted a certain strangeness
in the “S” syllables. Gerard, who spoke
last because this was not a blind test
for him, praised the sound for its lyrical quality and its abundance of subtle
detail.
Reine liked Gibson’s delicious glissandos, more apparent with this cable
than with either of the other versions,
but for the moment she ranked the WBT
over the Eichmann (which she referred
to only by number, since she didn’t
know which was which). Albert enjoyed
the overall balance between voice and
instruments. He thought Gibson’s voice
seemed “wrapped up” in something, but
wasn’t initially certain whether that was
good or bad.
We then listened to the Sanctus on
SACD. “From the first measures you
know it’s right,” said Reine. “This is my
favorite.” Albert liked the fullness and
the smoothness of the voices, as well
as the excellent separation of timbres.
And yet… “There’s a certain coloration
to the sound. It makes me think of our
reference cable, and I know that sounds
like a good thing, but I don’t think the
sound is completely neutral.”
As for Gerard, he liked the way the
sibilance was rendered, as he had with
the previous recording, but he missed
the depth and roundness of the WBT
version.
The final vote was split. After voting
initially for WBT, Reine wound up
choosing the Eichmann Bullet plug as
sounding closest to the reference. Albert
and Gerard were not as firm.
There was, however, one consensus:
no votes went to the Silver Pipe.
Five Atlas Cables
Listening Room
W
e first ran across this
British company at CES
last January. Its cables
looked nice enough, but
you wouldn’t believe how saturated we
are with cables. Would we like samples?
Hmm, all right, if you must…
With CES over, we looked through
the literature. The cables were more
interesting than we had first assumed.
Most were made up of strands of continuous cast copper, each containing not
thousands or millions of copper crystals,
but just one crystal. We had run across
the Ohno continuous casting technology
before: Harmonic Technologies (UHF
No. 63) also uses copper with no crystal
boundaries, as do other companies, from
Granite Audio to Acoustic Zen. Some of
the Atlas models are optionally available
with plugs that are also fashioned from
monocrystal copper.
The price list was interesting as
well, with North American prices corresponding closely to UK prices. We
sent for samples and did a first listening
session in our Omega system. It was
enough for us to add three cables to our
store, but now we wanted to give them
the full treatment.
We should add that we had made the
mistake of too quickly sending back the
samples we had not found interesting.
That’s the reason all of the cables in this
series turned out to be at least pretty
good…and in some cases more than just
pretty good.
The comparisons were done the same
way we had done the connector test:
Gerard knew which cable was which, but
the other two reviewers did not, and they
gave their opinion first. We used the
same two recorded selections: Margie
Gibson singing The Best Thing For You
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Would Be Me (from Say It With Music,
Sheffield CD-36), and the Sanctus from
the Opus 3 SACD Musica Sacra. The
cables were brought out in random order.
Albert and Reine referred to them only
by number, and were told nothing more
until all discussions were completed.
Atlas Voyager All-Cu
This mid-priced black-colored cable
is made from strands of continuous
cast copper. Though it is available with
conventional connectors that look much
like everyone else’s, the version reviewed
here has the optional monocrystal connectors. The “All-Cu” designation refers
to the material used for the connectors’
mating surfaces: pure copper, plated with
silver. No, the “ordinary” version doesn’t
sound quite the same (see the previous
review if you don’t think connectors
matter), but it fits tightly, avoiding the
grainy sound of connectors that touch
only if the wind is blowing right.
The Voyager is double-shielded,
with a continuous cast braid that is also
one of the cable’s two conductors, plus
a metallized Mylar foil. The dielectric is
polyethylene foam.
Albert and Reine were struck by the
cable’s neutrality. On the Gibson song,
Reine noted the solidity of the plucked
bass and the excellent audibility of subtle
voice inflections, including those elusive
ends of syllables. Albert agreed. “Its
sound doesn’t really attract attention one
way or the other,” he said, “and that’s
good.”
On the choral piece, once again there
were few flaws, though the differences
between the Voyager and our Pierre
Gabriel ML-1 reference cable became
more evident. The recording’s great
depth was somewhat reduced, and that
in turn made it more difficult to make
out the differences in the timbres of the
different voices. Both Reine and Albert
had similar notes. Albert found the
sound slightly thinner, but praised the
cable for the smoothness of the highs.
Gerard, speaking only once the other
two had finished, largely agreed, though
he also found the sibilance slightly too
prominent.
The 1 m cable as tested costs £170,
or US$315, or C$375. The version with
conventional connectors costs £110/
US$204/C$235.
Atlas Equator
This is the company’s economy cable,
the only one not to use Ohno continuous
cast copper. The same dielectric is used
as in the Voyager, but there is no extra
shielding. The connectors are goldplated and nicely made, fitting snugly
into the jacks of both our CD player and
our preamplifier. The base metal is brass,
as it is on many connectors…at least the
ones that are not made from recycled
boat anchors.
Questor
Voyager All-Cu
Equator
Atlas Questor
With this cable we were prett y
much on an equal footing, because even
Gerard knew nothing about it beyond its
name. This was a sample, and at the time
it was not included on any price lists, in
either pounds or US dollars.
We have since learned the details.
It is an economy cable, a little costlier
than the Equator, with what seems to
be similar connectors. The difference
is that its conductors are made of Ohno
continuous cast copper. Though we have
not carried out an exhaustive survey,
we suspect the number of monocrystal
cables at this price must be quite small.
And we would later be especially
surprised to learn its price, because we
quickly concluded that this cable was
a class act. On the Gibson song, both
piano and voice were admirably well
reproduced. Transparency was excellent,
letting us hear background details. The
bottom end was very good, with both the
cello and the plucked bass solid and natural. Rhythm was strong. “It’s moving,”
said Reine, “and it’s convincing.” Gerard
noted approvingly that Gibson’s notoriously difficult esses sounded normal.
The Questor also did well on the
choral recording. Albert had noted
that, with the economy Equator cable,
it had been difficult to follow the male
voices when they first come in behind
the women. No such problem here. The
ensemble sound was smooth and effortless. “There’s great smoothness coupled
with large volume,” said Albert.
The sibilance? Normal, judged
Gerard. “It really has no major flaws.”
Indeed, the results were good enough
that all three of us assumed this must be
an expensive cable. It isn’t. The price of
our 1 m pair is £60/US$109/C$135. It’s
in the bargain category.
Atlas Explorer
This cable is the same blue color as
the Questor, and the same size too, but
with two notable differences. One is the
addition of a second shield, of metallized
Mylar foil. The other is the slimmer
“self-cleaning” plug used on some of the
more expensive Atlas cables.
Albert liked the smoothness of the
Gibson song coming through this cable.
“The sound is simple,” he said, “but
I mean that in a good sense.” Reine
thought the cable made the plucked bass
sound unlike the way it did with any
of the other cables tried so far. There
seemed to be a touch of reverberation not
discernible with other cables. Gibson’s
voice emotional and sensitive.
Gerard, who of course knew what
this cable cost, gave it a poorer mark. “I
don’t like the sibilance,” he said. “I kept
dreading the next word that had an ‘S’
in it, and that rather spoiled the song for
me.”
The cable seemed much better on
the difficult choral Sanctus. The difficult
higher frequencies were smooth and
natural. “Even the sibilance is pretty
good,” would add Gerard later.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
33
Listening Room
The first thing that struck us was that
the sound was not as loud as with either
our reference or the Voyager cable,
despite the fact that the volume control
had not been touched. We should add
that this is not something that can be
checked with a voltmeter, since cable
resistance is so low (less than 0.03 ohms)
that attenuation is negligible. Indeed, a
quick A-B test done with our preamplifier’s input selector did not reveal a drop
in level (we don’t do evaluations with A-B
tests for reasons already discussed). The
apparent level drop, then, is subjective,
and may be caused by a certain softening
of transients by the cable.
Still, softening doesn’t mean smearing. On the Sanctus the separation of
timbres was quite good, and more importantly the tone of the singers’ voices was
attractive. Was this cable comparable to
the Voyager? As the piece progressed,
Albert and Reine (who thought of the
two cables only as “number one” and
“number two”) weren’t so sure. Depth
was certainly reduced, and so was the
sheer size of the sound field.
Gerard, the only one to know that
this was an economy cable, also liked the
sound of the voices, though he was less
enthusiastic about what it did to syllables
with “S” sounds.
He made the same complaint on the
Margie Gibson song, once Albert and
Reine had praised the cable. Reine did
find the top end somewhat less smooth
than with either our reference or the
Voyager, but she liked the expressive
quality of the music.
The unanimous conclusion is that
this is a very good cable, and it is especially praiseworthy when you consider its
price: £40/US$75/C$90. Most cables of
this price sound grainy, thin, and — in
all too many cases — shrill. The Equator
is a refreshing exception.
Atlas Navigator All-Cu
This is the company’s top cable, and
its structure is different from that of
any of the others. Of course it is also
made from monocrystal copper, but it
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Navigator All-Cu
Explorer
Listening Room
But there was more. All the vocal
registers were easy to follow, including
the voices of the tenors as they emerge
from the background. Better yet, they
were attractive and natural. The acoustic
space, which is huge on this wonderfullyrecorded SACD, was reasonably ample.
Any misgivings? Reine had one:
“The sopranos sound pure, not at all
hard, but you know what? They don’t
seem to be coming in at the same time.”
That led to the obvious discussion…was
that because the Explorer was messing
something up, or because it was revealing something that other cables, including our reference, were hiding? We had
a pretty good idea of the answer.
The price? For a 1 m pair, it’s £90 or
US$167.
We haven’t noted a Canadian price,
because we didn’t pick up the Explorer
for our Audiophile Store. It costs half
again as much as the Questor, and we
weren’t convinced it offered sufficient
value.
has two internal conductors plus shield,
instead of a single central conductor,
with the shield serving as the second
signal conductor. That means the shield
is connected at only one end, so that the
signal cannot travel along it. This is a
far superior arrangement. A number of
other companies have similar configurations, usually billed as “semi-balanced.”
A true balanced cable, of course, would
have signal travelling along all three
conductors, and so Atlas prefers the term
“pseudo-balanced.” So do we.
The shield is augmented by a metallized Mylar foil, also connected at
only one end. Such hypershielding
increases cable capacitance, but it also
avoids picking up all sorts of electronic
garbage. The conductors are packed
with fibre strands to prevent mechanical
movement. Bizarre at may seem, under
some circumstances a cable can act like
a microphone, albeit not a very good
one.
Like the Voyager, the Navigator is
available with either conventional connectors (the “self-cleaning” ones also
used on the Explorer), or the singlecrystal copper connectors like the ones
on our sample Voyager cable. We had the
latter. The connectors add a lot to the
cost, but either you believe in connectors
or you don’t. We do.
We began with the Sanctus. Reine
and Albert couldn’t know that this was
the top Atlas cable, but they quickly
guessed. “There’s lots more there,” said
Reine, “and no ‘buts’ this time. You can
hear the esses, for example, but they
sound the way they would at a concert.”
Albert praised the separation and the
sheer musicality of the blended voices.
“It’s at once clear and smooth. There’s no
insistence on any aspect of the music.”
The Margie Gibson song came
through wonderfully well too, with a
rendition that Albert rated just behind
our reference cable. Both piano and voice
were natural and attractive. The tone
was joyous. Cello and plucked bass were
solid and clear, and minor percussion
instruments stood out starkly against a
velvety background. Reine, who didn’t
know what cable this was, gave the
Navigator the final half star she had
been holding back. Gerard, who did
know what it was, rated the cable at the
top of the Atlas line, commenting that
the clarity let through the nuances of
Gibson’s ever so slight Italian accent.
As already mentioned, a preliminary
listening session had been so positive
that we had already adopted two of the
Navigators for our reference systems.
One of them is on the Audiomeca J-1
turntable in our Alpha system, replacing
a Wireworld Equinox. The Navigator
greatly improved the sound of our turntable. The other links the phono stage to
the preamplifier in our Omega system.
Oh yes, the price.
The All-Cu version reviewed here
costs £185/US$345/C$405. The version with conventional connectors is
much less expensive, at £120/US$220/
C$265.
Hold on…did we say that the Navigator was the top Atlas cable? In fact that
would be the Elektra, which costs £450.
Our preliminary session had led us to
rate the Elektra similar to the Navigator All-Cu. We had, unfortunately, sent
back our sample before this session, and
it wasn’t possible to listen again.
After we had completed the session and the veritable identities of the
cables was finally revealed, we had one
final reflection. Despite differences in
technologies, the Atlas cables manage
to maintain a consistent family sound.
That could easily be the mark of people
who know what they’re doing.
Simaudio Equinox
S
or closed. There was some bad news at
the rear too. We thought the price would
have justified better jacks than these,
which could have been lifted from a $300
player. The jacks provide coaxial analog
outputs and digital output, unbalanced
in both cases.
We began our listening session
with what we know to be a tough test:
Now the Green Blade Riseth (Proprius
PRCD9093), an unforgiving choral
recording that can sound thrilling if it’s
treated right, or like a crosscut saw if it’s
not.
And in nearly all respects the Equinox did treat it right. The vocal timbres
of both the men and the women were
attractive, and the text was clear…or it
would be to a Swede. The bottom end
was solid and communicated rhythm
very well. Reine especially liked the
way some of the subtle harmonies in the
soprano voices were rendered, and Albert
noted how refined and downright joyous
the sound was. The Equinox was off to
a great start.
We continued with Dvorak’s Romantic Piece, op. 75 (Analekta FL 2 3191),
featuring the remarkable violin playing
of James Ihnes. There are few recordings ever made with this convincing a
violin sound, and the Equinox made it
come out lush and smooth. At the same
time the violin’s sound was transparent,
Is it good enough to
be your very last Red
Book CD player?
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
35
Listening Room
imaudio has always been an
electronics company first, and
a maker of source components
second. It is, indeed, one of our
all-time favorite maker of amplifiers, two
of which can be found in our reference
systems.
Still, the company has also produced
a number of CD players. The Moon
Eclipse was reviewed in UHF No. 59. It
has built DVD players as well. The Moon
Stellar was reviewed in UHF No. 65, and
we liked it so much we bought it. And it’s
not as though we hadn’t had other players
to choose from.
Now to the Equinox, Simaudio’s
latest Red Book player. It is the company’s economy model, costing little
more than half the price of the Eclipse
we reviewed. It uses upscale current
technology: a Philips transport and
the usual 24-bit/192 kHz chipset from
Burr-Brown. Simaudio now has enough
digital engineering firepower to control
all this from its own firmware.
Like other Moon-badged products,
the Equinox is attractive, with a brushed
black front panel (you can order it in
silver if stealth is not your thing). The
red LED digits are still not as large as we
would like, but they are so much larger
and more visible than the competition’s
that we can only applaud. Basic functions
are available from either the front panel
or the remote.
Workmanship is generally good, with
especially good metalwork, as is usual
with this company. However we were
disconcerted by the hollow clang we
heard each time the disc drawer opened
letting the piano shine clearly through.
Only…
Only what? Get the story in our print
issue. Now execuse us while we lapse into
faux Latin.
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ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Simaudio Equinox
Price: C$2995/US$2000
Dimensions: 43 x 10.5 x 35 cm
Most liked: Laor sustrud tincin ulput
wis
Least liked: Adigniam incil utpat
Verdict: Re modolore min utat
nulputpat. Duis ea facipit incid
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut landit
ad del incin vulputet augait am, conulput
prat lor sim augait, susto el iure te
molore We generally thought it was.
Indeed, in many respects it is superb,
and we agreed on that. We also agreed
that its price puts it squarely in a range
where the competition is something to
be reckoned with.
Listening Room
CROSSTALK
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am quat
augait, vel essequam augiamet, con utem vel
iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla consequis
dolobortie minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis
eui blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper ing
ea feugait num incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad
dipit iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla aut
utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo rtisim
iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim
velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla
feugue facipis et alismodolor si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis ametuero
dolor senis nos eugiamcommy nullut vel diat
vero core et alisl dolore te consent nonummo
lobore min henim erit, siscili quisi.
—Albert Simon
36
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl
ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad tat. Ut
endre etue velit, vel doluptate verillametue
faci blan utate te dio coreet ad tisl et aciliqu
ationsent velit ad dunt ut niate et la conse
dolore velis nibh eraesequis augiam eugiam
amet, commy nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent
praestrud dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet
lobore vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am quis
aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et
ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui ea corem
aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit aliquam,
volummolor iure magnis nisim dolor sectem
iure tat ipis nosto consed tat augue dolobor
sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit wisl
eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum eugue
feummolore doloborem vullam dolummy
nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit,
sumsan henisi.
—Gerard Rejskind
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do ore
commy nim zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel
ing et, consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis
nit ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Aut numlorerostrud mincilit dit prat
accummod tis eugue faccumsandre mod.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut landit ad del
incin vulputet augait am, conulput prat lor
sim augait, susto el iure te molore.
—Reine Lessard
Simaudio Moon I-3
H
music/home theatre system.
That’s because the A4 signal bypasses
the volume control, and can be used for
the left and right front channels of a
surround sound system. That lets you
add an external video sound processor
(which several companies make) to
your system. When you listen to music,
however, the movie stuff is completely
out of the circuit. That could be a major
consideration when you’re choosing your
amplifier.
The input jacks are economy grade.
The output binding posts look like
WBT posts, but are not. They give fair
performance with spades, much better
performance with bananas. The banana
jack is built into the post body, not the
cap, and the tightness of the connection
doesn’t depend on how tight the cap is.
