Koss Totem Mani 2 76 Users Manual

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LOUDSPEAKERS: Does the Totem Mani-2

still rate as one of the world’s truly great

speakers? We also look at an economy

speaker from an old friend, Castle. And an

affordable speaker with a Heil tweeter.

THE COMPUTER AS MUSIC SOURCE: We

get out hands on the newest Squeezebox,

and find that a computer can bury many a

“high end” CD player

PLUS: Paul Bergman on speaker

impedance, and how to measure the

impedance of your own speaker

No. 76 $6.49

ISSN 0847-1851

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ASW Speakers

QED

Target

Vandersteen

McCormack

Harmonix

WBT

Reimyo

Apollo

GutWire

FIM Accessories

Goldring

Milty

Perfect Sound

Nitty Gritty

Gradient Speakers

LAST record care

WATTGate

Audiophile CDs

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ASW Genius

400

“It has all the volume you could

ever want, its bottom end goes

down to bedrock, and its top end is

delightfully smooth.”

UHF No. 73

IN ONTARIO

Audio Excellence, Toronto

(905) 881-7109

Audio Two, Windsor

(519) 979-7101

Arcadia Audio, Brampton

(416) 994-5571

Waroc Information, Bolton

(416) 937-9276

WBT-0710CU

also available in silver

Just May Audio

111 Zenway Blvd., Unit 9

WOODBRIDGE, ON L4H 3H9

Tel. : (905) 265-8675 • Fax : (905) 265-8595

www.justiceaudio.com • sales@justiceaudio.com

NUTS&BOLTS

Speaker Impedance 18

by Paul Bergman

What it means, how impedance affects

performance, and how you can measure your

speakers’ own impedance

FEATURES

Montreal 2006 22

by Gerard Rejskind

A leisurely tour of the venerable Montreal show,

now in a new venue

Touring the New/Old Show 25

by Albert Simon

Another way of seeing (and hearing!) the show

CINEMA

Future High-Res Discs 50

Blu Ray? HD DVD? And what about the audiophile?

The Listening Room

The Totem Mani-2 Signature 30

It was 14 years ago that this astonishing

loudspeaker wowed us. Now the Signature version

does it again

The Elac 204 Speaker 34

An inexpensive bookshelf speaker that comes with

the fabled Heil tweeter

Castle Richmond 3i Speaker 36

It looks rather like the superb (bu!t no longer made)

Castle Eden, only with both dimensions and price

tag scrunched down

Headphone Amplifiers 38

We slip on our cans and try some amp options: the

Lehmann Black Cube Linear, the CEC HD53R,

and the built-in phone amp of the Benchmark

DAC1 converter. We also listen to a new headphone

from…Goldring

The Squeezebox 3 44

Can you get high fidelity by getting a digital signal

from your computer to your stereo system over the

air? And if so, how? Is it better than just listening to

your iPod?

Power on the Go 49

Imagine a portable charger that can adapt to all the

electronic stuff you own or ever will own

RendezVous

The Totem Man 52

We used the same title last time we talked with

Vince Bruzzese…when Totem was still a startup

Is it like looking for the Unknown Soldier?

Software

Lightfoot 63

by Reine Lessard

Gordon Lightfoot is back after a near death

experience. Reine looks at the way he changed a

corner of the musical landscape

Software Reviews 70

by Reine Lessard and Gerard Rejskind

Departments

Editorial 2

Feedback 5

Free Advice 7

Classified Ads 41

Gossip & News 77

State of the Art 80

Cover story:A new look at the contemporary version

of the Totem Mani-2, which we once called one of

the world’s finest speakers. In the background: a

cloudscape of the imagination.

Issue No. 76

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 1

UHF Magazine No. 76 was published in May, 2006. All

contents are copyright 2006 by Broadcast Canada. They

may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,

without written permission from the publisher.

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World Wide Web: www.uhfmag.com

PUBLISHER & EDITOR: Gerard Rejskind

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Reine Lessard

EDITORIAL: Paul Bergman, Reine Lessard, Albert Simon

PHOTOGRAPHY: Albert Simon

ADVERTISING SALES:

Québec: Reine Lessard (450) 651-5720

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Ultra High Fidelity Magazine invites contributions. Though

all reasonable care will be taken of materials submitted, we

cannot be responsible for their damage or loss, however

caused. Materials will be returned only if a stamped self-

addressed envelope is provided. Because our needs are

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Ultra High Fidelity Magazine is completely independent of

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The all-digital issue

Until this issue, Albert was taking the widely-admired product photos

appearing in UHF with a Nikon camera on Kodak Portra 160 film. As of this

issue all his photos are digital. UHF has acquired a Sony R1 digital camera.