Power connection is by the usual IEC
connection. The line fuse is accessible to
the user.
We evaluated the I-3 with a set of
SACDs, starting with the famous rondo
from Mozart’s Horn Concerto in E Flat
(PentaTone 5186 105). From the first
we liked the warmth, the liveliness and
the energy of the performance, and we
enjoyed the broad image as well. As with
our reference, the rondo was delightful
to listen to.
Like the company’s
other integrated
amplifiers, it looks
deceptively small…
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
37
Listening Room
ad we seen t his amplifier before? A quick search
through our back issues
turned up an integrated
amplifier that looks not unlike it, the
Moon I-5. It’s in UHF No. 56. We said
good things about it then, which made
us optimistic that we would probably
give this smaller amp a good report
card too.
But then again, Simaudio has messed
up before with small integrated amps.
Anyone recall the infamous 4070i of
many years ago? Despite the similarity
of name to a superb power amp…
The I-3 package is a nice one, with a
thick, nicely-finished front panel, silver
on our unit but also available in black.
The volume setting is shown in large red
digits. Previous Simaudio units we’ve
seen show negative numbers, indicating
how many decibels below full level the
volume is set to, a notation many users
find counterintuitive. On the I-3, full
off is 0, and the volume goes up from
that. The steps go up by about 1.8 dB at
a time (“about” because it varies over the
range), which means the numbers shown
are arbitrary. The mute function takes
the I-3 down to a setting of 2, not 0 as you
might expect. Functions are accessible
from the front panel or the attractive
metal remote control.
There are six high level inputs,
labelled “CD” and “A1” through “A5.”
There is a preamplifier output, to allow
biamplifying or using a larger power
amp, a feature we approve of. What’s
more, the A4 input is just what the doctor
ordered if you are setting up a hybrid
There were, of course, some differences. Check out our print issue, and you
can see what they are.
Om my n ibh essen ia mconulputat am quat augait, vel essequam
augiamet, con utem vel iril ulla feum
vulla cortionulla consequis dolobortie
minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis eui
blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper
ing ea feugait num incin hendiamcon
ex ercilit ad dipit iriustie dolesto odo
odipit la adignibh ea feu facip et augue
min eumsan ulla aut utpat ip ent volore
elesto do odolobo rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim velismod
dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla feugue
facipis et alismodolor si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do
eugiamet vulla autatio commod te facidunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis
atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit
venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum
niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos
autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin
ulput wisl dolor incip et do
cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse
feugait wis dolum dolore feu
feuis dolum zzriuscidunt
lore dolorting eugait ex enis
aut num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure core con
volortisit in er si blaore do
dio commod digna feugue
exercip sustrud ea augait
dolum nis dolum nos at, quat la feugait
nim at praessim dolorper alisl dolenissi
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Simaudio Moon I-3
Price: C$2500/US$1800
Dimensions: 43 x 8 x 35 cm
Rated power: 100 watts/channel
Most liked: Full, rhythmic sound,
brightness-free clarity
Least liked: Power rating that seems
to promise more than you’ll get
Verdict: Limited quantity of sound,
made up for by the quality
bla facip eumsandipit lan esequipit ilit
dolese ming eu feu facing ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue dolore te
vel et ex et la am vent vel utat ad duipit
niscil ut vulla con hendreet veriliquatum
deliquipit lobore tationse feum dit adiat
atum volore et utatie dunt atum del in
volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore
doloreet la facilit, commy nullandrem
num vulla faccum zzrit ad tem zzriusc
iliquis sectet aliquatetum nullutpat. Os
dolute mod et lorerostrud mincilit dit
prat accummod tis eugue faccumsandre
mod dit prat nummolo rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed enibh et pratet
eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am.
Listening Room
CROSSTALK
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am quat
augait, vel essequam augiamet, con utem vel
iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla consequis
dolobortie minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis
eui blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper ing
ea feugait num incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad
dipit iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla aut
utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo rtisim
iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim
velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla
feugue facipis et alismodolor si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis ametuero
dolor senis nos eugiamcommy nullut vel diat
vero core et alisl dolore te consent nonummo
lobore min henim erit, siscili quisi.
—Albert Simon
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl
ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad tat. Ut
38
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
endre etue velit, vel doluptate verillametue
faci blan utate te dio coreet ad tisl et aciliqu
ationsent velit ad dunt ut niate et la conse
dolore velis nibh eraesequis augiam eugiam
amet, commy nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent
praestrud dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet
lobore vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am quis
aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et
ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui ea corem
aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit aliquam,
volummolor iure magnis nisim dolor sectem
iure tat ipis nosto consed tat augue dolobor
sumsan henibh ex euisi.
—Gerard Rejskind
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor incip
et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna
consequis esse feugait wis dolum dolore
feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting
eugait ex enis aut num dio odiam, conul-
luptat. Lor iriure core con volortisit in er si
blaore do dio commod digna feugue exercip
sustrud ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at,
quat la feugait nim at praessim dolorper alisl
dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan esequipit
ilit dolese ming eu feu facing ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue dolore te vel et
ex et la am vent vel utat ad duipit niscil ut
vulla con hendreet veriliquatum deliquipit
lobore tationse feum dit adiat atum volore et
utatie dunt atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut
ercipismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad tem
zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum nullutpat.
Os dolute mod et lorerostrud mincilit dit
prat accummod tis eugue faccumsandre mod
dit prat nummolo rercipit lore faccummy
nismolese consed enibh et pratet eliquat.
Wisit veliquisi.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio.
—Reine Lessard
Reference 3a Dulcet
O
does not move with the cone, a refinement seldom seen on small woofers. The
tweeter uses a textile dome. The crossover network remains about as simple as
it can be, merely keeping low frequencies
from blowing out the tweeter, leaving
the woofer direct-coupled.
If the eye-catching cherry finish is
not enough to confirm that this is no
economy speaker, there is another clue
at the rear. The large, well-made binding
posts are mounted on a massive alloy
plate rather than the common plastic
cup. The company Web site shows
Cardas jumpers joining the binding
posts, but they didn’t come with ours.
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Reference 3a Dulcet
Price: C$2100/US$1695
Dimensions: 30 x 19 x 24 cm
Sensitivity: 88 dB
Impedance: 6 ohms
Most liked: Warmth and clarity that
draw you into the picture
Least liked: Not for large rooms
Verdict: Aimes for a niche market,
scores a bull’s eye
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
39
Listening Room
ne of t he buzzwords of
t he decade is “sca lable
technology.” If you set up
e-commerce software for 20
customers a day, will it work as well with
20,000 customers a day?
But scalability works both ways.
Reference 3a has shown it can make
great-sounding speakers like the MM
De Capo-i (UHF No. 67) and Royal
Virtuoso (No. 70). Is the technology still
good if you scale it down? That’s what
the company has done with the Dulcet.
We weren’t sure it could be done. A
smaller 3a speaker of many years ago, the
Micro Monitor, did not set the world on
fire. Neither did an early prototype of
the Dulcet, which by the way was larger.
This one? Another story altogether.
This is a small speaker. Check our
cover picture showing it next to a Totem
speaker that is itself tiny. Like other
speakers of the marque, it is deeper than
it is wide, to avoid a broad radiating surface that kills imaging. We don’t know
much about the small (14 cm) woofer,
which appears to be polypropylene
rather than the woven carbon fibre
used on other Reference 3a speakers. It
includes a phase plug in the centre, which
The company says the drivers
are burned in for 100 hours before
being matched up, but we gave
the speakers as much again before
mounting them on our Foundation
stands and installing them in our
Alpha system. We selected five LPs
for this review session.
The first was a challenge for a
small speaker: Holst’s Suite No. 2
(Reference Recordings RR-39). This
is a powerful piece for wind band,
with percussion aplenty. Would the
tiny Dulcets seem too thin on this
full-range music? Barely, and anyway
our attention was elsewhere. Rhythm
was strong, yet the music was lyrical
too. The brass shone, at once bright
and smooth, with as much detail as we
could wish. The snare drum emerged
effortlessly from the highly coherent
ensemble sound. Gerard noted how clear
the dissonance of the piece was. Oh…we
also noticed the broad and stable image,
a Reference 3a trademark.
We then pulled out one of our best
LPs, the 45 rpm version of Eric Bibb’s
Good Stuff (Opus 3 LP19603). This is
such a dynamic recording, with solid
bass work, that we feared the little
Dulcets wouldn’t keep up with it. We
were quickly reassured. Albert rated the
bottom end highly acceptable, and we
probably wouldn’t even have thought to
mention it if we hadn’t been able to see
the speakers. Bibb’s voice as clear as it
was natural, the timbres of the guitars
beyond reproach. The sound was rich
and rhythmic, with depth and life. “You
just let yourself get drawn in,” concluded
Reine.
We wanted to hear a female voice,
and we chose an original audiophile
standby, Amanda McBroom’s Dorothy
from the direct-cut West of Oz LP. It was
superb. Not only was McBroom’s voice
clean and clear, but so were those of the
backup singers, who often seem rather
muddy. There was no problem with the
plucked bass, nor indeed with any other
instruments. “You can hear all six of the
guitar strings,” said Reine approvingly.
We checked out the rollicking jazz
piece Comes Love from the Showcase disc
(LP20000). Once again, the music was
rhythmic and joyous, and the different
layers of instruments were easy to pick
out. Even the height was well rendered.
The glissandos of Kenny Davern’s
clarinet were divine. “We can listen to
it, and it sounds right without any effort
on our part,” commented Albert. The
bottom end was not explicitly deep, but
the sousaphone had no difficulty getting
heard.
We ended with Secret of the Andes,
which we have long used to see whether
a speaker can reproduce bass without
coloring it. It did. The exotic percussion
instruments that make up the opening
were pure and varied, as they should be.
The timbres of all the other instruments,
including the piano, were superb. The
rhythm? “It’s like a real concert,” said
Reine.
We put our calibrated EarthWorks
microphone one meter in front of the
speaker and took some readings. The
frequency response, measured in thirds
of octaves, is shown above. At the bottom
end, response goes solidly down to just
below 50 Hz, where it is 5 dB down.
Anything below that is mere noise, not
music. On the other hand the Dulcet
didn’t get really noisy until 20 Hz, when
its small rear vent began to crepitate.
The dip around 200 Hz is a room
effect and can be ignored. The higher
frequencies look surprisingly muted, but
the Dulcet does not sound dull, and the
graph requires a little explanation.
It is convention in audio measurements to set “0 dB” to be the reading at
1 kHz. But this is arbitrary, and in the
case of the Dulcet all other readings were
lower than that at 1 kHz. If we ignore the
convention and raise the curve by 2.5 dB,
response would then extend from about
48 Hz to 20 kHz ±3 dB. A curve like that
from such a small speaker is more than
a little surprising.
The 100 Hz square wave, shown
above left, is somewhat misshapen, but
indicates no phase anomalies between
woofer and tweeter.
That the Dulcet belongs in a smaller
room goes pretty much without saying.
In the right home, we think it will delight
you, as it delighted us.
Listening Room
CROSSTALK
My general impression was of a beautiful sweetness, a natural softness of sound,
and a richness in the mid frequencies. No
excesses, no etching of specific sounds,
more like a balanced effect, a wide stage
and a striking power in the low frequencies,
when required.
Somehow the clarinets and other woodwinds seemed to sing with a smile, and brass
instruments had a deeper glow and a satin
shine. Everything held together as a whole,
and danced happily to a marked rhythm.
Voices were always finely expressive and
warm.
If your system seems to want to scream
and shout the music at you when you turn
up the volume, it may be trying to tell you
something. Chances are it might find its
true voice with these speakers.
—Albert Simon
Irresistible…there’s the adjective that
came to me spontaneously at the end of
the session with these speakers. Even leav-
40
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
ing aside the exemplary image and the
spaciousness that seems to extend to every
dimension, the Dulcets are so remarkably
clean that they can unveil a profusion of detail.
Voices are natural and gorgeous, and so
are instrumental timbres. Instruments that
do their work in the lower octaves of the audible spectrum, such as the sousaphone and
the double bass, have good weight, adding
to the overall richness of the sound. As for
the midrange, it is more than just all right.
There are no holes in the sound with these
speakers.
Somewhere, so striking, glissandos and
warm, velvety clarinets commanded my attention and my very being. They were irresistible. As for rhythm, it is fast, authoritative, irresistible. In short, there’s lyricism,
emotion, sensuality.
And I was thinking that all I needed to
get all that was to abandon myself to the
music. That music, originating with exceptional musicians and served up by speak-
ers that are no less exceptional, is…well,
irresistible.
It’s an additional surprise that such
treasures can be found in such a small package. Why resist, when the cost is quite reasonable?
—Reine Lessard
I’m forced to admit I had initial doubts
about these speakers. It’s not that I’m
against small speakers, because some of my
very favorite loudspeakers could fit under
my arm, but this one can actually make the
original Totem look huge. How good could
it be?
Really good, as it turns out. The single
trade-off — and you can’t make a speaker
this small without trade-offs — is dynamic.
Put it in a room where it needs to play loud,
and it will be uncomfortable. In a smaller
room, however, or even in some mediumsized rooms, it will come to life, and it will
gladden your heart. Get a listen.
—Gerard Rejskind
A new line
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
41
Totem Rainmaker
Listening Room
I
t looks like the famous Model
One, with its rounded edges and
the dark red mahogany finish that
was once Totem’s only finish. It is
roughly the same width and depth, but is
actually slightly taller. And oh yes…it’s
half the price.
Totem has made economy speakers
before, not always with total success.
Initial Totem models had a “family”
sound that made the company famous,
but the constraints of price tend to make
economy speakers sound the same.
What Totem has accomplished here is a
speaker that not only looks like the best
of its other speakers, but also sounds like
one.
Construction is straightforward:
a 12 cm polypropylene woofer and a
metal dome tweeter in a lock-mitred box
built to be exceptionally rigid. The two
pairs of binding posts only superficially
resemble the WBT posts used on upscale
speakers, but they are all right for this
price range. Internal damping is from
a crossbrace and the same borosilicate
coating used in other Totem speak42
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
ers. The port is at the rear, precluding
mounting against a wall. It is small, just
3.5 cm across, looking not unlike the
door to a birdhouse.
We gave our Rainmakers a few days
of run-in time (Totem suggests 70 to
100 hours), and placed them in our
Alpha system, sitting on Foundation
stands. We used the same five LPs as in
the previous review session.
The Holst piece for wind band
(Reference Recordings RR-39) was a
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Totem Rainmaker
Price: C$1100/US$950 as tested
Dimensions: 35.5 x 17 x 23 cm
Sensitivity: 87.5 dB
Impedance: 4 ohms minimum
Most liked: Umsan hent aute magna
conulla oreet, quisl
Least liked: Re modolore min utat
Verdict: Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput
ip elisis ad tat. Ut endre etue velit
little thinner and less rich than with
our reference speakers, but what the
Rainmakers lack in infrasonic dig they
more than make up for in sheer energy.
The brass and percussion verged on…
On what? We do hope you’ll check
our print issue for the answer!
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do
eugiamet vulla autatio commod te fac-
idunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis
atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit
venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum
niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos
autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Lit auguer iustionum.
CROSSTALK
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl
ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad tat. Ut
endre etue velit, vel doluptate verillametue
faci blan utate te dio coreet ad tisl et aciliqu
ationsent velit ad dunt ut niate et la conse
dolore velis nibh eraesequis augiam eugiam
amet, commy nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent
praestrud dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet
lobore vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am quis
aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et
ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui ea corem
aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit aliquam,
volummolor iure magnis nisim dolor sectem
iure tat ipis nosto consed tat augue dolobor
sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit wisl
eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum eugue
feummolore doloborem vullam dolummy
nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit,
sumsan henisi.
—Gerard Rejskind
Feu facing ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue dolore te vel et ex et la am vent
vel utat ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse feum
dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt atum del
in volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore
doloreet la facilit, commy nullandrem num
vulla faccum zzrit ad tem zzriusc iliquis
sectet aliquatetum nullutpat. Os dolute mod
et lorerostrud mincilit dit prat.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut landit ad del
incin vulputet augait am, conulput prat lor
sim augait, susto el iure te molore.
—Reine Lessard
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
43
Listening Room
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am quat
augait, vel essequam augiamet, con utem vel
iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla consequis
dolobortie minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis
eui blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper ing
ea feugait num incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad
dipit iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla aut
utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo rtisim
iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim
velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla
feugue facipis et alismodolor si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis ametuero
dolor senis nos eugiamcommy nullut vel diat
vero core et alisl dolore te consent nonummo
lobore min henim erit, siscili quisi.
—Albert Simon
Listening Room
A
Studio Lab SLP 102
lot of companies make inexpensive speakers, and it’s a
good thing too. Overspending on speakers is not good
for your inner tranquility, since by
definition it means underspending on
what the speakers will be called upon
to reproduce.
Enter these cute little French speakers and their optional subwoofer. Even
with that option they have a Canadian
price tag well below four digits. Despite
that they have cabinets of real wood
veneer…from China, of course. The
manufacturer is Mosquito Groupe, the
same people who recently purchased
the much better known (to us) Vecteur
company.
We generally prefer to remove the
grilles from speakers we test, but it
wasn't obvious how to remove these.
Their frames are screwed to the front
baffle, which seems to mean that we
could unscrew them, but the screw
heads are smooth, and some of them
were tight enough that we could see no
way of undoing them without inflicting
at least minor cosmetic damage. They
look rather nice, standing off the baffle
somewhat, with a silvery cloth that
made us think fondly of older Rogers
loudspeakers.
There is only one pair of binding
posts. We don’t know whether that’s
for economy reasons or because the
crossover is a series design, which doesn’t
allow biwiring. Their quality is…well,
you did sneak a peek at the price tag,
right? They’re adequate for use with
banana plugs, way below advisable with
spades.
We’ll get to the subwoofer shortly…
will we ever!
In the meantime we broke in the
speakers and placed them on our Foundation stands, which by the way cost
more than four times the price of these
speakers. As with the two other speakers reviewed in this issue, we used our
Audiomeca reference turntable, choosing three LPs from our collection.
We began with the Holst suite for
wind band (Reference Recordings
44
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
RR-39), despite some misgivings. This
is not a direct-cut LP, but you can’t tell
that by listening. Its grooves overflow
with life and energy, enough to knock
speakers like this right off the stand and
onto the floor.
To tell the truth we had half expected
that to happen, and so from the first
measures, when we heard all that power
emerging from an unlikely source, we
looked at each other, puzzled…startled
even. Then we faced toward the speakers
again. We wanted to hear more of this!
And there was more to hear. The
sound was a little more distant than with
Too much bass? Just
add a subwoofer. No,
really!
our reference speakers, but the clarity
didn’t suffer. Reine said it reminded her
of the marching bands she heard as a
child. “I’ll take a dozen of these!” said
Albert.
The second recording is no less of
a challenge, thanks to its complexity:
Comes Love from Opus 3’s wonderful
Showcase LP (LP20000). Once again
there was a lot to like, more than you
would expect from the price. This jazz
piece sounded warm and delightful, as
we are used to hearing it. True, the clarinet got just a little screechy at the top of
its register, though in general these are
not shrill speakers. The sousaphone
had good presence and solidity, thanks
to the solid lows.
Ah yes…the lows. We listened again
to be sure of what we were hearing.
And what we heard down there was
not quite right. “The enclosure is not
rigid enough,” said Gerard. “There’s
lots of energy in the lows, but it’s not all
music. There’s no obvious boominess,
but real music is not like that.”
It’s because of speakers like this that
we like to listen to Secret of the Andes, a
long-discontinued LP which lives on as
a JVC xrcd disc. Pianist Victor Feldman is fascinating to listen to, but we
especially like the title piece because
its introduction includes a dizzying
variety of Central American percussion
instruments with very different textures:
metal, wood and stretched skins. If they
sound the same, you’re hearing speaker
cabinet resonance, not the instruments
themselves.
And they did in fact sound a little
too much the same, though you might
not notice if you were hearing the piece
for the first time. Even the kick drum
was not like the real thing, its normally
sharp thump a little blurred. On the
other instruments, however, we liked
the impact, the sound of each drum
actually being struck. That suggests
that, as overly resonant speakers go, the
Studio Labs are actually pretty good:
they boom, sure, but they don’t go on
booming long after the original sound
has gone by.
Percussion aside, the music sounded
pretty good. Reine noted the excellent
dynamics of Feldman’s energetic piano
chords. Fine details were abundant,
at least when they weren’t hidden by
activity in the bottom octaves. The
Andean flute was sharper than it should
have been, much like the clarinet in the
previous piece.
So what did we have here? A pair
of low-cost speakers with astonishing
performance over the majority of the
audible range, with only the bass a little
overactive. Hold on, though…didn’t
we also get a subwoofer along with this
intriguing pair of speakers?
Summing it up…
Brand/model: Studio Lab SLB 102/
SUB B03
Price: C$390/US$320 (main
speakers), C$550/US$450 (subwoofer)
Dimensions: 36 x 20 x 26 cm (main
speakers), 36 x 29 x 36 cm (subwoofer)
Sensitivity: 88 dB
Impedance: 6 ohms
Most liked: Lit auguer iustionum
dolorem dolortisl ulput
Least liked: Ommy nibh essenia
mconulputat am quat augait
Verdict: Umsan hent aute magna
conulla oreet
subwoofers switch themselves off when
they haven’t detected a signal for a few
minutes, and then “wake up” when they
do. That’s what this subwoofer does in
“auto” position, but you can force it to
stay switched on all the time.
With the subwoofer adjusted to our
satisfaction, we ran through the three
recordings again.
A nd we’re forced to admit that,
without the report on the subwoofer,
you can”t quite tell what we thought of
these inexpensive speakers. But we can
get you a copy…fast!
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
quat augait, vel essequam augiamet, con
utem vel iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla
consequis dolobortie minit, sequam
aciliquis nim quis eui blam, consequisi
eratie tie te dolorper ing ea feugait num
incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad dipit
iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla
aut utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo
rtisim iriure veraesting erillan essectem
dignim velismod dip eugiate eugait la at,
con ulla feugue facipis et alismodolor
si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore
delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis
ametuero dolor senis nos eugiamcommy
nullut vel diat vero core et alisl dolore
te consent nonummo lobore min henim
erit, siscili quisi.
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad
tat. Ut endre etue velit, vel doluptate
verillametue faci blan utate te dio coreet
ad tisl et aciliqu ationsent velit ad dunt
ut niate et la conse dolore velis nibh
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
45
Listening Room
The SUB B03
The word “subwoofer” has been
abused to the point where it has become
all but meaningless. Originally, a
subwoofer was meant to reproduce
sounds below the lowest frequencies
most musical instruments can produce.
As speakers began to shrink years ago,
“subwoofers” became mere woofers.
The main speakers would not perform
well below perhaps 150 Hz, and so a
single larger speaker would take over
below that. Even in cases where the
main speakers can reproduce very low
frequencies, they may not be able to play
very loud without seriously overloading.
The subwoofer, which is usually larger,
can add headroom. In some cases that is
its only role, because we have seen cases
in which a subwoofer goes only 5 Hz
lower than its matching main speakers.
The SUB 03 is conventional in
format: a truncated cube with a downward-firing 21 cm woofer, powered by
what is billed as a 120 watt amplifier. We
noted that the rating is labelled “PMP,”
which stands for “peak music power.”
Divide by at least two to get the more
common average rating.
Its control panel is shown above. It
took us only a couple of minutes to set
it up, and we left it undisturbed for the
photograph.
First, we did use the SUB 03’s built-in
crossover to roll off low frequencies to
the main speakers, since those speakers were clearly not handling the lows
perfectly. Ideally, you should use the
low-level phono jacks: you come out of
the preamp to the “line in” jacks, and
then you connect the “line out” jacks to
your power amplifier. We didn’t do that,
because it would have meant using other
interconnects, an uncontrolled variable.
Instead we connected the amplifier
output to the “high level in” binding
posts, and the “high level out” binding
posts to the main speakers. The posts
are not bad, by the way.
The crossover network, which determines when the main speakers roll off
and the subwoofer comes in, is variable
between 40 Hz and 160 Hz, but with no
calibration points in between. We set it
as shown, to roughly 100 Hz. The phase
switch was set to produce the loudest
sound at listening position on a 100 Hz
sine wave tone. The level control, which
determines how loud the subwoofer
plays, was set by ear to give our three test
recordings about the same tonal balance
as our reference speakers.
You may have noticed the three-position power switch on the panel. Most
eraesequis augiam eugiam amet, commy
nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent praestrud
dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet lobore
vel irit, quat.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor
incip et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna consequis esse feugait wis
dolum dolore feu feuis dolum zzriuscidunt lore dolorting eugait ex enis aut
num dio odiam, conulluptat. Lor iriure
core con volortisit in er si blaore do dio
commod digna feugue exercip sustrud
ea augait dolum nis dolum nos at, quat
la feugait nim at praessim dolorper
alisl dolenissi bla facip eumsandipit lan
esequipit ilit dolese ming eu feu facing
ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue
dolore te vel et ex et la am vent vel utat
ad duipit niscil ut vulla con hendreet
veriliquatum deliquipit lobore tationse
feum dit adiat atum volore et utatie dunt
atum del in volor auguerat, vel ut ercip-
ismod dolore doloreet la facilit, commy
nullandrem num vulla faccum zzrit ad
tem zzriusc iliquis sectet aliquatetum
nullutpat. Os dolute mod et lorerostrud
mincilit dit prat accummod tis eugue
faccumsandre mod dit prat nummolo
rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed
enibh et pratet eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt.
Listening Room
CROSSTALK
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am quat
augait, vel essequam augiamet, con utem vel
iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla consequis
dolobortie minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis
eui blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper ing
ea feugait num incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad
dipit iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla aut
utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo rtisim
iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim
velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla
feugue facipis et alismodolor si.
—Albert Simon
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl
ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad tat. Ut
endre etue velit, vel doluptate verillametue
faci blan utate te dio coreet ad tisl et aciliqu
ationsent velit ad dunt ut niate et la conse
dolore velis nibh eraesequis augiam eugiam
amet, commy nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent
praestrud dolortisit nonsed.
46
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am quis
aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et
ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui ea corem
aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit aliquam,
volummolor iure magnis nisim dolor sectem
iure tat ipis nosto consed tat augue dolobor
sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit wisl
eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum eugue
feummolore doloborem vullam dolummy
nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit,
sumsan henisi.
—Gerard Rejskind
Laor sustrud tincin ulput wisl dolor incip
et do cor init ut adip el do et vullumm odigna
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—Reine Lessard
muRata Tweeters:
a Second Look
T
the muRatas can’t be expected to contribute much of anything. Fortunately
our two reference speakers have respective sensitivities of 91 and 92 dB. By
the way, you should try connecting the
tweeters in reverse to see what works
better. Reverse phase was better for us,
though it may not be for you.
So here we are again, with a larger
stack of recordings this time. We
began with our Omega system, and its
Reference 3a Suprema speakers. The
muRata tweeters sit nicely on top. They
have their own (mechanical) crossover,
and so you just connect them across the
regular speaker binding posts.
We started with an SACD used in
several tests this series, Comes Love from
the Opus 3 Showcase disc. The difference
was subtle, and Gerard expressed surprise that were actually was a difference.
He found that the clarinet was better
detached from the busy instrumental
ensemble, and that the piano was clearer
as well. Reine agreed. “Without the
muRatas,” she said, “I had to concentrate
more to pick out the piano in the opening.” Albert wasn’t certain, and reserved
judgement.
We continued with Eric Bibb’s Good
Stuff, and this time Albert was more
So how high can you
really hear?
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
47
Listening Room
he picture above may look
familiar, because we used it
in our previous issue. We’ll
explain why.
What muRata makes is super tweeters, meaning tweeters that operate beyond
the range of normal tweeters. And in
large part beyond the range of human
hearing too. The human ear can reliably
detect signals up to perhaps 20 kHz, but
closer to 15 kHz as one gets older, and
a lot less for those living in very noisy
surroundings. The muRatas begin at
15 kHz, and extends out to a claimed
100 kHz. They are meant to be used
with SACD and DVD-A players, which
can reproduce signals up to 70 kHz or
so. Are there actually such signals? And
is there any point to reproducing them
if (possibly) we can’t hear them?
In our last issue we gave the muRatas
only an hour of our time, and just one
page of the magazine, because we figured
they wouldn’t be worth more than that.
That one-hour session convinced us we
had been wrong. The muRata tweeters
deserved much more attention.
We are bothered by the assumption
that the sensitivity of your speakers
is predictable. It isn’t. If you have one
of those little sealed speakers with an
83 dB sensitivity, you’ll need to turn up
the volume, and then the muRatas will
presumably sound too loud. If you have
horn speakers with 104 dB sensitivity,
impressed. “All of the instruments are
easier to separate,” he said, “and the voice
and instruments don’t clump together so
much. The mandolin is clearer, and the
timbre of Bibb’s voice is improved too.”
Reine agreed, noting clearer lyrics and
a better stereo image.
Gerard found similar improvements,
and expressed surprise that these small
but perfectly detectable improvements
were not accompanied by unpleasant side
effects.
We turned to a classical SACD,
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (PentaTone
5186 102). Was there a difference when
we added the muRatas? Albert found
improved string tone and a clearer
orchestral sound in general. Reine and
Gerard weren’t so sure.
We then pulled out the new SACD
version of one of the oldest of all
audiophile recordings, Cantate Domino.
Both Gerard and Albert pointed to an
improvement in the choral voices with
the muRata tweeters. “The voices aren’t
any better,” said Albert, “but you can
make them out better.” Gerard said he
was better able to distinguish the different organ stops used, and commented he
had never heard this famous recording
sound so good.
Reine shook her head. “I didn’t hear
any difference,” she said.
You’ll recall that the rationale behind
super tweeters like the muRatas is that
SACD and DVD-A, unlike Red Book
CDs, don’t have response stopping at
20 kHz. We assumed there would be
no point trying them with a standard
CD, but muRata wrote to urge us to try
anyway.
We did, playing one of our alltime favorite violin recordings, the
Dvorak Romantic Piece, op. 75 (Analekta
FL 2 3191). Yes, there was a difference.
Albert and Reine thought the piano was
a touch clearer. The sound of James
Ehnes’ violin was altered too, with a bit
more of a “resinous” tone, and more of
a feeling of the bow sliding across the
strings.
How would the muRatas do on our
other reference system? The speakers
this time were Living Voice Avatar
OBX-R’s, whose Revelator tweeters are
known for very extended range. What’s
more, the well-damped acoustics and the to hear the sound of silence. Had we
quietness of the Alpha room would make been fooling ourselves? We rose from
tiny differences all the more audible. our seats and walked up to the speakWe brought along our Linn player and ers, and now we could hear some very
three of the four discs we had listened high-pitched sounds emerging from the
to before.
muRatas. Returning to our seats, we
We began with Bibb’s Good Stuff. The could still hear them, now that we knew
difference was not so evident this time. what to listen for. Subtle…for us at any
Gerard still heard better separation of rate.
voice and instruments, but Albert had
Then again, our microphone has
doubts, and Reine was even less certain. much younger ears than we have, and
“The subtleties are so…subtle,” she is calibrated out to 40 kHz. We had to
said.
plug it into analog gear, because our
She found the changes every bit as usual digital instruments don’t rise very
subtle on Cantate Domino. “There might far into the spectrum favored by bats.
be a bit more clarity of the different stops
We started by measuring response
on the organ,” she said, emphasizing the of our Living Voice speaker without
word might. Albert, on the contrary, the muRata, and then with. Though
found the difference greater than it had we usually use one third octave noise
been on the Omega system. “It’s odd, but for frequency measurements, we have
the lows seem to come out better. The
tweeters seem to increase the contrast,
Summing it up…
and the voices are better delineated.”
With the Dvorak CD, it was more Brand/model: muRata ES-103A
difficult to spot much difference. We Price: C$2900
made an effort to hear what we had noted Dimensions: 6.5 x 8.3 x 12 cm
before, namely more detail on the violin Sensitivity: 90 dB
and more clarity on the piano, but we Impedance: 8 ohms
Most liked: Actually capable of
didn’t come away with much.
We know what you’re thinking. making (some) fine speakers even
What if we unplugged the main speakers finer, no detectable down side
and left only the muRata super tweeters. Least liked: No adjustment for
ronicssensitivity
cthad
Would we hear anything at
all?ele
We
io
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Verdict: Not for everyone, but so
to try it.
fers luxu
at ofplayed
thWe
e
what?
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once
lu
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again, and for the
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esseconds
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no noise generator that can go beyond
20 kHz, and so we had to use singlefrequency sine waves, which make for
dodgy readings. Using both a decibel
meter and an oscilloscope, we managed
to get meaningful data.
The first measurement confirmed
what we had expected: the Living Voice
is dead flat out to 18 kHz, above the
hearing limits of many people. It drops
fairly sharply below that, to -9.8 dB at
20 kHz and below -21 dB at 40 kHz.
Then we added the muRata, with
the positive and negative leads reversed,
since that’s what gave the best result. The
combination was now just 3 dB down at
20 kHz, and 10 dB down at 30 kHz.
Once we got up to 40 kHz, we read just
-18 dB. We should add that, although
our microphone is rated accurate only to
40 kHz, both it and the muRata tweeter
showed substantial output way out to
60 kHz.
These super tweeters are not cheap
even as high end tweaks go, and as you
probably know that’s a tough standard.
You can buy a terrific pair of speakers for
less. They do work, though reading our
individual Crosstalk contributions may
lead you to the obvious conclusion: it all
depends on how high you can hear.
We can confirm that, as they say in
the doctors’ Hippocratic oath, they do
no harm. In the right system, they can
give you something you can’t get any
other way.
or you can’t. Your present speakers can
already reproduce an extra octave beyond
audibility, or they can’t. There may be a
better corner of your system to spend the
money on, or you’ve already spent it.
The answers will tell you whether
checking out this product is, for you, a waste
of time, or a passport to a higher state.
—Gerard Rejskind
timbre was more in evidence, that the image was improved, that words were easier to
understand. On the Alpha system, but for
some extra clarity in the organ stops, the
difference was almost nil.
That said, if my budget could withstand
it, I might well add these devices to my system, in the hope of gaining a little bit more
listening pleasure, however slim it might
be.
—Reine Lessard
Listening Room
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You can hear those very high frequencies, down connecting and disconnecting them, Omega system I did think that the piano
Adding a pair of these to a great pair of
48
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
you’ll be lucky if you get a polite nod.