Yes, I know, that means we have in a sense dumped analog (film) for digital,

but in fact that ship sailed a long time ago. The magazine has been printed

digitally for something like a decade, which means that our nice “analog”

film negatives got digitized anyway before placement in our all-digital pages.

The difference: digitization is now taking place right in the camera instead

of a desktop digitizer.

Albert is delighted with the results. I think you will be too.

All color, except…

Issue No. 75 was UHF’s very first all-color issue, and both our readers and

our advertisers took note. Oh, except for the eight-page insert in the centre

of the magazine, the one for our Audiophile Store. That remained black and

white, and on cheaper paper besides. It has been that way for many years,

with the economy paper intended to hold costs down.

But was it holding costs down, or is labor even more expensive than pre-

mium paper grades? After the last issue went to press we asked our printer

rep: if we dumped the insert and just added eight more color pages, would it

be more expensive? Or cheaper? We got the answer the next day: it would

be cheaper!

That’s why the insert is gone. We scrambled to find color pictures of all

the accessories found in our store, and the store catalog is now on full color

pages. So now we really are all-color, except…

Except that audio manufacturers haven’t got the word about color. Check

out the stack of three headphone amplifiers on page 38. Can you believe that’s

a color picture? There isn’t a hint of a tint in any of them. Of course when

you plug one in you’ll probably see a tiny, barely visible blue diode glowing

its little non monochromatic note. Whoopee!

Even Apple, that champion of high style in consumer electronics, knows

only two colors, one of which is white and the other of which is not. Good

thing the iPod (on page 45) has a color screen. As for the tragically misnamed

iPod Hi-Fi on page 78…well, I rest my case.

And speaking of the iPod…

We’ve already mentioned that a 60 Gb iPod, the largest one available, is

part of our reference arsenal. We’ve also mentioned that we continue to reject

compressed music.

A major article in this issue (High End Hi-Fi From Your Computer) explores

in some detail how a home computer can become your main music source, and

why you don’t have to leave great sound and musical sensibilities behind. The

review involves a device known as a Squeezebox, the aforementioned iPod,

and the very computer this issue was created on. You’ve read other reviews

of this sort, but this one includes one important difference. In listening, we

used exactly the same criteria we use to review even the best high end com-

ponents.

We figure you wouldn’t settle for less, and neither will we.

Editorial

About this free edition

UHF lives in great part from the sale of the full edition of the magazine. But we

also offer this free edition. The articles are not complete, as you’ll see, but many

are, and you’ll find lots to read. Of course you can order either the printed edi-

tion or the full electronic edition, and get every word.

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This is our original book, which has been read

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It’s a practical manual for the discovery and exploration

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books easier. Includes in-depth coverage of how

the hardware works, including tubes, “alternative”

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This long-running best seller includes these topics: The basics of

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fi. How to compare equipment that’s not in the same store. What

accessories work, and which ones are scams. How to tell a good

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that will also play music (hint: don’t do any of the things the other

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accountant says you can’t afford it. A precious volume with 224 pages

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At last, all of Gerard Rejskind’s State

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PLUS:

I’d like to thank you for publishing

the component-by-component descrip-

tion and especially the photo of the

Omega system on the UHF Web site.

I have long been curious to see a photo

of any of your three systems, but since

they are working tools I had assumed

that they were, shall we say, less than

presentable. Given all the equipment and

accessories you review, I had a mental

image of ankle-deep piles of mismatched

interconnects and cables strewn about

the room.

It’s also reassuring to see that you

have the same aggravating room prob-

lems as your readers (what appears to be

a doorway just left of the left speaker, the

turntable sitting askew on its platform to

allow for access, etc).