And yet, they do work. Not on all recordings, not for everyone and not on every
system, I suspect, but when they do they
always improve the music, and sometimes
considerably. But not for every, etc…
Don’t delay a speaker upgrade in favor
of these, but if you have recently upgraded
your speakers and you still find yourself
with loose change left over, well…
—Albert Simon
The UHF Reference Systems
All equipment reviews are done on at least
one of UHF’s reference systems, which are
selected to be working tools. Their elements
are changed infrequently, and only after
long consideration.
The Alpha system
Our original reference is in a room
with extraordinary acoustics (originally
designed as a recording studio). They allow
us to hear what we couldn’t hear elsewhere,
but there’s a down side. Not only is the
room too small for large speakers, but it is
also at the top of a particularly unaccommodating stairwell.
Main digital player: Linn Unidisk 1.1
Secondary CD player: Parasound
C/BD2000 belt-driven transport,
Counterpoint DA-10A converter with
HDCD card.
Turntable: Audiomeca J-1
Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5
Pickup: Goldring Excel
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305
Power amplifier: YBA One HC
Loudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar
OBX-R
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,
Atlas Voyager All-Cu
Loudspeaker cables: Eclipse II/III
Power cords: Gutwire, Wireworld
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-2
(power amp), Inouye SPLC.
The Omega system
It serves for reviews of gear that cannot
easily fit into the Alpha system, with its
small room. We didn’t set out to make an
“A” (best system) and a “B” (economy)
system, and we didn’t want to imply that
one of the two systems is somehow better
than the other. Hence the names, which
don’t invite comparisons. Unless you’re
Greek of course.
Digital players: shared with the Alpha
system
Turntable: Alphason Sonata
Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS
Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5
Pickup: Goldring Excel
Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305
Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon
W-5LE
Loudspeakers: Reference 3a
Suprema II
Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,
Atlas Navigator All-Cu
Loudspeaker cables: Pierre
Gabriel ML-1 for most of the range,
Wireworld Polaris for the twin
subwoofers.
Power cords: Wireworld Aurora
AC filters: Foundation Research LC-1
The Kappa system
This is our home theatre system. As
with the original Alpha system, we had
limited space, and that pretty much ruled
out huge projectors and two-metre screens.
We did, however, finally come up with a
system whose performance gladdens both
eye and ear, with the needed resolution for
reviews.
HDTV monitor: Hitachi
43UWX10B CRT-based rear projector
DVD player: Simaudio Moon Stellar
with Faroudja Stingray video processor
Preamplifier/processor: Simaudio
Moon Attraction, 5.1 channel version
Power amplifiers: Simaudio Moon
W-3 (main speakers), Celeste 4070se
(centre speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear)
Main speakers: Energy Reference
Connoisseur
Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1, on
UHF’s own TV-top platform
Rear speakers: Elipson 1400
Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics
Cables: Van den Hul, MIT, GutWire,
Wireworld
Line filter: Inouye SPLC
All three systems have dedicated power
lines, with Hubbell hospital grade outlets.
Extensions and power bars are equipped
with hospital-grade connectors.
of
e
u
s
s
i
t
x
In the ne
Tube amplifiers: The Rogue Stereo 90 and an updated
version of a Canadian single-ended amp
Plus: How to fine-tune your system to get your money’s
worth, and the latest from Vegas
And that’s only the start!
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
49
McCormack UDP-1
Listening Room
W
ant to hedge your bets
for the future? Not sure
we’re right that SACD
has vanquished DVDAudio? Nervous about compromising
CD playback just to get better sound
from new media you hardly have any
of?
What you need is a universal player.
Of course that’s what we’ve picked up
for ourselves: our reference player is the
Linn Unidisk 1.1. And it’s a wonderful
player with just one down side: It’s about
the same price as a Toyota Echo.
The UDP-1 got everyone’s hopes
up as soon as it arrived in prototype
form, because, alone among prototype
players, its projected price of US$2200
looked like a dream. Alas, it was a dream.
Some of the technology in this player,
inevitably, is purchased, which means
the final cost was not predictable. Since
the first prototype was shown, the price
nearly doubled.
The good news is that the performance did a lot more than double.
The player is styled to look like other
components of the McCormack family,
such as the preamplifiers. The company
doesn’t specify what transport it uses,
though the styling of the remote control
suggests it’s from Pioneer. The disc tray
is of light plastic with a heavy front plate
in front of it to match the unit’s thick
front panel. Unfortunately the plate is
not fastened quite firmly: early on during
the brief time it spent in our system we
50
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
snagged the panel with a sleeve and it
came right off. Fortunately that’s only a
cosmetic flaw.
A somewhat more serious cosmetic
flaw is the readout panel, which is so dim
it is impossible to read even in dim light
unless you get down on your knees in
front of the unit. Only a double exposure
makes it visible in our photo.
There’s better news on the rear panel,
which has a full complement of jacks, and
pretty good ones at that.
This player is in great demand, for
reasons that would soon become clear,
and we finally got our hands on one
rather later than we had hoped. Worse,
the one earmarked for us had been damaged in transit, and the factory had to
rush us a replacement unit that arrived
so late we had to reschedule the listening
sessions. For that reason, we had time
to consider the UDP-1 only as an audio
player, though it does of course play
movies too.
The UDP-1 as CD player
We began the session with conventional Compact Discs for what we
consider to be a legitimate reason. The
Silver discs? It can
play ’em all. Now we
set out to find out…
how well?
worldwide supply of both SACD and
DVD-Audio discs is small, and for the
moment growing slowly. Though both
sound superior to Red Book CD, you
aren’t likely to spend this much on a
player unless it can do justice to the
digital recordings you already own.
With that in mind, we picked out some
of our favorite CDs and listened to them,
first on our Linn Unidisk reference
player, and then on the much lower-cost
McCormack.
We opened the session with our
perennial choral recording, Now the
Green Blade Riseth (Proprius PRCD9093).
This is a CD with an amazingly spacious
sound, and what struck us first was how
spacious it was with the UDP-1. “There’s
room enough for everybody,” said Reine
enthusiastically Even more important
was the fact that everybody’s voice was
gorgeous to hear, with only the slightest
trace of thickening when the full mixed
choir was singing. The bottom end was
ample and the rhythm strong.
Where this recording often gets
players (and other components too)
into trouble is in the finale of the opening piece, where singers and orchestra
grow louder and move up the scale. So
how did the McCormack do? For the
whole story, drop by our order page and
pick up the full issue of UHF No. 71.
Now forgive us if we continue to look
like people who have retained very little
notion of Latin.
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am
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Audio Refinement
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audioroom@telus.net
1347 - 12th Ave. S. W.
CALGARY, ALBERTA T3C 0P6
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The UDP-1 as SACD player
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Oskar
Antique Sound Lab
Ruark
Dali
YBA
Chord Cable
Reference 3a
Monster Cable
Harmonic Cable
XLO Cable
Tel: (403) 228-1103
Fax: (403) 245-8198
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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
51
Listening Room
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autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am
quis aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui
ea corem aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit
aliquam, volummolor iure magnis nisim
dolor sectem iure tat ipis nosto consed tat
augue dolobor sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit
wisl eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum
eugue feummolore doloborem vullam
dolummy nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit, sumsan henisi.
Im dolum dionse dignit nonsenim
dionsed et numsan henibh ea at lametuer
init at nullaore dip enis dolute volut do
eugiamet vulla autatio commod te facidunt ad magnisim venissi tat ipsusci tis
atet volore cor sim enim et lorper ip enit
venisci ncilit autpatue consequate facing
ea facipis nulput nit adiat autpatuer sum
niat aliquat. Dunt dolorem in henit nos
autem at alit irilit laore commy nim
zzriure mod tie dolendreet, vel ing et,
consed ero do consed et ea faciduipis nit
ipsuscilit adionsenibh er autat, sim acilis
eniatum ilis do eum iustio eugiat nos ad
dolore diat praesecte tat.
Re modolore min utat nulputpat.
Duis ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim
Summing it up…
Brand/model: McCormack UDCP-1
Price: C$4995 (equiv. US$4140)
Dimensions: 48 x 8.9 x 28.6 cm
Most liked: Ommy nibh essenia
mconulputat am quat augait
Least liked: Lit auguer iustionum
dolorem dolortisl ulput vent
Verdict: Umsan hent aute magna
conulla oreet, quisl er
ipisi tismole stinim aute dolore vullut
velis augue te faccum zzrilis molorem
nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla
oreet, quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla augait am vel eugait, velis
nisit wis nissecte dolore delessisl irilis
esed dolore vel exero eum doluptat.
Praessim dolorper alisl dolenissi
bla facip eumsandipit lan esequipit ilit
dolese ming eu feu facing ea amcommolut dit landrerostie tatue dolore te
vel et ex et la am vent vel utat ad duipit
niscil ut vulla con hendreet veriliquatum
deliquipit lobore tationse feum dit adiat
atum volore et utatie dunt atum del in
volor auguerat, vel ut ercipismod dolore
doloreet la facilit, commy nullandrem
num vulla faccum zzrit ad tem zzriusc
iliquis sectet aliquatetum nullutpat. Os
dolute mod et lorerostrud mincilit dit
prat accummod tis eugue faccumsandre
mod dit prat nummolo rercipit lore faccummy nismolese consed enibh et pratet
eliquat. Wisit veliquisi.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna
consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut
landit ad del incin vulputet augait am,
conulput prat lor sim augait, susto el iure
te molore.
Feummolore doloborem v ullam
dolummy nim quismodit.
Listening Room
CROSSTALK
Ommy nibh essenia mconulputat am quat
augait, vel essequam augiamet, con utem vel
iril ulla feum vulla cortionulla consequis
dolobortie minit, sequam aciliquis nim quis
eui blam, consequisi eratie tie te dolorper ing
ea feugait num incin hendiamcon ex ercilit ad
dipit iriustie dolesto odo odipit la adignibh
ea feu facip et augue min eumsan ulla aut
utpat ip ent volore elesto do odolobo rtisim
iriure veraesting erillan essectem dignim
velismod dip eugiate eugait la at, con ulla
feugue facipis et alismodolor si.
Gait, sumsan utet, ver sustrud minim
vercilla facilisci tet aliqui blamet la facing
esent vel irit et atem dio ercilit lore delissequat. Ut at nonsectem velenit alis ametuero
dolor senis nos eugiamcommy nullut vel diat
vero core et alisl dolore te consent nonummo
lobore min henim erit, siscili quisi.
—Albert Simon
52
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Lit auguer iustionum dolorem dolortisl
ulput vent velis nulput ip elisis ad tat. Ut
endre etue velit, vel doluptate verillametue
faci blan utate te dio coreet ad tisl et aciliqu
ationsent velit ad dunt ut niate et la conse
dolore velis nibh eraesequis augiam eugiam
amet, commy nullut aliquat autpat. Et, vent
praestrud dolortisit nonsed magnim quatet
lobore vel irit, quat.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan
utem er ad tie deliquipit eumsan eu feu
feummy nis nulla consequat, quam am quis
aliquatummy nisl etum iril er sustrud et
ad enis dolutet nonsequat. Dui ea corem
aci te facin heniscil ullaor ipit aliquam,
volummolor iure magnis nisim dolor sectem
iure tat ipis nosto consed tat augue dolobor
sumsan henibh ex euisi.
Agnim erat adigna autatum zzrilit wisl
eugueriure dolenibh exerilit ipsum eugue
feummolore doloborem vullam dolummy
nim quismodit iliquat ueraestrud dignisit,
sumsan henisi.
—Gerard Rejskind
Re modolore min utat nulputpat. Duis
ea facipit incidunt ad ea augait nim ipisi
tismole stinim aute dolore vullut velis augue
te faccum zzrilis molorem nisl iuscilisi.
Umsan hent aute magna conulla oreet,
quisl ero od dolenibh eu faccummy nulla
augait am vel eugait, velis nisit wis nissecte
dolore delessisl irilis esed dolore vel exero
eum doluptat.
Adigniam incil utpat vullandigna consectem voleniam ipit prat in ut landit ad del
incin vulputet augait am, conulput prat lor
sim augait, susto el iure te molore.
Nullaortie dolorpe rostis nim numsan.
—Reine Lessard
I
n the interests of getting as far
ahead as we can in our reviews, we
bring in gear well ahead of time.
Here’s a look at what we expect to
be reviewing in the next issue or two. As
usual, everything is subject to change.
*
Connoisseur SE-2
Speaking of amplifiers that didn’t
meet power specs… The Rogue 88 we
reviewed back in UHF No. 58 also fell
short of advertised power. An upgrade
kit, consisting of capacitors and tubes,
We’ve been wanting to try one of
Exposure’s smaller integrated amplifiers
out for years, and we even had an earlier
version of this integrated amplifier
pencilled in for review. Well, here it is
again.
Exposure, you may know, has the
same roots as Naim, and some years
back the two companies were considered
twins in different dress, rather like Rolls
Royce and Bentley. Time has passed,
of course, and the two manufacturers
have drifted way out of synch. What we
noticed, however, from the last time we
listened to Exposure products was that
even their smaller amplifiers had energy
and enthusiasm out of all proportion to
their size and cost.
That’s also true of Naim, by the way.
And in the meantime the products of
both have gotten a lot prettier.
*
Audio Reference Model Two
These two-part speakers (a twoway sitting atop a passive subwoofer
base…sound familiar?) is from the same
company that makes the Connoisseur
single-ended amplifier. The two sections
are held together by a black version of
Audio-Tak that must have been a tube
of Crazy Glue in an earlier life.
We got a listen to an early version of
the Model Two, and it didn’t grab our
interest. A phase error, too common in
loudspeakers, made it seem honky. Then
came the final version, shown above. Not
only was the “honk” gone, but the cabinetry had taken a turn for the better.
Lexicon RT-10
It’s another universal player (SACD,
DVD-A, CD, movies, etc.), which we
had hoped to get in time for this issue.
We didn’t…which illustrates vividly why
we’re doing our best to bring in gear
earlier than we really need. This “just
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
53
Listening Room
Yes, we reviewed this single-ended
tube amplifier in UHF No. 68, and we
liked it, too, except for one thing: it
didn’t come close to meeting its modest
power rating of 9 watts per channel.
The company has sent us a “Mark II”
version. Though we have yet to check
on how much electricity comes out of
it, we’re looking forward to hearing it
again. And besides, the new speakers
in our Alpha reference systems (from
Living Voice) are more efficient than
the previous speakers.
As noted last time, the externals of
this amplifier are from China, but several
internal details are different. In the new
version the printed circuit board is gone,
and all wiring is point to point.
*
Rogue Stereo 90
did not help. The company took the
amplifier back, and has now rebuilt it
into a newer model, the Stereo 90. It
looks different enough that we suspect
they didn’t keep much of the old one,
beyond perhaps the top cover.
Our picture shows it with the cover
off. We have yet to fire it up, and we’ll
be doing some diagnostic work before
we do. The reason: the leftmost KT88
output tube looks as though its vacuum
days are behind it. Fortunately, we have
some spare ones on the shelf.
Also fortunately, the tubes are easy to
bias in the Stereo 90. Not quite visible in
our picture is a round meter and a rotary
knob that lets you check bias on all four
tubes. You need a special adjustment
tool, but it is included, and there is even
a little clip on the chassis to hold it so it
won’t get lost.
Notwithstanding the diminished
power of the previous Rogue, we thought
it had good energy, including in the very
low frequencies a lot of other amps can’t
tackle.
*
Exposure 2010
in time” stuff may work for General
Motors, but it’s gotten us into trouble
again and again.
But never fear, we’ve pencilled it in
for next time. Its price is similar to that
of the McCormack UDP-1 reviewed in
this issue. We know from both hearing it
and watching it (with a movie, of course)
that it is at least pretty good, and perhaps
better than merely pretty good.
DigiDesign MBox
Listening Room
Sonneteer BardOne
What are these little flying saucers?
They’re a mess-free way to get your
audio signal from point A to point B.
They do it via radio waves.
This is different from all those
devices you’ve seen that can stream
music to your stereo system wirelessly.
Those connect to a computer which stores
music in digital form. The BardOne
system goes from analog to analog. One
of the saucers is an analog/digital converter plus a radio frequency transmitter.
The other is a radio receiver coupled to
a digital/analog converter. The two look
the same, with a pair of RCA jacks plus
a jack for the little power supply brick.
Only a colored paper dot tells you which
is which.
Consider the possibilities. Don’t
know how to run wires from your home
theatre preamp to the rear speakers?
Problem solved. Want a multi-room
music system but the landlord will skin
you alive if you make a hole in the wall?
Problem solved.
The BardOnes sound surprisingly
good too. We’ll give you the whole story
next time.
Can you use your computer to make
your own high qualit y recordings?
Forget sound cards.
The MBox is an external audio box
that connects to your computer via USB.
It includes three pairs of inputs, including FocusRite microphone preamps,
and a provision for phantom-powering
condenser microphones. Its street price
is a little over C$500, including a “light”
version of ProTools software. We’ll discuss other alternatives, including those
connecting with Firewire.
Gershman acoustic panels
These panels (shown at left) are
from the well-known speaker company.
Behind the decorative cloth (you can
pick from several patterns, or provide
your own cloth) are three absorbers
covering different parts of the audible
range.
The presence of three different
absorbers is important to note, because
most acoustic panels, including earlier
ones from the same company, all do
just one thing. Say you have a panel that
absorbs from 5 kHz on up. Put in a few
of them, and you have a room that is dead
above 5 kHz, and much too live below
that.
We’ll be trying them in our Omega
room, which come to think of it could
use a touch of damping.
54
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Digital Cinema: Less is More?
We’ve written about digital cinema
before, notably in UHF No. 59 (Paying
for TV). The film industry would love to
go all-digital, meaning using, in movie
theatres, a digital projector perhaps
much like the one you have in your home
theatre system. Our article took a rather
jaundiced view of digital movies, as the
title rather suggests. Should you pay as
much as $12 per person, not counting
parking and a baby sitter, and sit through
endless commercials, to see what you
could get at home?
Nor were we impressed by the economics. True, film prints are expensive,
some US$1200, and they get ratty and
scratched pretty fast. But even with
compression a film feature takes up some
350 Gb, and that storage capacity isn’t
cheap.
At least it wasn’t cheap when we wrote
the article. Today a pair of 250 Gb hard
discs cost under US$400. As for the projection systems, early ones needed computer engineers standing by, but that’s
changed too. Today, digital cinemas are
getting downright common.
But what about quality?
According to a study just published
by the British research company Screen
Digest, moviegoers actually prefer digi-
tal projection, and not by just a small
margin. Some 85% of people surveyed
by First Line Cinema (which carried
out the study), liked digital better than
film, and 72% would drive well out of
their way to see a digital movie. Screen
Digest’s Patrick von Sychowski says that
“The digital image is brighter, sharper,
the colors are more crisp and the image
is a bit steadier.” No mention of the fact
that a digital projection is a subset of the
information on a film.
But then again, is it? Computers have
long been used in filmmaking, but today
we’re talking about microcomputers.
The award-winning Cold Mountain was
edited on a Macintosh computer with a
program called Final Cut Pro. And the
special effects on Lord of the Rings: the
Return of the King were accomplished
with Shake, another piece of Apple
software. Why transfer digital images
back to film?
Of course there’s another aspect the
studios might think about. The huge
boom in downloading of music came
about thanks to the CD and its stock of
already-digital music. How smart is it
to have hard discs with digitized films
floating around?
Oh yes…encryption. Right!
We wrote about this company a
year and a half ago (Gossip&News, UHF
No. 66) after CES 2003. This startup (or
perhaps upstart) company was offering
software that allowed you to “back up”
your investment in DVDs. Of course
everyone understood that “back up”
means “copy,” and the implications were
clear. With 321 Studio’s DVD X Copy
software, you could rent a DVD and
copy it instead of buying it.
Was the company for real? We
weren’t sure. It seemed obvious the
defensive Hollywood studios would sue
to take the software off the market, but
in fact the company made a pre-emptive
strike, going to court to have its software
declared legal. Its argument: DVD X
Copy, like the Betamax, has noninfringing uses. What’s more, the law allows
consumers to make one backup copy of
a software title. The icing on the cake:
the company offered a $10,000 reward
for apprehension of anyone using DVD
X Copy to make an illegal copy.
In February the company lost a big
case: the Northern District Court of
California ordered 321 Studios to pull
its software within seven days. The
company responded by removing a key
component of the software…but one
that circulates widely on the Internet.
In early August, however, 321 Studios
ran out of cash and closed down.
We’re awaiting Hollywood’s reaction
to Kaleidescape, an expensive video
server that lets you store DVD content
on its huge hard disc. Would that include
borrowed and rented movies? To be
continued.
If you don’t know TiVo, it’s a box
records TV programs on hard disc,
allowing time-shifted viewing, and even
pausing of live programs. Broadcasters
are leery of this, but hey, how much
programming can you store in a TiVo
anyway?
More and more in fact. There are
now TiVo units with integrated DVD
recorders, allowing users to make up
commercial-free versions of anything
they want. Now, TiVo To Go will allow
downloading to personal computers.
But not if Hollywood has its way. The
big studios are joined by the National
Football League in asking the FCC (in
the US) to block TiVo To Go.
It may be too late. Though TiVo itself
is a subscription service, some computer
cards allow TiVo-like function on any
computer. In short, barn door still open,
but horse long gone!
After DVD
If you tune in HDTV broadcasts, you
probably figure it’s just a matter of time
before your movies also hit high definition. And you’re right…but the revolution is being slowed down by another of
those “Beta vs VHS” battles.
In one corner is the Blu-Ray disc,
using (as the name suggests) a blue
laser. The DVD-sized disc will hold a
whopping 29 Gb, more than six times
the capacity of a conventional DVD.
Sony already has a Blu-Ray player, and
Panasonic is about to launch its own.
In the other corner is HD-DVD,
backed by Toshiba and NEC. It’s a
lower-tech product, with half the capacity of Blu-Ray, but makes up for it with
much more compression. Indeed, HDDVD will hold some three hours of high
definition video, whereas the Blu-Ray
disc’s capacity, at 132 minutes, is a little
short for some movies.
Yes, reliance on greater “compression” (actually discarding of data) makes
us wince too. The decisive argument,
according to Toshiba and NEC, is that it
takes just five minutes to switch a DVD
plant over to making HD-DVDs.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
55
Cinema
321 Studio Reaches “0”
TiVo To Go
Software
I
Requiem
t was in the month of November
a few years back. The basilica was
filled to overflowing. Every seat
was taken for the performance of a
deathless musical monument, Mozart’s
Requiem. That evening this masterpiece
of religious music, which has had as
many versions as it has had conductors,
unveiled once more its treasures before
the captivated audience. The final notes
had not yet died away when the spectators rose as one, in an ovation for both
the musicians and the work.
Since that evening I’ve worked to
become more familiar with the musical
jewel that is the Requiem, a genre that
has arrested the attention of some of the
greatest composers, and which continues
to draw crowds.
***
Requiem…I know, the very word is
frightening because of its connection
with death, yet it doesn’t mean what
many suppose. Ironically enough, its
sense is that of rest, tranquility, peace, sleep.
It is the first word of the Latin text of the
Introit of the Mass for the dead: Requiem
æternam dona eis Domine… “Rest eternal
grant them, O Lord.” But let me begin
by defining the Sacrifice of the Mass, a
musical form tightly linked to Roman
Catholicism.
To understand it we must return to
56
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
the rites of Antiquity, some of which
included immolation of victims as offerings to the gods in order to appease their
anger or obtain their blessing. The Catholic Church continued this tradition,
albeit with an important alteration: the
victim offered up for the salvation of all
mankind is none other than Jesus Christ,
the son of God. The ceremony which
perpetuates this rite is the Sacrifice of
the Mass which is the central rite not
only of the Roman Catholic Church but
of the Anglican and Orthodox churches
as well. It commemorates Christ’s Last
Supper with his apostles, before the
beginning of His Passion, which led to
His death on the cross.
As for the word Mass, it is derived
from the Latin missa, which means to
send back, or to return. The word is
used in the Latin phrase spoken by the
priest at the end of the service: Ite Missa
est, “Go, the Mass is completed.”
A Mass is composed of obligatory
passages referred to collectively as The
Ordinary of the Holy Mass. These passages would serve as the inspiration for
countless admirable musical works of
many eras: the Kyrie Eleison, the Gloria,
the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei.
by Reine Lessard
It may also include the optional elements
of the Daily Proper of the Holy Mass:
the Introit, the Graduale, the Alleluia, the
Offertorium and the Communion.
The first complete polyphonic Mass
to include the elements of the first group
is the 14 th Century Mass of Tournai,
discovered in 1861 in an anonymous
collection in the cathedral of that Belgian town. Written by the French poet
Guillaume de Machaut, it was purely
choral. After 1600 came Masses for both
orchestra and choir.
There are three categories of Masses.
The High Mass, or Missa Solemnis
(Beethoven), is formal, celebrated with
great pomp by a priest assisted by a
deacon, an assistant deacon and other
ministers, all adorned with celebratory
vestments; the Sung Mass, or Missa
Cantata (Bach), without deacons; and
the Low Mass, in which all passages are
read or recited.
The Roman Catholic Mass had a
huge influence on the development of
music. Many are the composers, be
they believers or agnostics, Catholic or
Protestant, who found inspiration in
the Mass. Johann Sebastian Bach, for
one, left us one of the most memorable
Masses of the Baroque era, the B Minor
Mass, written in the form of a cantata.
To return to the Requiem, it is a Mass
of a very special class, one for the dead,
Missa pro Defunctis. This religious rite
is at once a prayer to the Almighty to
forgive the sins of the one who has died,
and a meditation on the anguish of the
living faced with death.
All religions throughout human
history have, like the Catholic Church,
developed elaborate funeral ceremonies. The Catholic liturgical calendar
includes two great Masses for the dead.
That of October 31st is one of mourning
and prayer for souls in purgatory, on
the path of redemption. The Officium
defunctorum is then sung. November 1st,
All Saint’s Day, is the feast of the faithful
who have entered into Paradise.
A Requiem generally includes eight
sections: the Introit ( Requiem), the
Kyrie, the Dies Irae sequence (Dies Irae,
Tuba Mirum, Rex Tremendae, Recordare,
Confutatis, Lacrymosa), the Offertorium
(Domine Jesu, Hostias), the Sanctus, the
Benedictus, the Agnus Dei, the Communion
case or the Dies Iræ (“Day of Wrath”),
from which I cannot resist quoting, in
a possibly imperfect translation of the
Latin original.
Dies iræ, dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
For now before the Judge sever
all hidden things must plain appear;
no crime can pass unpunished here.
As for the Lacrymosa:
Full of tears and full of dread
is that day that wakes the dead,
calling all, with solemn blast
to be judged for all their past.
Lord, have mercy, Jesus blest,
grant them all Your Light and Rest.
That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
shall Heaven and Earth in ashes lay,
as David and the Sybil say
What horror must invade the mind
when the approaching Judge shall find
and sift the deeds of all mankind!
Though the Dies Iræ is rejected by the
Church, it remains a colossal inspiration
that the majority of composers continue
to use, if only for the artistic challenge
it presents, with text mostly in Latin.
Though a Requiem’s text is always
religious, a given composer may have
written either for the actual liturgy or
for the concert stage. Requiem Masses
are often programmed on certain dates:
in November, “the month of the dead,”
or at Easter. Audiences are always large,
and recordings of Requiems sell in the
tens of thousands.
The mighty trumpet’s wondrous tone
shall rend each tomb’s sepulchral stone
and summon all before the Throne.
Now death and nature with surprise
behold the trembling sinners rise
to meet the Judge’s searching eyes.
Then shall with universal dread
the Book of Consciences be read
to judge the lives of all the dead.
Why a Requiem?
The Requiem is grave, solemn, meanULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
57
Listening Room
(Lux æterna, Requiem æternam).
The Introit opens with the words
Requiem æternam dona eis Domine, which
is of course a message of hope in God.
However a 13th Century Franciscan friar,
Tomaso de Celano, composed a new
sequence, Dies Iræ, Dies Illa, whose tone
is that of horror. From then on, and until
quite recently, the dominant themes
of the Requiem became death, divine
vengeance, and the terrible torments
awaiting the soul of the sinner before
the tribunal of the Last Judgement. The
Council of Trent, which was then revising the Church dogma, had retained this
text in the Mass for the dead. Thus came
the faithful to associate with death and
punishment a word which was originally
one of hope and peace.
Over a number of years, however,
the Church has considerably altered its
teaching away from the negative view
of God as vengeful and cruel, instead
presenting Him as infinitely good and
forgiving. In line with this new orientation, major changes have been brought
to the liturgy, with some texts either
altered or actually abolished. That is the
Software
ingful. To create it, the composer must
have a mastery not only of music but of
history, he must have an acquaintance
with Roman Catholic rites, and he must
have lively intuition into the human
condition. The project must present
itself as an irresistible temptation. How
to explain that, notwithstanding these
requirements, the Requiem is so popular
with composers? Why have some two
thousand Requiems been written? Let’s
search for clues.
At one time, a nobleman could gain
esteem by simply commissioning a
Requiem in honor of an eminent person
or to commemorate an historical event.
For the composer such a commission
would consecrate his talent before musical society, and in the hope of expanding
his prestige he would typically give the
work all his energies.
But that reason alone cannot suffice.
A Requiem can be a purely artistic work,
which may be composed even by an atheist or a member of some other faith who
is nevertheless drawn to the religious
grandeur of such music. The death of a
loved one may also serve as inspiration.
And for some the creation of a Requiem
can be a stimulating challenge. At once
painful, troubling and pathetic, with
some luminous sections, the music of
a Requiem can unleash a great many
voices and instruments in music of rare
intensity.
It goes without saying that not all
composers have the same concept of
death, their own or that of loved ones.
Each may blend in his own questions
and fears, and perhaps his hope of finding consolation, to bring serenity while
he awaits the Beyond. This diversity of
motives and concepts has brought us
numerous Requiems of great beauty.
The earliest reference to a Requiem
appears in the will of Guillaume Dufay
(1397-1474), who was a member of the
Papal Chapel, famed as much for his
erudition as for his deep knowledge of
music and canon law. His will required
that a Requiem Mass of his own composition be performed at his death: “…that
twelve or more capable men…on the day
following my funeral sing my Requiem
Mass in the Chapel of St. Stephen
(Cabrai) and for this I bequeath four
pounds Parision.”
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Unhappily, Dufay’s Requiem is lost,
which leaves as the earliest polyphonic
Requiem known to us that of Johannes
Ockeghem, written possibly as early
as 1470. It is especially interesting for
its Psalm, which includes a canon — a
staggered repetition of a theme. It
served as a model for Josquin des Prez
among others, and for composers of the
16th Century, with an Introit, a Kyrie,
a Graduale (a chant that follows the
Epistle), a Tractus (Psalm) and an Offertorium (Domine Jesu and Hostias). Other
composers late added more elements.
The Requiems of Antoine Brumel and
Johannes Prioris include the Sanctus,
the Agnus Dei and the Communion. With
time, orchestral music would be added
to the choral voices.
Who was Johannes Ockeghem?
Mu sicolog ist s place h is bi r t h
between 1410 and 1425, in the village of
St. Ghislain near Mons, Belgium. His
remarkable bass voice promised him a
brilliant livelihood, but he also showed
an exceptional gift for composition.
He was treasurer of the rich St. Martin
Abbey in Tours, of which French kings
were abbots ex officio. He served three
k ings: Charles V II, Louis X I, and
Charles V III, holding the office of
maestro di cappella under the latter two.
His musical output includes several
motets, 15 Masses, songs, and his Missa
pro Defunctis. His style, characterized
as Flamboyant Gothic, brought new
elements to sacred music. He was one
of the 15t h Centur y’s most famous
composers, with Dufay and des Prez,
his pupil. He greatly influenced his age,
and is known as “great northern master
of polyphony.”
The majors
Perhaps the best approach is to select
a few Requiems among the best-known
and to examine their inspirations. Their
music is at once beautiful and troubling,
but I cannot explain their sonic richness,
try as I might. They must be listened
to.
I shall also mention some less conformist Requiems, which are, all the
same, masterpieces.
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
This early Renaissance composer
was born around 1525 near Rome, in the
little town of Palestrina, whose name he
added to his own. He was part of a triumvirate of composers working in Rome in
the latter part of the century, along with
Tomas Luis de Victoria and Orlando di
Lassus. It was the time of the Council of
Trent, which overhauled church dogma
to meet the growing Protestant challenge. At the zenith of Gregorian chant’s
popularity in the Church, Palestrina was
able to convince Vatican authorities that
polyphonic music still had its place in the
Catholic liturgy.
Gregorian chant, also known as
plainsong, includes a single melodic
line, whereas polyphony can include
several. Children become familiar with
polyphony and canons when they learn
to sing Frère Jacques and Row, Row Your
Boat.
Palest rina’s profou ndly human
qualities, recognized by all, are what
distinguished him. He believed that one
could transcend even the greatest woe.
That no doubt explains why, despite the
emotionally distant nature of the music
of his Requiem (except for the sublime
Hostias and Offertorium, which are more
expressive), the work reflects the sentiments of confidence and hope that were
his. He made great use of the canon and
counterpoint, sometimes adding dissonance, but always in perfect balance.
Sung a capella, his music is striking for
its refined style. We now know that not
all the sections were written by him, but
the work is especially interesting in the
way he transformed the technique of the
canon, notably in the Kyrie. In the Agnus
Dei there are luminous passages communicating joy and trust. The Introit,
the Graduale and the Communion are
plainsong.
All Palestrinas’s religious music,
including his Requiem, grew out of his
professional activities and his spiritual
development, and we can conclude that
he was inspired by his deep faith in God.
The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him the
greatest composer of church music of
all time, with his psalms, hymns and
litanies, and especially his 29 motets
based on The Song of Songs. Historians
have dubbed him “the prince of music,”
and one called him “the ocean into which
all streams have flowed.”
Unhappily, in 1834 the Archbishop
of Paris forbade its performance at a
funeral ceremony because it included
women’s voices! He therefore commissioned a second, all-male, Requiem that
Cherubini completed two years later.
Cherubini was the first musician to
receive the Légion d’Honneur, a month
before his death in 1842.
Hector Berlioz
Born near Grenoble in 1803, LouisHector Berlioz rebelled at his father’s
ambition that he should follow in his
footsteps and study medicine. At the end
of his musical studies, he signed at the
age of 26 a Messe Solennelle so expensive
to stage that it left him penniless, but
attracted the attention of the musical
elite. The same year he completed the
Symphonie Fantastique, which would
immortalize him.
Yet, if he was seen abroad as a hero for
his musical boldness and his tumultuous
adventures, in Paris he was entirely misunderstood. For a time he survived only
by freelance composing and by turning
music critic, one of the best of his age.