The combination of the Omega

system photo and the similarly appreci-

ated UHF No. 75 State of the Art article

has given me a sort of speaker position-

ing awakening. I had always understood

and agreed with your advocacy of

placing the speakers on either side of a

room corner (if possible), but I had not

conceived of being asymmetrical within

that placement (i.e. I had always assumed

that the corner should be exactly midway

between the two speakers). Unless

my eyes are deceiving me, the Omega

system speakers are not centred about

the corner, but are shifted rather signifi-

cantly to the left. True?

Given such an asymmetrical corner

placement, should each speaker never-

theless be about the same distance out

from the wall (as appears in the Omega

system), or can that also be different?

Given a decent hi-end system and

acoustics, and a stereo image that

appears to originate midway between

the speakers from the “sweet spot”, how

far off axis should one be able to sit and

still hear that image as being centered

rather than increasingly originating

from the nearest speaker? All the way

out until a speaker is directly in front of

you? Beyond even that?

Given the size of standard equipment

racks and the W-8, it looks as though the

inside edges of the Omega Reference

3a’s are about 2 m apart, but only about

30 cm out from the wall (that seems

really close). Given that the Omega

system is in a “large room” just how far

from the speakers is your listening posi-

tion? I would imagine relatively close.

My Totem Mani-2’s are centered

about the narrow wall of a long, narrow

room (8.4 m x 3.5 m) having at best

mediocre acoustics. They are placed

way into the room, about 1.25 m from

the back of the speakers to the wall. I

have always assumed they needed that

much room for their prodigious depth.

In your recollection from the review

you performed (quite a few years ago

now), is that distance too great? (For

reference, my speakers are about 1.8 m

apart centre-centre, and I sit 2.8 m away

from them — and with experimentation

I think that the 2.8 m is about 0.6 m too

far away.)

I had rejected an Omega-like speaker

placement when I first bought my house

due to the constraints of the room, but

if the Totems can be significantly closer

to the wall (particularly in a corner-

centered placement), then it’s worth a

try experimenting with such a place-

ment to see if I can improve the width

of my currently very narrow sweet spot.

By necessity I’ll almost be in the near-

field (another great UHF article), but

that might help negate the poor room

acoustics. Jeff Tennant

BURLINGTON, ON

Jeff, for anyone who missed it, we should

mention that the photos of our Omega system

appeared on line in our ephemeral Virtual

Room, which opened the week before the

Montreal show and remained open through

mid-April. It has since closed, but we expect

to bring back new incarnations of it.

We should add that the Omega system

was particularly easy to photograph, but the

Alpha system is a lot closer to the way you

imagine our systems to be.

You are right that the speakers have

been placed asymmetrically in the room, but

then the walls on either side are not quite

identical. You noted that there is a doorway

to the left, but there is also a doorway on the

right... actually a large archway to an even

larger room. These are not necessarily bad

things. An open doorway does not reflect

sound, and thus it can be thought of as a

broadband absorber. The speakers are indeed

quite close to the rear walls, about 50 cm

out, a distance that was determined by ear.

Speakers we review are first listened to at the

same distance, then adjusted by ear as well.

The speakers are actually quite far apart,

about 4.5 metres, and we listen, typically,

from about 4 metres back.

The Signature version of the Mani-2 is

reviewed in this issue, and we found that a

distance of about 65 cm from the rear wall

was about right, though that will vary from

room to room. By the way, how far off you

can sit off-axis and still hear a stereo image

depends on speaker placement, acoustics, and

especially the speakers themselves. With our

Reference 3a speakers you can get away with

being well off-axis. The same would be true

of well-placed Totem Mani-2’s.

Of all the many enjoyable things on

your Web site, the tour of the Virtual

Room was the best. I would love to see

the same treatment to the other two

rooms you maintain.

Thanks for all the good advice.

Jay Valancy

IRVINE, CA

First, let me say we appreciate the

opportunity to have UHF Magazine

review our speakers again after so much

time. This new range of Energy speak-

ers is in our opinion one of the best we

have ever made and still continues to

provide Canadian audiophiles with the

best sound available for the money. We

were therefore surprised to read that

your team was unimpressed with the new

Reference Connoisseur RC-70 speakers.

This is one of our most popular speakers

and has, to date, received terrific reviews

Feedback

Box 65085, Place Longueuil

Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4

uhfmail@uhfmag.com

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 5

Feedback

highlighting their tremendous imaging,

dynamics and musicality.

Tom Norton, of Stereophile and

Ultimate AV fame, had a totally different

opinion of the RC-70 than your team.