Despite his yout h he long had
ambition to wrote a Requiem Mass,
and in 1836 opportunity knocked. The
Ministry of Fine Arts commissioned
him to write a Requiem in memory of
a maréchal who was killed during an
attempt on the life of the king, LouisPhilippe.
It is no secret that Berlioz was not
one to do anything by halves. He always
gave his all, to excess some would say. He
asked the Minister of the Interior for an
orchestra of 600 musicians. Surprised
and no doubt alarmed, the minister gave
him “only” 400, already a remarkable
number.
Berlioz set to work with prodigious
ardor. Though the work was ready in a
mere three months, it was enough time
for the minister to be replaced, and the
commission to be cancelled. Shortly
after, however, another officer, a general
this time, fell on the field of honor,
and thus the commission was resurrected. Despite manipulation by jealous
competitors (including Cherubini), the
Requiem was performed under the dome
of the Invalides (shown above the title of
this article). Present were princes, minis-
ters, députés, members of the French and
international press, and a huge crowd.
The scope of the work, and the size of
the orchestra (190 instruments, including fanfares placed at the sanctuary’s
four cardinal points, 210 singers and
sixteen large drums), resulted in a sound
that could literally wake the dead! The
spectators were stunned. The success
of the Requiem Mass was complete, and
Berlioz triumphed across the board.
And he knew the worth of his work.
“If all of my works but one were to be
thrown in the fire,” he wrote, “it should
be for my Mass for the dead that I should
plead mercy.”
The Requiem æternam or Introit,
marvelously sung, is followed seamlessly
by the Kyrie Eleison. Male voices, the
strings in a canon, the sopranos entering, and a serene rhythm that becomes
frenetic — all of this is captivating from
the start. The Dies Iræ opens with the
sopranos, soon joined by the men and
the brass, the cymbals, the tympani and
the organ, rising toward a shattering
tutti of rolling thunder, with only an
occasional pause before relaunching
its unparalleled musical flight. The Rex
Tremendae is highly melodic. The Lacrymosa is surprising: at first vehement, then
filled with joy and hope, then humble
and imploring, it picks up violently with
scintillating brass toward a dazzling
finale. The Offertorium is remarkable as
well. How they sing, those souls awaiting
beatitude! It all confirms that Berlioz,
beyond his hyperbolic orchestration, was
a marvelous melodist. And I haven’t yet
spoken of the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei,
which follow.
A musicological analysis of Berlioz’s
arrangement once demonstrated that the
work has a surprising symmetry. Each
of the movements include precisely 603
measures…except for the Lacrymosa, in
sonata form with 201 measures, exactly
a third of 603. Did Berlioz do that purposely? What I consider more important
is the sonic richness of the music, its
Romantic excess, its power when its great
forces are marshaled, and the grandeur
of its orchestra and choirs. It is without
a doubt one of the most powerful works
ever composed, within which alternate
moments of calm and others of fierce
storms.
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Luigi Cherubini
Born in Florence in 1760, composer
and teacher Luigi Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria Cherubini was a child
prodigy, composing several religious
works by the age of 13. Despite some
successes, his financial troubles pushed
him to leave his native land for London,
then Paris. His career perked up in 1795
when he became inspector of teaching at
the Conservatoire. After the Restoration and Louis XVIII’s accession to the
throne, he was named director of the
Royal Chapel. His position as director of
the Conservatoire from 1822 to his death
20 years later gave him great influence on
the musicians of his generation, notably
Beethoven and Schumann.
Though he is known especially for
sacred music, he also wrote operas,
including some hits, and at the turn of
the 19th century he was the dominant
figure in the field. Weber would write of
him that he was “one of the two heroes of
the artistic domain of our time who, as
a classical master who blazed new paths,
will shine brightly forever.”
Cherubini left a vast work, including 11 Masses and t wo Requiems,
these last commissioned by the French
government. The first, in C Minor, was
intended to commemorate the execution
of Louis XVI. First performed in 1817,
it is his masterwork and was an immense
success. Its Introit is followed by a Kyrie
Eleison in which the choir is accompanied
by strings, brass and percussion. This
section expresses dramatically, despite its
contained volume, the grief and anguish
of humans faced with the idea of death.
It ends with a sustained G, followed by
a brief silence and then an apocalyptic
explosion of brass and a gong that rings
on and on. Through arias and counterpoints, with contrasts from ppp to fff, the
Dies Iræ develops. It is nearly unbearable,
but such majesty!
That Requiem was played at the
funeral of Beethoven, who once said that
were he to write a Requiem, Cherubini’s
would be his only model. Schumann
called Cherubini’s Requiem unequalled.
As for Berlioz, though he had been a
victim of Cherubini’s maneuvers behind
the scenes, he was so won over by the
Agnus Dei that he said its “decrescendo”
surpassed all that had gone before.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Born in 1813, Verdi was one of the
greatest and most illustrious Italian
dramatic master composers of the 19th
Century. From his first major success
of 1842, Nabucco, to his Falstaff of 1887,
he dominated Italian opera. He was
first to insist that singers give more
importance to dramatic expression than
to their vocal prowess. After such works
as La Traviata, Rigoletto and Il Trovatore,
not to mention Aida, one might have
thought he had given all of the richness
within him. Yet, at the age of 60, pressed
to finish a Requiem he had left on the
shelf years before, he showed a facet
of his genius hitherto hidden. Despite
his agnosticism, he demonstrated his
undeniable ability to color this Requiem
Mass with a genuine religious tone. In
this, Verdi was simply following quite
naturally his rather demanding moral
sense, and indeed some have seen in him
a sort of secular saint.
The story of this Requiem is special,
for it glorifies two persons who meant a
great deal to Verdi. There was a project
to commemorate the anniversary of Rossini’s death, and a Requiem in homage to
him was to be composed by 13 different
Italian composers, with the Libera Me
assigned to Verdi. However administrative problems prevented the project
from proceeding, and Verdi expanded
his Libera Me into a full Requiem Mass
to commemorate the death of his great
friend, the writer Alessandro Manzoni.
On May 22, 1874, exactly one year
after Manzoni’s passing, Verdi’s Requiem
for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass,
choir and orchestra was performed at
the San Marco cathedral of Milan in
incomparably solemn circumstances.
Verdi obtained a special dispensation
to allow women to sing in the church,
provided they be dressed in black…and
veiled!
The composer himself conducted
the choir of 120 voices and the orchestra of 100 musicians. Triumph was
instantaneous, and a performance at La
Scala quickly followed, with the same
soloists and still under Verdi’s baton.
This extroverted religious work, at once
grandiose and theatrical, called by some
“an opera of the dead,” is a masterpiece
of the Romantic repertoire. It plunges us
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into an experience at once musical and
spiritual. There is a fascinating contrast
between the Introit, which expresses
both fear and humility in a plea for
nearly unhoped for mercy, and the Dies
Iræ, which symbolizes the anger and the
cruelty of God toward sinners…and also
expresses his own anger before such an
unforgiving God. Verdi unchains the
elements. Shrieking brass, shattering
percussion, the bass drum…it’s all there
in an orchestration of matchless excellence. Such emotion, such majesty, such
power! Then there is the Lacrymosa,
almost a lullaby, a veritable operatic duet
with exquisite counterpoints for singers
and orchestra, in which the distress and
the pain expressed by the soloists are
palpable with each note. Listen to it and
remained unmoved? Not you. Not me.
A question haunts the purists: did
Verdi respect the religious requirements
of a Mass for the dead? Conductor
and critic Hans von Bülow called the
Requiem “Verdi’s latest opera, despite
its ecclesiastical robes.” (Brahms would
reply that von Bülow had made a fool of
himself.) Most consider this Requiem, a
rare example of operatic interpretation
of a liturgical text, to be incontestably
one of Verdi’s finest operas, and too bad
for those who think otherwise. An artist
must express himself not only with what
he has, but also with what he is. Verdi
was the same in the opera house as in
church.
The Requiem would be played around
the world, always to the same acclaim.
When Verdi conducted it in Paris, he was
decorated with the Légion d’Honneur.
Johannes Brahms
Born in Hamburg in 1833, Brahms
studied violin and cello with his father,
then took up the piano with excellent
teachers. His early years were difficult,
and he made ends meet by playing piano
in the taverns and bordellos of the port.
However his reputation as a pianist soon
overflowed this modest setting, and his
compositions captured the attention of
the musical elite.
During a concert tour in 1853, he was
introduced to Robert Schumann, and the
two composers became fast friends. In
Schumann’s eyes, Brahms was a young
genius, and he said as much in the pages
of the musical journal of which he was
editor.
Alas, the friendship was shattered
by the illness and death of Schumann
in 1856. Brahms got over the loss with
the greatest difficulty, and the following
year he announced his project to write
a Requiem Mass, an endeavor he would
complete only in 1865, on the death
of his mother. We can suppose it is to
exorcise these painful memories that he
was thus inspired.
Brahms had the technical preparation for such an opus. Having been a
choir master and having written a great
number of pieces for his chorales, his
natural aptitude for handling great sonic
masses grew masterfully. Disenchanted
with the human misery he had known
in his young years in Hamburg’s worst
districts, he had become distrustful of
life and its hurdles. “In my opinion,” he
wrote, “the dead who are dead are happier than the living who are still alive.”
He added, “Death is the freshness of the
night, life is the intolerable heat of the
day.”
It is these sentiments that go a long
way to explain this strange German
Requiem that is more like a hymn of
consolation. Its recurring themes are
Blessed are the dead from The Book of
Common Prayer, and Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted, from the
Eight Beatitudes (Matt. 5-4). Following
more the spirit than the letter of the
texts translated into German by Martin
Luther, chosen by Brahms himself from
the Scriptures, he placed them in a musical setting that marked him, in his early
thirties, one of the greatest composers
of all time.
The German Requiem was written for
mixed choir with soloists and orchestra.
Its limpid, moving lines speak of distress,
but also of love and its redemptive power.
There is nothing frightening in this
Requiem. There is no judge, no divine
vengeance, no evocation of eternal damnation. There is rather an echo of the
Resurrection and a hint of the splendor
of the abodes of Paradise. It is a music
of consolation and hope, and only that.
It is, in Brahms’s own words, a human
Requiem.
The second section, the longest,
opens with a march tempo on the words
Software
All Flesh is as the Grass, followed by
the luminous message, Now Therefore
Be Patient, then a glorious march, The
Redeemed of the Lord Shall Return, ending
softly with Joy Everlasting. All of the
sections merit our admiration, though
I think the fourth, How Lovely is Thy
Dwelling Place, and the fifth, Ye Now Are
Sorrowful, with its remarkable solo for
soprano, are the most touching.
This grandiose work was completed
in 1866 and it was performed in Bremen
two years later. Its official premiere,
however, took place in 1869 in Leipzig,
with the orchestra of the Gewandhaus
conducted by K arl Reinecke. The
German Requiem is one of the grand
works of the vast repertoire of religious
music.
Antonin Dvorak
Born in Bohemia in 1841, Dvorak
earned an enviable worldwide reputation. His Slavonic Dances, Slavonic
Rhapsodies, Gypsy Songs, Stabat Mater and
his symphonies, especially the Symphony
From the New World, and so many others,
demonstrated his genius.
He also wrote religious music, which
was an instant success in England.
His Requiem, commissioned by the
Birmingham Festival and presented in
1891, was written for soloists, choir and
orchestra. It is a masterful and dramatic
presentation of the Mass for the dead.
Its two sections follow without pause.
Bold as ever, Dvorak conceived his
magnificent opus for full orchestra in
a large concert hall, not a church. One
can only be won over by the richness
of the singing and the intensity of the
orchestra. You don’t need a primer on
the different parts of the Mass to be
struck by the Dies Iræ followed by the
Tuba Mirum, the most frightening of all
in my view…frightening, and at the same
time admirable. The Confutatis opens
with drums, ferocious strings and a vigorous choir, then becoming imploring,
before the return of the percussion. The
Offertorium — Lord Jesus Christ, King of
Glory, Deliver the Souls — is preceded
by an organ solo, which gives way to
lustrous brass introducing male voices,
joined by the women, in a passage that
is extraordinary at once for the beauty of
its melodic line as for the solemnity of its
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subject. This powerful Requiem, with its
canons, counterpoints and heartrending
melodic sections, is one for the ages.
Gabriel Fauré
Far be it from me to minimize the
grief that Fauré felt following the loss
of his parents in a short period, but he
always said that he composed his Requiem
for his own pleasure. Begun in 1887, it
had originally five parts: the Introit and
Kyrie, the Sanctus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei
and In Paradisum. The orchestration was
not yet complete when Fauré conducted
the Requiem in its 1888 premiere at the
church of the Madeleine in Paris, where
he was chapel master.
It was heard again four months later,
with added parts for two horns and two
trumpets, but wait — it still wasn’t done.
The Offertorium was completed over two
periods of time: the Hostias for solo baritone was added in 1889 and the canon
for choir surrounding it only in 1894.
As for the Libera Me, written for soloist
and organ in 1877, it was expanded four
years later to include three trombones.
You might suppose that with such a
patchwork creation the Requiem must
lack a certain coherence. You would be
wrong, for its homogeneity is remarkable.
For a long time the soprano and alto
parts were sung by young boys, for, need
I mention again, the Roman tradition
then excluded women from the Sanctuary of the church. These young soloists
were backed by a few men’s voices, tenors
and basses, with added singers for major
ceremonies, along with a double bass, the
organ, and sometimes strings and winds
as well.
How is Fauré’s Requiem different
from all others? First, because Fauré was
an unbeliever, he presents religion as a
source of love rather than fear, death as
a happy deliverance rather than a painful
passage, and the Last Judgement with
none of the Dantesque vision some other
composers have lent it. That said, he
was consistent, for had he not criticized
Berlioz’ Grande Messe des morts when he
was music critic for the Paris newspaper
Le Figaro in 1904?
Despite the seriousness and the
melancholy of the subject, this Requiem
is notable for the simplicity of the ele-
ments that make it up, for its radiant
serenity, for its gentleness, and for the
dreamlike climate surrounding Fauré’s
exquisite poetry. The Sanctus, sung by
boy sopranos joined by men’s voices
against a violin continuo, is sublime. It
opens on a keyboard prelude and closes
on the Hosanna, still against the violin
continuo to which is added the organ.
And what to say of the Pie Jesu? The
Lacrymosa, we note, has been omitted.
Written for baritone and choir, the troubling theme of the very short Dies Iræ is
rendered fortissimo, and is clearly taken
up once again in the Libera Me. The work
closes with In Paradisum against an organ
continuo. It touches the divine, and I can
say no more.
The development of this work is
complex. Not until 1901 was the full version for symphony orchestra completed.
It is best suited to the large concert hall,
whereas the 1893 version is preferred
for smaller venues. In 1983 John Rutter
created a new edition of the 1893 version,
more faithful to the original score of
1888.
Maurice Duruflé
Born in France in 1902, he was one
of France’s best-known composers of the
new century. Duruflé was known above
all as an organist, especially in the US,
where he toured numerous times. He
was an eclectic musician, embracing
styles from the Gregorian to popular
harmonies of his time.
As a composer he is particularly
known for his Requiem, composed in
1947 to the memory of his father. It was
broadcast the following year with Roger
Désormière conducting, and in concert
the same year under Paul Paray.
Duruf lé’s Requiem is often compared to Fauré’s, supposedly because of
the generally peaceful atmosphere of
both works. I beg to disagree. Despite
structural similarities, Fauré used texts
lacking the expression of either anger
or fear. Duruflé, on the other hand, in
his Domine Jesu Christi, which must be
understood as a prayer of entreaty, calls
upon brass and percussion to support a
choir driven by anger and fright. As for
the Hosanna from the Sanctus, nothing
less than a song of adoration of the Holy
Spirit, an abrupt violent passage going
beyond fff evokes in shattering fashion
the end of time and the flames of Hell.
Certainly some other composers have
chosen the same coloration of terror, but
Fauré did not.
Duruflé’s Pie Jesu for mezzo-soprano
and the Lux Æterna, in canon form, are
superb. It is interesting that for his In
Paradisum he selected instruments often
associated with peace, such as the celesta
and the harp.
There is one more difference: Duruflé used extensive Gregorian passages,
whereas Fauré’s Requiem is entirely
polyphonic. Of course, these differences
take nothing away from the beauty of
Duruflé’s Requiem.
Pier-Carlo Liva
The Canadian composer, singer and
guitarist was 11 when he began his classical guitar studies, and he graduated
from the University of Sherbrooke with a
degree in classical performance. Shortly
after he and some other classicallytrained musicians formed an eponymous
heavy metal group.
You may be surprised that a heavy
metal performer might decide to write
a religious work, and a Requiem at that.
More surprising still is that the text is
in Latin! Though Liva is fully familiar
with the Requiems of other ages, he has
not adapted them for the new idiom. His
Requiem is entirely original.
Why, you might ask. He turned to this
music because he was tempted to create
a major work, but also for the artistic
challenge. Written for death/baritone,
soprano and chamber quartet — viola,
guitar, electric bass and drums — its
composition took three years. The
marriage between classical and metal is
solid, the architecture intelligent, and
even metal-illiterates like me can be
carried away by this strange, audacious
music that drags us into a spellbinding
ambience.
See the f ull review of the Liva
Requiem elsewhere in this issue.
And what of Mozart?
I began and end with him. Yet has
too much not already been written about
his Requiem? What can I add that is not
abundantly known? If I speak of Mozart
despite all, it is for the pure pleasure of
doing so.