In his review Mr. Norton is quoted as

saying, “the RC-70 had superb overall

tonal balance” and that the “top end of

the RC-70 is as open, airy and as detailed

as you could wish for.” Mr. Norton’s

comments regarding soundstage repro-

duction and midrange accuracy are also

different from what you found. He said,

“the RC-70’s sounded neither ‘in your

face’ forward nor recessed, and produced

a detailed, well-focused soundstage…

Voices were…beautifully served by

the RC-70, with soaring female voices

and male vocals that were rich and full

bodied.”

We are not sure if your opinions

were biased due to your experience and

appreciation of the old Reference Con-

noisseur model, or if you were looking

for something else from these speakers.

Your comparison of the original Refer-

ence Connoisseur to today's RC-70 is

like comparing a 20-year-old muscle car

with today's muscle car. They are very

different in every sense, and making

a direct comparison is like comparing

apples and oranges. While both may

be good or excellent cars, they do things

very differently, and this must be taken

into consideration.

Today’s Reference Connoisseur

product had more challenging standards

to meet. Twenty years ago it was only

about the sound. Efficiency, dynamics,

low distortion and power handling were

less of a concern. Today, our speakers are

used in a number of different configura-

tions, from state of the art two channel

systems to high-powered multichannel

systems. The Reference Connoisseur

Series must have the efficiency to be

driven with modest-powered amplifiers,

plus must have the dynamic range and

power handling to handle the demands

of movie soundtracks. A three-year

development program was necessary to

redesign every component in order to

meet these standards. The new tweeter,

midrange and woofers for the Reference

Connoisseur Series are ground-breaking

in their ability to perform to the high-

est musical standards, while providing

ultra low distortion with high power

handling.

All of us here feel the new RC-70

surpasses the performance parameters

that were established by the original

Reference Connoisseur. The RC-70 still

has the captivating, immersive sound of

the original, but has improvements in

almost every area.

In your review you mention that the

frequency response curve “is amazingly

flat, one of the best we have ever mea-

sured.” Then you suggest that comes at

a cost: phase accuracy. Flat frequency

response of the speaker system is made

up of both magnitude and phase rela-

tionships of the individual drivers.

Since you mention the RC-70 has flat

frequency response, it would suggest

that the phase relationship between the

individual drivers is also correct.

Also, another point is the place-

ment of the microphone in trying to

recreate the square wave that you were

measuring. In a two-way speaker, the

microphone distance can be at a shorter

distance and still deliver a somewhat

meaningful measurement. With a multi-

source speaker system like the RC-70,

a small microphone distance from the

speaker would result in a meaningless

test, with measurements that do not

reflect what the speaker is truly recreat-

ing. The only way to perform accurate

acoustical measurements, especially with

multi-driver speakers, is a microphone

distance of at least 2 metres. As you

probably know, such a microphone

distance requires the use of an anechoic

chamber, which negates the influence of

room boundaries when the microphone

is placed at greater distances from the

speaker.

We are still not certain why you

were not able to get good results from

the RC-70, even though the response

curve suggests the speaker should be

excellent. Maybe the room you placed

the speaker in was too small for such a

full range speaker system? We do know

that the RC-70 is definitely suited to

larger rooms than the previous Refer-

ence Connoisseur model, as it has more

extended response and output.

As you can tell, we are very disap-

pointed by the tone of your review

and by some of the comments, which

we feel, are unfounded. We think the

Energy brand and its loyal customer base

deserved better. Scott Goodman

Energy Speakers Brand Manager

SCARBOROUGH, ON

Kudos and, better, bravo for a singu-

lar and superlative publication. I quite

eagerly digested my very first issue ever

of UHF about a week ago. I am still in a

very pleasant state of shock!

Having quite regularly sampled both

The Absolute Sound and Stereophile for

about four decades, my mind set was

entirely unprepared for UHF’s unique

raison d’être. Your guiding ethos, ethics

and modus operandi are so simple in

their fundamental elegance. To allude

to Carly Simon’s lyrics celebrating the

now mythic procreative capacity of 007

is simply incorrect. Not only “Nobody

Does it Better” — double negative

intended — but no other publication does

it! Bob Reinach

POULSBO, WA

Just noticed a spelling mistake on the

cover of UHF No. 75… “redicovery.”

Since most of your subscribers are prob-

ably a little more educated than most,

I expect you’ll probably be getting a

deluge of e-mails.

Still love the magazine though.

Jeff Malloch

ELORA, ON

Somehow one never thinks of running

spellcheck on a cover. Too obvious, right?

I read the comment about the “open

source” turntable in UHF No. 74. Your

writer said that this was not the way hi-fi

equipment is designed.

Yet one of the top billed turntables

around, the Teres , was designed just this

way. Interested people got together on

a newsgroup and deliberated, and this

led to a small run of parts and then a

commercial endeavor, and some pretty

over-the-top variations, not to mention

the Redpoint brand. You can check out

the process here: http://www.teresaudio.

com/project/index.html. Dominic

MONTRÉAL, QC

Interactive features

This free issue works just like the full (paid) electronic version of the magazine.

Click on a heading in the table of contents, and you'll be whisked right to the

article itself. Same thing with the names of advertisers on page 79. And if you

click on most ads in this issue, if you're connected to the Internet you’ll find

yourself on the company’s Web site.

6 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

First, let me say that I bought both of

your books on high fidelity and loved them.

I also received a copy of your magazine and

have subscribed for the next two years. I also

ordered six of the most current back issues.

I got back into hi-fi about two years ago

after 15 or so years and find myself wonder-

ing why I ever got out. My current two chan-

nel system consists of the following: Wadia

861 standard CD player, CAT JL-2 tube

amplifier, Martin Logan Odyssey speakers,

and Audio Research PH3 phono preamp.

I have a small collection of vinyl record-

ings that have not been played in years. I

have had the itch to incorporate analog into

my system. My question to you is which

turntable you would suggest to match the

Audio Research preamp? I don’t want to

spend much more than $3500 in total for

the turntable and cartridge.

I have heard good things about both

Nottingham’s Spacedeck and turntables from

Pro-Ject. I purchased the Audio Research

PH3 used and plan to upgrade in a year

or so to the CAT SL1 preamp with phono

input. Any comments about this particular

preamp? I have been using an old Thorens

turntable that I had lying around, but I have

not been very happy with its performance.

I didn’t know if I should try upgrading the

cartridge first or just move on right away.

Carl Waldbillig

WEST CHESTER, OH

We’d move on right away, Carl. The

best argument in favor of used Thorens

turntables is that people all but give

them away. They were somewhat better

than average, and better than the Duals,

whose reputation remains a mystery to

us, but their tone arms were wretched,

and we wouldn’t overspend on a cartridge

for a Thorens arm. Incidentally, they are

unrelated to the modern Thorens tables,

which seem better designed, though we

still have problems with the arms.

We’ve also heard good things about

the Nottingham, with which we have

however no experience. We have listened

to several Pro-Ject turntables, and there

may be a good choice to be made from

its lineup, probably in the RPM series.

Note that Pro-Ject offers electronic

speed control as an extra-cost accessory.

In our experience, that sort of upgrade

affects more than just correct speed and

is worth including.

There are several cartridge brands

we like, including Benz Micro and

Clearaudio, and we hear the newest

Dynavectors are worth a detour. You

should get a moving coil pickup, or

failing that a moving magnet cartridge

with very low inductance, and certainly

a line contact stylus. Your budget won’t

let you buy the very top, but careful

shopping should score you a very good

experience. There are of course other

possible brands of turntables, including

Rega and Clearaudio, to name but two.

You may want to choose a model that

is available with local service, because a

top turntable that isn’t aligned properly

is not going to give you what you pay

for. And little things are going to count,

because you have a high resolution

system. We can presume that adding the

SL1 preamplifier will let you hear with

even greater clarity anything that may be

wrong with the source. On the positive

side, your system’s resolution will make

you very glad you’re listening to vinyl

again.

I have a question concerning acoustics,

or more precisely treating my listening

room for low frequencies. I have a very

good sound system that reproduces highs and

the midrange marvellously well. The low

frequencies have good impact, but there’s a

sort of boominess around 80 to 100 Hz (hard

to be sure), suggesting a resonance.