According to the Gospel of St. John,
“…the day of the final judgement, hail and
blood shall rain down upon the Earth, and all
creatures shall be destroyed, and from the sky
shall fall an immense star that shall burn like
a torch, and all the stars shall be consumed.
Then shall cry out an eagle thus, ‘Woe, woe,
woe to all inhabitants of the Earth.’ And
the dead, shall stand before the Throne, and
the Books shall be opened, and the dead shall
be judged by their Works. And according to
what is written, whosoever has not his name
inscribed in the Book of Life shall be cast into
the Lake of Fire.”
As we have seen, most of the composers of Requiem Masses drew inspirations
from the horror of such apocalyptic
texts: Berlioz, Cherubini, Duruf lé,
Verdi, Dvorak, and others. If there
is one composer who did not hesitate
to take the same road, it is our dear
Amadeus, and that despite his claim
not to fear death. From the Dies Iræ,
which is entirely from his pen, to the
first eight measures of the Lacrymosa,
which is as far as he got, his music is
eloquent, and terribly troubling by its
melancholy. Musicologists attribute to
him the Requiem and the Kyrie, whereas
for the rest he had time only to write
down indications for the instrumental
and vocal parts. Whoever may have
completed these sections, this Requiem
evokes a joust among choir, soloists and
orchestra to announce the Day of Judgement. What we must recall is that, in the
parts he completed or wrote notes for,
there is a marriage of tradition with new
ideas of his creation. The ultimate result
is that, through this sole religious work,
Mozart revolutionized sacred music.
And yet, and yet…I wonder. Would
this Requiem have been as influential
were it not for the numerous legends
and polemics that continue to surround
its creation?
I go no further, leaving to musicologists, who continue to differ, the last
word…if there is to be a last word.
Amen.
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John Rutter
Born in London in 1945, Rutter
began composing in 1969 and turned out
operas for children, Christmas Carols,
and various orchestral and choral works
that made him famous. What is remarkable about him is his will to compose
music that can be sung by any reasonably
competent church choir. Most of his
compositions include melodies that are
pleasant and easy to remember, which
explains his popularity with both singers
and audiences. However it is thanks to
his Requiem that he must henceforth be
classed among the truly great composers
of religious music.
His implication in church music is
hardly surprising. Was he not, in turn,
choral singer at Highgate School and
organist and conductor of the Clare
College Chapel Choir in Cambridge?
In 1981 he founded the Cambridge
Singers, which he supported in its efforts
to found its own record label, leading
to worldwide recognition. Remarkable
conductor and choirmaster, when he set
out in 1985 to write his Requiem he knew
where he was going.
His concept is an interesting one.
He wanted the seven sections of the
work to be a sort of meditative arc on
the themes of Life and Earth, and the
Requiem’s architecture is constructed
in that fashion. He has always said he
was influenced by the Requiem of Fauré:
intimate, contemplative and lyrical,
containing more light than darkness.
Even in his Dies Iræ, he finds a way to
express anguish without excess.
I believe he was also influenced by
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. Like
Britten, he mixed vernacular texts with
the traditional text of the Latin Mass.
Like the Brahms, this is a Requiem of
consolation.
The music is poignant, and none of
the sections leaves us indifferent. The
first two, Requiem æternam and Out of
the Deep (from the 13th Psalm) plunges
us into contemplation, at once subdued
and trusting. The Kyrie Eleison, the Pie
Jesu and the Agnus Dei are extraordinary,
and the final Lux æterna reprises the
measures of the first movement. Most
moving of all, in my view, is the fifth
section, The Lord is my Shepherd, which
is of course drawn from the 23rd Psalm.
Rutter has often said that his Requiem
is intended for the concert hall, but he
has also said that his dearest wish is that
this music might be at home in a church
setting. There are numerous recordings
of the Rutter Requiem.
Software Reviews
Zona Torrida
Strunz & Farah
Selva SV-CD 1011
Rejskind: I was thinking of writing
that I have fond memories of the very
first recording of Jorge Strunz and
Ardeshir Farah. It was called Misterio,
and it was released on the Water Lily
audiophile record label before migrating
to Audioquest. But then I read the press
release that came with their new CD, and
I realized that Misterio was in fact their
fourth recording. This unique guitar duo
by Reine Lessard,
and Gerard Rejskind
has been going since 1982.
And they’re still going strong, too,
with not the slightest sign that they
might be running out of inspiration.
Their music — written primarily by
Strunz, for their guitars plus violin and a
number of other instruments, including
bass and exotic percussion — could be
classed as “World Music,” or, considering its diverse roots, as Gypsy music.
Indeed, the one time I saw them play
live was at a Montreal Jazz Festival event
billed as The Night of the Gypsies.
Jorge Strunz was born in Costa Rica,
Ardeshir Farah in Iran. Both were expatriates as children, Farah in England,
Strunz in several countries including
Mexico and Canada. You would expect
them to draw on the traditional music
of their respective native lands, but in
fact their musical imagination ranges
way beyond. If the title piece does sound
Latin American, and if Kereshmesh (the
one selection composed by Farah) is
distinctly Middle Eastern, you can
have fun figuring out the roots of their
other pieces. The sixth track is titled
Andromeda, so don’t limit your search
to the obvious!
W hat all of t he pieces have in
common is the unparalleled musicianship of this international duo. Both play
Spanish guitars. On some numbers,
Farah shifts to a guitar with steel strings,
making an interesting tonal counterpoint to Strunz’s nylon-stringed guitar.
Both play with a speed and a precision
that is difficult to believe. They are
ably backed by several other musicians,
including violinist Charlie Bisharat, who
composed Secret Village, the last of the
selections.
The sound of this recording, like that
of Misterio, is exemplary. It would be easy
for this rapid, dense music to become a
mere blur. It never does.
Software
Requiem
Liva
Stoke SR 01
Rejskind: There’s nothing new about
trying to blend the classics with more
contemporar y st yles, such as jazz
(Gershwin), or rock (ELO, Supertramp,
64
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Sébastien Breton and bassist Simon Roy
Boucher.
A word about the quality of the
recording is in order. One of the defining characteristics of heavy metal is
distortion, resulting from the practice
of carefully considering how loud an
instrument can reasonably play, and
then going way beyond. Pier Carlo Liva’s
guitar produces harmonics not found in
pure acoustical instruments, and he is
not shy about exploiting the resources of
the studio gear, but the harmonics do not
originate from overloading the recording system. The result is that what you
hear always makes musical sense, and it
is engaging rather than annoying.
You won’t find many metal bands
singing in Latin, and Liva intends to go
on using Latin in his future recordings.
How better to overcome language barriers?
Bach: Suites, Sonatas, Airs &
Dances
Joseph Petric
Analekta FL 2 3133
Lessard: Bach on the accordion? Yes…
on a concert accordion of course. It is
incredibly gorgeous, something that just
had to be done!
For there really are concert accordions, created thanks to the passionate
implication of fan of the instrument. The
result is that the makers of these instruments, along with the artists who make
them sing, have pooled their talents
to make the accordion an increasingly
accomplished and delightful instrument.
Petric is well known on both sides of the
Atlantic, and I greeted his new CD with
enthusiasm.
Petric offers his own arrangements of
keyboard works from Bach and one of his
sons, Carl Phillip Emmanuel. From Papa
Bach he has arranged six excerpts of the
English Suite No. 3 and another six from
the French Suite No. 2 in C Minor. These
suites are collections of dances Albert
Schweitzer once called “a fragment of
a vanished world of grace and elegance
(that) has been preserved to us…the ideal
musical picture of a Rococo period.”
Why the distinction between French
and English suites? There is no certain
answer, and the titles are not Bach’s own
anyway. We can suppose that the first set
was judged to be in the tradition of the
great English composer Frank Purcell
while the second was in the style of
François Couperin.
The name withstanding, the English
Suite is in a darker vein than the French
Suite, whose Courante deploys for us
contagious liveliness and grace.
The second part of the CD is given
over to the best-known, and I would add
the most talented, of the Bach progeny.
Included are two Prussian Suites, the
No. 2 in B Flat Major and the No. 6 in
A Major. These were the first important
works composed for the newly-arrived
instrument that was the pianoforte.
C.P.E. Bach was a fabulous keyboard
player, and his compositions are marked
by great refinement. As to his contribution to the sonata in its Classical form,
it is beyond challenge, and it would
influence other major composers such
as Haydn and Mozart.
But now let me speak about our
accordionist. What mastery he shows in
the way he has built the arrangements of
all the pieces in the program, throwing
new light on the works of C.P.E. Bach in
particular. And how well he brings out
the qualities of his instrument, with its
multiple possibilities, both technical and
expressive! You have to hear his playing,
dynamic and elegant, and the thousand
modulations, ornaments and trills with
which he dresses his playing, as only a
great virtuoso can.
Set out on a fine musical adventure
by picking up this excellent audiophile
quality recording that I predict will fly
off the shelves.
The accompanying booklet contains
all the information on this concert
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
65
Software
Pink Floyd, Octobre, the Beatles). But a
Requiem Mass in Latin for heavy metal
band? A first? I imagine so.
And it has been done completely successfully. If you are not acquainted with
heavy metal, forget the preconception
that you need do nothing more than turn
your guitar amp up to 10 (or 11 if you
play in Spinal Tap), and keep playing till
the police comes. A lot of metal lacks in
both dynamic contrasts and inventiveness. This Requiem by Pier Carlo Liva
lacks for neither.
It opens with a haunting passage by
what I assumed to be a synthetizer, but is
actually an electric viola, in the hands of
Catherine Elvira Chartier. She continues with an acoustic viola accompanying
what is unmistakably an acoustic guitar.
This is heavy metal?
Ah, but wait. Liva’s electric guitar
comes in, along with his “death voice,”
a common element in metal rock and
peculiarly apropos in a Mass for the
Dead. He is joined by soprano Chartier,
singing the Latin text of the Kyrie in
alternation. Astonishingly, the music
then settles back to the softer guitar and
drum arrangement of the earlier part. It
is extraordinarily moving.
I rather expected the Dies Iræ (Day
of Wrath) to let fly, and of course it
does, with rolling waves of electric
guitar cranked way up, electric viola,
and both death voice and soprano. The
melody is a happy invention, and Liva
does a series of sophisticated variations
on it. The bell-like sounds of the Tuba
Mirum follow without pause, leading to
another fast and rhythmic passage by
Liva’s electric guitar, and then a highly
lyrical passage by Chartier. Again, the
melodic inventiveness is a revelation, and
a delight. The Rex Tremendae has a passage that wanders close to jazz fusion.
There are more surprises. The
Recordare includes a sequence in which
Liva and Chartier sing their lines in
alternation, in a style that pays homage
to medieval church music. There’s
little doubt they both know all about
this, since they are classically-trained
musicians. The Lacrymosa, a blend of
guitar and long, high-flying soprano
passages, is exquisite. The final Agnus
Dei is fascinatingly rhythmic, with excellent contributions work from drummer
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CARY, ROGUE
Cary Audio SLP preamp. Uses 2 Sovtek 6922
66
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
tubes. Slight use, for 1-1/2 year. Excellent deal.
I paid $1,000 US and am asking $ 780 CA only.
Perfect condition. Rogue’s famous 88 tube power
amplifier, like new. Can be used with 4 KT88 or
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LINN SONDEK LP12
Linn Sondek with Valhalla power supply + Linn
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Mastersound 300B SE, 20 Wpc, parallel singleended amp, comes with 6 x JJ Tesla 300B
and 5 x Svetlana 300B, beautiful handcrafted
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Quad preamp, model 99, new in January 2002.
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Andaluza of Pablo de Sarasate. There are
two intermezzi by Gerónimo Giménez
(who by the way conducted the Spanish
premiere of Carmen), both lively and
Romanza España
of exquisite freshness. The second one,
Burning River Brass
arranged by Eric Crees, is exceptional.
Dorian DOR-90316
There is a suite from Manuel de Falla’s
Three-Cornered Hat, excellent, with an
introduction full of authority and verve,
ending with the always bewitching Jota.
You’ll probably recognize Enrique Granados’ joyous and unforgettable Danza
Espanola No. 5, in another excellent
arrangement by Eric Crees. La Revoltosa,
a prelude by Ruperto Échapi.
But I must return to the pièce de résis- Anos Dourados, she was standing next to
tance of this CD, Anthony DiLorenzo’s Jobim’s piano, and on the last verse he
La lamina de España, which means “the leaned close and sang along with her in a
blade of Spain.” That was the nickname warm voice like a sun-baked gravel road.
of a mysterious woman, a sort of femi- Authentic? I could smell the blue smoke
nine Zorro, who long prepared to avenge of the Rio club.
her father, killed by the sword following
But back to this, her eighth recording
Lessard: Georges Bizet never would the Spanish Inquisition.
for Chesky. Her voice is as dusky as ever.
There are three tableaux. The first, She is still not square on the right note
have died of a broken heart if he could
have known that his music to Carmen Habiba (the name of the heroine), is at times, and she does unexpected key
would go on delighting music lovers dazzling. The second, Navarre, opens shifts in mid-verse, but somehow she
right into the third Millennium. The with brass that is more languorous than makes it sound authentic. It’s jazz, Rio
popularity of Carmen, far from running flashy, accompanied by the distant sound style.
out of steam, seems to be picking up of tympani that suddenly seems closer,
The “Hollywood” part of the title
momentum. Everywhere, this music is portending the pathetic and obsessive refers to the fact that she has picked up
-dislongShadow
sung, played, danced to. Indeed, Span- dance of death (Danza
de
la el
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including
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w w wwith
suite from Carmen, in a brass arrange- engineers. There are other sonic virtues Américain had been in Brazil instead
ment by Roger Harvey, who has recreated too, including spaciousness, depth and a of Morocco, and it has even picked up
to good effect the shifting atmospheres formidable image.
Portuguese lyrics.
of this operatic drama. That said, for
The only lack is the sometimes
The rest of the album includes a
opera fans who love Bizet’s opera without uneven playing, suggesting that the number of distinctively Brazilian jazz
reservation there is always a twinge of musicians of the ensemble are of uneven pieces, including Linda, partly by Caram
regret at hearing even the best and the caliber. This is, nonetheless, a CD worth herself.
best-played arrangement. I was sorry to owning.
Not everyone reacted to her original
note the lack of body in the orchestraalbum the way I did, and I expect it will
tion, which might have been alleviated Hollywood Rio
be the same with her latest, but count me
by better use of instruments in the lower Ana Caram
among her fans.
register, such as the horns, trombones Chesky JD276
and tuba, and by the use of percussion Rejskind: Ana Caram and I have a his- 100 Lovers
other than the simple castanets. There is tory. No, it’s not what you’re thinking, Carla Lother
an enormous contrast between this suite but I discovered her a long time ago, and Chesky JD250
and La lamina de España which closes I then figured she could do no wrong. I’m Lessard: This singer-songwriter is a
native of Winnipeg, though she now
the album, which is as expressive as you not tempted to change my mind.
could wish, sometimes downright scary,
The original Caram album was Rio lives and works in New York. From the
which I’ll get to in a moment.
After Dark (JD28). She was undoubtedly first, I didn’t much care for the timbre
The disc also offers the third and the very young then, but she knew people. of her voice. In the middle tones she
most Romantic of the eight Romanza When she sang Antonio Carlos Jobim’s sings with sweetness and warmth, but as
accordion, designed by Petric himself,
and built and voiced by Leo Niemi of
Sudbury.
tore!
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CDs, SACDs
67
Software
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
a tasty cocktail of pop classics, you can
rediscover with pleasure some familiar
songs, ranging from Emerald City, set to
Schiller’s Ode to Joy, to Neil Diamond’s
Song Sung Blue and the Neapolitan folk
song It’s Now or Never, best known for
the version by Elvis.
I liked the variety of arrangements,
and the quality of the instruments and
the musicians. On several songs Lodwick
charmed me with her mellow inflections and modulations. I have a small
reservation concerning the reverberation. If reverberation can be pleasantly
soon as she steps outside that register she impressive when used with restraint, it
becomes whiny and unpleasant. By the can also get downright nasty when it’s
time she got through two or three songs, overdone. In some songs the words are so
I was feeling pretty whiny myself.
sibilant they go well beyond the bearable,
Her voice is thin and devoid of inflec- because the “S” sounds are accentuated
tions, always in the same tonal range. by the reverb. That said, it’s a warm Chan and the Governator. It’s the 1956
The songs may be interesting, but it’s recording that can bring sunshine to a Mike Todd production, and still worth
a look today. I had despaired of ever
hard to be certain when the lyrics are all stressful day.
but inaudible. Good thing the booklet
A word for the people who did the seeing this film in DVD, since I had
includes the text!
booklet. Thanks for the English lyrics of read no good copies had survived. Here
Yet she is surrounded byW
excellent
the songs, but all the rest of the booklet it is anyway, though a few dust spots and
e’ve ment ion
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thatwith
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saw
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international language.
and a lot mo
All haitve on
re.
e thing in common.
justice.
Rejskind: If you go to audio shows, time in a full-fledged Todd-AO cinema
If we would
n’t recommend th
It was a wondrous spectacle.
A good vocal coach could do
get to
toou
hear
Jheena
r best
friends,in
ouwonders,
r catalog. chances are you’ll em
yoChicago.
u won’t find them in
Jules Verne story about a
I suspect. I can only wish.