I wonder whether you know of some

way — for example some sort of panel —

that could reduce this phenomenon, or better

yet eliminate it. I have already built panels

two inches thick of different shapes, using a

Masonite sheet on which I had glued with

liquid tar a very heavy black paper, all nailed

into a frame made from two-inch wood. I

had screwed the panels to the ceiling in my

former home in Repentigny and the results

had been very good. But now I live in the

Gaspé. What do you think?

Marien Desrosiers

ST-JEAN DE CHERBOURG, QC

Marien, if your home-built panels

gave you good results it is certainly

because the acoustical problems you

then had were in a different part of the

frequency band. From what you say

your new room has a problem in the

extreme lows. Here the solution is more

complicated.

Why more complicated? It’s because

sounds in the range of 80 to 100 Hz

have a very long wavelength (more than

3 metres for 100 Hz!). The long wave-

length will pass easily through a thin

panel and bounce off whatever is on the

other side. A panel that can deal with

such frequencies needs to be…thicker.

In the case of our Alpha room, the home

of our original reference system, behind

one wall is a bass trap nearly a metre

deep! A radical solution to be sure.

It’s possible to build a freestanding

bass trap with well-chosen dimensions

(it might be 1 m by 75 cm by 60 cm,

for instance, with no dimension that is

a multiple of another dimension), built

from materials that are relatively non-

resonant put permeable to sound. You

would fill it with mineral wool, so that

air vibrating within the cavity would

rub against the fibres and be dissipated

as heat.

However certain articles of furniture

can also help absorb bass, at least to a

point. A well upholstered sofa can help,

as can a bookcase full of books. Finally,

changes in speaker placements can have

a great influence on what you hear. Since

moving speakers is free, that is where we

would start.

My equipment consists of a Roksan

Radius 5 turntable, a Rega Fono, a Rega

Box 65085, Place Longueuil

Longueuil, Québec, Canada J4K 5J4

uhfmail@uhfmag.com

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 7

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Planet 2000, Reference 3a MM de Capo-i

speakers, a Moon I-3 amp, an Inouye line

filter, Atlas Navigator cables, GutWire

power cables, and Puresonic Competition flat

speaker cables.

My question is what to upgrade now?I

am thinking of trading up to a Moon I-5.

Is there a big enough difference between

these two integrated amps? The sound of

this system is very nice at low to moderate

volume, but loses something above a certain

volume. I don’t listen at extreme levels but

would like to get a little more volume before

the sound starts to harden up. Pete Doan

RIDING MOUNTAIN, MB

We found pretty much the same

thing you did when we reviewed the

Moon I-3 in UHF No. 71, Pete. We liked

it a lot, but when we raised the volume

we could tell we were listening to a small

amplifier. It will perfectly suit a lot of

music lovers, but you’ll be happier with

the I-5. Ironically the I-5 is less powerful

than the I-3, but current is as important

as power, and subjectively the I-5 appears

to have four times the power.

By the way, there is now an updated

version, the Moon I-5.3.

I have just come across your magazine

and am impressed. I don’t believe the local

bookstores here carry it.

I have four Linn LK’s Aktiv on 5140 and

5120 speakers, primarily for home theatre.

Would you recommend upgrading these amps

to something else in the Linn line, keeping

the Aktiv speakers, or blowing out the whole

thing, at no small cost? Jay Avril

CLEARWATER, FL

No small cost indeed, Jay, and a move

to be undertaken only if you have reason

to believe that you made a mistake going

with this Linn system in the first place.

And we don’t think you did. We like the

idea of biamplifying, and although this

is not a Linn invention it was Linn that

made it so simple.

The bad news is that the company in

January discontinued not only the whole

LK line, but also announced it was drop-

ping the Aktiv system entirely. We don’t

approve, but the marbles belong to Ivor,

not to us.

If you’ll be staying with Linn, you’ll

need to move while LK products remain

in stock. Linn does make a chassis that

will power your crossover modules so

that you can use them with an amplifier

that does not have a slot for them. You

may then want to look at an amplifier

upgrade. That can be one of Linn’s

newer amps, though of course at that

point you can choose your manufacturer

and still remain active…er, Aktiv.

I’m in search of a quality bookshelf

speaker and have narrowed my short list

to the Reference 3a De Capo-i’s. My room

dimensions are 12’ X 10’. My system is

centred on the longest wall, so I don’t have

much choice but to place my speakers near

the back wall with the rack in between. Since

the De Capo’s are rear-ported, would this

seriously hinder sonic performance? I could

place them at about a foot from the rear wall

and not much more.

I haven’t heard it yet, but I would also

consider the Veena. Is it rear-ported too?

Would it be too big for my small room?

Michel Fleury

VAUDREUIL, QC

620 rue Latour

SAINT-HUBERT, QC J3Y 6A7

Tel.: (450) 676-6898

Fax: (450) 676-6153

info@sracoustique.ca www.sracoustique.ca

Call us about the remarkable HD series

of high denition speakers for home theatre!

You hadn’t heard of SR Acoustique speakers

until now? UHF Magazine has.

Read its evaluation on our Web site.

8 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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Probably not, Michel, because the

Veena is not substantially larger than

the MM De Capo, and indeed its woofer

is smaller. The notable difference, of

course, is that the Veena doesn’t need a

stand. We prefer the De Capo, but since

our review Reference 3a has announced

a tweeter change.

Both the Veena and the MM De

Capo are rear-ported, which means you

cannot place them up against the wall.

However in a small room a distance of

a foot (30 cm) or slightly more from the

wall is likely to be adequate. Placement

close to a wall adds loading to the rear

port, and therefore moves the low fre-

quency cutoff higher. At the same time

the “megaphone effect” of the wall-floor

boundary can emphasize the bass that

is reproduced. A distance of less than

30 cm from the rear wall would probably

not give pleasant results.

My entry level system consists of an Atoll

CD50, Atoll IN50 amplifier and a pair of

Polk Audio RTi38 bookshelf speakers.

I’m considering either adding a Goldring

GR2 (or Rega P3) turntable, or getting

a pair of second-hand Totem Model One

speakers (in good condition for about $1000).

Which purchase would give me the most

significant increase in sound quality?

Bo Jiang

DORVAL, QC

We are tempted to point out the obvi-

ous: the Totems will add immensely to

the sound of your system, but if you try

to play an LP on a loudspeaker you are

likely to be disappointed! For that you

definitely need…a turntable.

Consider these factors. First, can

your amplifier drive the Model One to

a level you will find satisfactory? The

IN50 is the smallest of the Atoll ampli-

fiers, rated at 50 watts per channel into

8 ohms. What’s more, its power into a 4

ohm load is just 40% higher, at 70 watts,

which suggests that it has limited current

capacity. If you do get the Model One,

chances are the amplifier will be next on

your upgrade list.

Then consider how much of the

music you like is available on LP. In the

case of the classical repertoire, adding

either the Goldring or the Rega opens

up the possibilities of bargains galore.

The same is true of classic jazz (Shelly

Mann, Ray Brown, Herbie Hancock, the

Modern Jazz Quartet, etc.), but possibly

not current artists.

Being a rank beginner audiophile, I occa-

sionally (all right, it’s all the time) become

quite confused, especially when it comes to

cables, power cords and power converters.

One person’s advice: power cords first! The

next: no power cords until you clean up the

juice with a power converter! The next: the

power converter will screw up everything,

don’t do it!

I’m lost. It seems to me that the power

converters would be a good thing. I can’t see

that the juice coming from my (upgraded)

home outlet is going to benefit my system

until it’s gone through some sort of trans-

formation, otherwise it seems that I’m just

getting whatever level of performance is

available at the outlet, no matter how good

the power cord. I hate to waste money on the

wrong thing, so which should be first? Do I

just go all out and do both?

My system includes a Cary 2A3-Si,

Linn Ikemi, and Soliloquy SM-2A3’s. Then

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 9

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there’s the question of speaker cable and the

connections between the CD/amp. Is my little

system worth the really good stuff? I don’t

want to spend more than I can afford, yet I

want to get the best results and sound I can.

Everybody I talk to has an opinion, they’re

just all different! Arlan Sanford

SANTA FE, NM

Of course we have an opinion too,

Arlan, and one more opinion on top of

the ones you’ve already heard is pos-

sibly not what you hoped for. Still, if we

explain why we think what we do, you’ll

be in a better position to make sense of

the other advice you’ve received.

Perhaps we can begin with a light

bulb joke that ran in our pages some

years ago:

Q: How many hi-fi gurus does it take to

change a light bulb?

A: None, because there’s no point in

changing the bulb until you’ve installed the

right cables.