Lodwick a lot. Her voice has a wonderful The original
range, and the close-in recording gives man who wins a bet by traveling all the
All My Loving…
her a big sound that rivets attention in way around the globe in record time
Jheena Lodwick
a busy venue. This is doubly true if it’s lent itself well to travelogue-like scenes
The Music Lab MBVOC-1007
played on an HDCD-equipped player, from exotic places around the planet,
which adds extra depth and resonance. and the huge Todd-AO image was made
But the recording has little to do with for such subjects. The most dizzying
the goal of high fidelity. Few CDs sound scenes — a tall ship on rolling waves, a
as blatantly artificial as this one does. If balloon flying over Paris, a train threada special effect is available in a studio ing its way through a rocky mountain
somewhere, you can bet it’s been used pass — don’t have quite the impact they
did on a screen half a city block wide,
here!
The songs don’t exactly break new but on our Kappa system’s very wide and
ground either. They’ve all been done sharp screen, they still look amazingly
before, mostly better, by the Beatles, good. The sound has, alas, been remixed,
Elvis, Eddie Fisher, and Glenn Camp- so that you no longer hear voices from
bell. The best I can say is that at least she the rear when characters are presumed to
doesn’t sing Feelings. That vilest of club be behind us, but it is still impressive.
songs was, however, the title tune of one
As with most films of the 50’s, its
of her other albums.
social values seem to come from another
Lessard: The Philippine-born Lodwick
planet, and the sexism alone will make
is a sensitive performer with a smooth Around the World in 80 Days
you wince. But how great to see David
voice who has won over a good many Niven, Cantinflas, MacLaine
Niven again, and the young Shirley
admirers with her first recordings. She Warner Bros. 28632
MacLaine. And the then-famed Mexican
can be said to be a rising star, especially Rejskind: This is not the recent version comic comedian, Cantinflas. Recomin the Far East. In this album, containing of the Jules Verne story, with Jackie mended…with reservations.
Software
ACCESSORIES TOO!
68
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
Gossip&News
Worldwide News
The picture shows the rear of the Aria
WT100 power amplifier, which Michael
is selling on the Net for US$4499. A
more powerful version exists. Like some
Counterpoint products, it's a hybrid
amplifier, using tube drivers and solid
state output devices.
M ichael promises a preamp by
Christmastime, the Aria WV. The letters stand for…“Whole Vinyl.”
***
Amplifier models come and go, but
Bryston kept its 2B power amplifier
going since the 1980’s. It was one of our
favorites, too, with a sweetness to the
top end that few amplifiers manage. The
one down side: its 50 watt/channel power
and necessarily small power supply gave
it less than stellar control of larger woofers.
There is finally an SST version of the
2B, with double the power, and a larger
power supply, featuring two toroidal
transformers. Bryston claims the sweetness we always admired is still there.
***
It happens a lot: a company in the
US, or the UK, or France, produces an
amplifier that garners praise, and then
there is a “Mk2” or an “SE” version
which is a different product, sourced
from a low-wage country. In at least one
case, the low-wage country has done it
all on its own.
The Creek 4340 Mk3 purports to be
a new design from Mike Creek, and even
sports Creek’s signature on the front
panel. However Mike Creek had nothing
to do with it. He says the amplifier is
being hawked by the company that used
to be his distributor in China.
There really was a 4340 integrated
amplifier, but the new one is a Chinese
product that is unrelated.
***
Ready for another universal player?
Here’s the first picture we've seen of the
Moon Orbiter.
This player does not orbit the Moon,
as you’ve surely been quick enough to
figure out. It is the latest product in
Simaudio’s growing Moon series of
high end components. It plays ’em all:
CD, SACD, DV D-A, MP3, DV DRW…name it. We’re glad to see players
like this arrive.
Simaudio has also announced the
similarly-styled Moon Calypso DVD
player. It can be ordered as a DVD
drive only, but fully tricked out with
a Faroudja video processor it will cost
US$5200.
***
The scary centre speaker shown in
this image is named Proteus, after a god
of Antiquity who could change shape
at will. But did he ever change into this
shape?
The Proteus is a new product from
Tag McLaren, now well divorced from
the McLaren Formula One team, and
now belonging to a Chinese company.
An interesting detail: the Tag McLaren
logo once again incorporates the name
Audiolab, the company it had swallowed and — well, let’s be blunt about
it — destroyed.
***
Rotel says its newest product indicates
its continuing support of two-channel
stereo. It’s the RX-1052, shown here.
The bad news: it’s a receiver, not
an amp. Better news, we guess: it has a
phono input.
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
69
Gossip&News
Cable manufacturer Tara Labs got
September off to a bad start when cops
and US Customs agents swooped down
and seized 42,000 cables plus documentation and computers. The basis for
the warrant: the company is believed
to have labelled Asian-made cables as
US-made. The label would allow cables
to be exported to some countries at a
more favorable rate of duty, or indeed no
duty at all. The company says it thought
a “made in USA” label was all right if the
termination was done in the US.
The raid may be causing cold sweats
in the executive suites of Tara’s competitors, many of whose Asian wires are
similarly labelled.
***
Remember Counterpoint? When the
company went under some years ago,
designer (and CEO) Michael Elliott
was preparing to launch a new line of
very expensive tube components. And
good-sounding too…we heard the prototypes.
Since then, Elliott has been running
a small business repairing and upgrading
Counterpoint gear, but he now has a new
company, making amplifiers and preamplifiers that are possibly not unrelated to
what he had in mind at Counterpoint.
The iPod and other Sources of Freedom
Gossip&News
I n ou r la st is sue we
rev iewed Apple’s w ildly
popular iPod player from
an unusual viewpoint: that
of an audiophile. Since we did
the review and shipped back
the player — in early April —
There have been several iPodrelated developments.
We were able to get one of
them into the article before
we went to press: Apple
added to its stable of
compatible formats a
lossless codec. Since it
squeezes music files (reversibly) by half, it would allow you to put
some 140 complete CDs into a 40 Mb
iPod. And there is now a 60 Gb version,
as we predicted. The premium version
also has a color screen and can “play”
your photos as well as your music.
The appearance of the iPod itself has
changed, as shown in the picture above.
The new version has lost its buttons, and
everything is on the clickwheel. It has
also lost its little wired remote control,
which has become an extra-cost accessory.
Also after our article was put to bed,
Apple announced the Airport Express,
a wireless box to connect your
computer to your stereo system.
It is shown below.
“Airport” is of course Apple’s
name for Wi-Fi. If your main
computer has a Wi-Fi wireless
connection, the little box can
tune in to it, and can output
a music signal through a
minijack to an input of your
stereo system. Like the
iPod, Airport Express
operates through Apple’s
own iTunes software, on
either a Macintosh or a
Windows PC, using any of the
compression systems the iPod itself handles, or no compression at all. As you’ll
see, the unit includes both Ethernet and
USB connections, for optional connection to com-
Relaunching DVD-A?
In our last issue we outlined the
reasons that DVD-Audio is pretty much
dead in the water (How SACD Won the
War, UHF No. 70). A major reason:
DVD-A is not backward compatible with
CD players, and SACD is.
So is there anything stopping the
industry from launching a backwardcompatible DVD-A? Here it comes…
supposedly.
It’s called the DualDisc, and it’s a
two-sided disc that is a CD on one side
and a DVD on the other…just put it
into the player the right way up. The
DualDisc has some manufacturing
and marketing muscle behind it, too:
Warner, Universal, EMI, BMG and
Sony (the last two slated to become one
company). That’s a quorum!
70
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
But as you might suppose DVDAudio is not uppermost in the minds
of these companies. The DVD side
will carry pictures, to help make CDs a
value-added product, with material you
won’t easily get from KaZaa. The DVD
side can be used for DVD-A, but our
guess is it won’t.
It’s easy to figure out why. A CD/
DVD-A DualDisc would look just a
like a CD/DVD-Video disc, but in fact
the DVD side wouldn’t play in most
DVD players. It’s a recipe for angry
consumers…or, more likely, a record
store boycott.
And here’s one more complication. In
most countries, it’s legal to rent videos
but illegal to rent CDs. This should keep
the lawyers busy for a bit.
puters or printers. The Airport Express
costs US$129/C$179.
There are at least two other companies making devices that also allow
you to stream music throughout your
house.
The Roku Soundbridge, available in
two versions starting at US$250, is also
compatible with iTunes and its various
compressed and uncompressed formats.
Like Airport Express, it can connect to
your PC via either Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
What you get for its much higher price
is a remote control that lets you control
iTunes even if the computer is in a different room.
Then there’s
the Slim Devices
Squeezebox. Like
the Soundbridge,
the Squeezebox (US$199) comes with
a full remote control, so that you can
control the music from your listening
position. It also works with iTunes on
either a Mac or a PC.
We have reviewed none of these so
far, we should add. There is reason to
suppose transmitting a digital bitstream
though the air should be a painless
process, unlikely to lead to worse
degradation than that resulting from
the electromechanical innards of a CD
player. However the conversion of the
digital data to an analog signal is done
by whatever converter the three manufacturers have been able to squeeze into
their little boxes. We doubt any of them
will be what we would call high end.
Memo to Apple, Roku and Slim
Devices: what we really want is a device
like this that includes a digital SP/DIF
output that can be plugged into a high
end DAC.
How much more could it cost?
Faroudja in a Receiver
It seems everyone now makes line
doublers, those devices that smooth out
the jagged performance of video, and
even adjust for the frame rate difference
of video and film. But our favorite line
doublers (and quadruplers!) have always
been those of Faroudja.
Of course Yves Faroudja sold his
company a long time ago. Under the
guidance of Faroudja’s new parent
company, Genesis Microchip, it has
been active in putting its technology
in consumer gear. Our own Simaudio
Moon Attraction DVD player contains
a Faroudja DCDi unit.
That stands for Directional
Correlational Deinterlacing,
a system that makes film
images look smoother on a
video screen. The system,
originally very expensive,
helped Faroudja pick up an
Emmy Award…its third, we
should possibly add.
This technology has been spreading
to more affordable gear. The DCDi
board in our player added C$3000 to
its price, which we considered a bargain
at the time, considering its remarkable
performance. Now, however, DCDi
technology is popping up in lower-cost
products.
An example is the new Harman/
Kardon AVR 7300 receiver. It is barely
more than C$3K complete, and contains
a DCDi unit from Faroudja. Other specs:
7.1 channel decoding, with 110 watts at
every channel, automatic decoding of
everything from MP3 to HDCD.
One Less Record Company
as does Warner Music, part of the Time
Warner empire.
The merger’s f inal hurdle was
approval by the European Commission,
which found no “sufficient evidence” it
would harm consumers. Not that it went
through without comment. A number
of independent record producers filed
objections to the merger. Though they
produce recordings, they mostly depend
on the majors for distribution, and the
reduction of the big companies from five
to four could make it more difficult for
them to get favorable terms.
Also against the merger was Apple
Computer, whose iTunes Music Store
sells music from all the majors. Apple
fears concentration would also make it
difficult to get music under favorable
terms. Worse, from Apple’s standpoint,
is the fact that it will face competition
from a new music store called Connect.
Connect belongs to…Sony.
In the meantime, EMI and Warner
are talking merger as well. Together,
they could be the world’s biggest…
Aldburn Electronics . . . . . . . .16
Almarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Applause Audio . . . . . . . . . . .27
Artech Electronics . . . 64, Cover 4
Audiomat . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 3
Audiophileboutique.com . . .Cover 4
Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . .18
Audio Room . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Bluebird Music . . . . . . . . . . .41
Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . 8
Diamond Groove . . . . . . . . . .41
Divergent Technologies . . . . . .16
Eichmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Europroducts Internat. . . . 9, 11, 17
Fab Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Festival du Son . . . . . . . . . . .61
Focus Audio . . . . . . . . . .Cover 3
Goldring . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 2
Griffin Audio . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Gryphon . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Hi Fi Fo Fum . . . . . . . . . . 15, 17
The House of Sound . . . . . . . .23
Jadis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Justice Audio . . . . . . . . .Cover 2
Just May Audio . . . . . . . .Cover 2
Linn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Living Voice . . . . . . . . . . . .41
McCormack . . . . . . . . . .Cover 2
Marchand Electronics . . . . . . . 8
Michell . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 4
Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Murata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 3
Natural Frequency Audio . . . . .41
Pierre Gabriel . . . . . . . . . . . .57
ProAc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Reference 3a . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Shanling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Signature Audio . . . . . . . . . . 17
Soundstage . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Spendor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Totem Acoustic . . . . . . . .Cover 4
UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . .25
UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Unity Speakers . . . . . . . . . . .41
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
71
Gossip&News
The record companies keep cryin’ the
blues, yet each is trying to get more of
the pie, rather than, say, diversifying into
something that can’t be downloaded.
In July the final barrier was cleared
for a merger between two of the big
global record companies, Sony Music
and BMG. They are the parent companies of, respectively, the Columbia
and RCA labels. These two legendary
record labels, which go back literally to
the dawn of the phonograph record, will
now be one. The merger is expected to
be completed by mid-2005.
The new company, to be called SonyBMG, will be either the biggest or the
second-biggest record company in the
world, depending on whose figures you
believe. With a market share that last
year may have been as high as 25.1%,
the new entity could edge out Edgar
Bronfman’s Universal Music, which has
a reported 23.5% market share. EMI,
once the world’s biggest recording
company — as it proudly trumpeted on
its album covers — has about half of that,
ADVERTISERS
W
State of the Art
hat matters most when
you choose an audio
component, t he way
it measures, or how it
sounds? The answer is obvious…but
then again, is it?
One answer, frequently seen in
high end “subjectivist” magazines is:
If it sounds good but measures bad, it is
good; if it measures good but sounds bad,
it is bad. I rather subscribe to that one
myself, but you should know that some
magazines — the ones that sell the most
copies, what’s more — like to put it the
other way around. What’s the controversy about?
The worst of the mid-fi magazines,
of course, are anti-scientific, in the sense
that clearly they don’t believe observation has a legitimate place in science. If
we put these people aside, as I suggest
we should, there is still a reason to be
cautious when choosing by ear. Here’s
why.
Have you been in one of those audio
listening rooms in which 30 pairs of
speakers are stacked, with an electronic
switch that can let you run through
them all in a few seconds? At one time
all listening rooms were like that, but
big box stores still are. So here you are,
searching for your ideal loudspeaker,
and you’re hearing bits of a musical
selection through two and a half dozen
speakers, one after the other. How do
you choose?
A nd you will choose. “Speaker
number 16…can you go back to that
one? I really noticed it when it went by.”
The “associate” obligingly returns to
number 16, and sure enough it is different. “It’s clearer, isn’t it?” you ask hopefully. “It’s got more bass too, I think.”
Congratulations. You have just picked
out the worst speakers in the store.
Why should this be? Because only
a major peak in the upper midrange, to
which the ear is especially sensitive, will
make a speaker stand out under such circumstances. And only major bottom-end
resonances will make bass notes leap out
at you in this way. Speaker number 16
will give you a splitting headache after
72
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
by Gerard Rejskind
an hour of listening, and you’ll soon
reach the point where you will cringe
at the very thought of putting on some
music.
Of course, there are more reliable
means of choosing by ear. We have often
discussed them in the pages of UHF, and
generally instrument measurements will
confirm our conclusions. Generally…but
why not always?
Understand that I do believe in the
importance of measurements. I use
instruments in my work at the magazine,
and I have used plenty of instruments in
a previous life as a broadcast engineer.
I’ve employed them, among other things,
to turn one of the worst-sounding FM
stations in the country into a jewel that
drew daily calls from delighted listeners.
The instruments were the means. Listening was the proof of the pudding.
But here’s the problem with the
quasi-religious belief in test results as the
final arbiter of quality. The truth is that
we don’t really know what to measure.
We have gear to measure flatness of
frequency response, and we do know that
STATE OF THE ART:
THE BOOK
Get the 258-page book
containing the State of the Art
columns from the first 60 issues
of UHF, with all-new introductions.
See page 4.
a perfect product would have absolutely
flat frequency response. Does it necessarily follow that a product with very
flat frequency response will sound better
than one with imperfect response?
Well no, because frequency response
may be a sign of good design, but it is not
the final design goal. The flat response
may have been accomplished with techniques that actually make the product
sound worse. This happens all the time.
It’s the reason mid-fi systems have lower
distortion, less noise and flatter response
than much more expensive high end
components. Those products are designed
to measure well on common tests, which
are the tests we are used to making…the
ones for which they sell instruments.
But test results can mess with your
head big time. You take an expensive
suite of instruments, and you make a
series of eight tests, which result in nice
graphs that can dress up a magazine page
(my favorite is the “waterfall” graph,
which looks great but is guaranteed
undecipherable even by most engineers,
never mind consumers). Eight tests
sounds like a lot, but if God were running the magazine and knew everything,
as of course He would, He could perform
perhaps ten thousand tests, using instruments found beyond the Pearly Gates.
Why should we suppose that our measly
eight tests tell the whole story?
That doesn’t mean our eight tests are
useless. With experience, we may have
found that there is a certain correlation
between a certain test result and listening satisfaction. That is to say, perhaps
we associate a certain test result with
what turns out to be good sound, but
the next component may fool us, because
correlation does not necessarily indicate
cause and effect. Either a new product
will sound great but give lousy results
on that test, or else it will give a terrible
result on the test, but sound unexpectedly wonderful.
Don’t be too surprised. The answer
may be that one of those other 9,992 tests
would have revealed the reason. Lacking
the necessary budget, we will need to
rely on our ears.
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