Sound familiar?

The truth is that all of these upgrades,

if they’re done right, will make your

system sound better, and if you can

afford them all, then do them all, no

question. If you can’t reasonably do that,

then spend the money in the order that

will give you the biggest audible differ-

ence for each upgrade.

The cheapest upgrade is not even on

your list: changing the duplex outlet in

the wall. Hardware store outlets have

been getting worse and worse with the

years because despite inflation their price

keeps dropping. The connection they

give you is dreadful. The reason hospi-

tals don’t have those is that a poor con-

nection can result in arcing and sparks,

and sparks are what you don’t want in a

ward where there’s oxygen flowing. You

also don’t want a dodgy connection on a

piece of medical gear that cost a couple

of million bucks. We suggest you settle

for nothing less.

With that done, let’s have a look at

what a better power cable can do for you.

The upscale connectors on a good cord

will, like the better outlet, give you a

tighter connection with less noise gener-

ated by the connection itself, and with

less loss of voltage too. What’s more,

a power cable that’s any good will be

shielded. That prevents it from picking

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yield to it.”

Oscar Wilde

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up radio-frequency noise and feeding

it into the system through the ground,

and it also prevents certain components,

particularly digital components, from

radiating digital noise where it can get

into places it shouldn’t. Though some

power cables have price tags that can

induce cardiac arrest (another reason

they use hospital grade connectors,

perhaps), some affordable ones offer both

shielding and good connectors.

Shielded power cables, by the way,

have generally more capacitance than

the cheap cables that no doubt came

with your gear, and that is already

enough to filter out a little of the high

frequency hash that comes from the

power company. To finish the job it’s

useful to add a good power filter, but as

you already know good ones don’t come

cheap. Some of them, what’s more, can

actually make your system sound worse,

hence the warning from some experts. In

particular, filters that limit current can

adversely affect power amplifiers.

And we haven’t yet gotten to the

speaker cables and interconnects. If

you’re using the cheap junk that is avail-

able free or almost free, then changing

it is virtually an emergency measure.

I have just completed the removal of

the Valhalla board, AC motor, switch and

associated cables on a Linn LP12 turntable

and replaced them with the Origin Live

Advanced DC motor kit. The results are

nothing short of impressive and seem (by your

description) to be very similar in character to

the improvements realized with the Lingo

I was wondering if you had ever heard

the mod, and how it compares to the Lingo.

I’m sure Linn is not in favor of this type

of behavior but I would guess some UHF

subscribers (like me) wouldn’t mind seeing a

comparison of the available PSU options that

can drive the LP12. Considering the cost of

Lingo upgrades, these alternative mods start

to look pretty good. Nick Dudley

PORT COQUITLAM, BC

Nick, many years ago we did a direct

comparison between a stock Linn LP-12

and an LP-12 that had been upgraded

with a subchassis made from a more

exotic material. The one with the new

subchassis sounded better. Now here’s

where it gets interesting. One of our then

staff members, Henry See, was looking

for a good turntable, and he was offered

either of the Linns at the same price.

Despite the fact he had participated

in the comparison, he chose the stock

Linn.

Now why would he do that? He

explained the reason for his choice:

the upgraded LP-12 did sound audibly

better, but it wasn’t a Linn anymore.

There was reason to believe that Linn

would be offering more upgrades in the

future — indeed it already was — but if

Henry bought the modified LP-12 none

of those upgrades would ever be avail-

able to him. In retrospect he was right.

Today’s Linns, even those that have not

had the full tilt upgrades, sound way

better than the modded LP-12 Henry

turned down.

To be sure, what was true then may

or may not be true in 2006. Linn’s turn-

table sales are today a tiny fraction of its

business, and it isn’t certain that future

upgrades will amount to more than

tinkering. A third party improvement

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 11

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may now, therefore, make sense. Or it

may not. It’s your choice which horse to

bet on.

A true test would require having two

LP-12’s that are absolutely identical,

getting one of them modified, and then

having both properly adjusted by some-

one who didn’t have a vested interest in

the outcome. It’s not the sort of demo

any store is likely to offer.

I recently wrote to you questioning if I

needed to have my speakers connected to my

tube amp even if I was listening to it via the

headphones. You expected that my headphones

would provide sufficient load on the amp, and

that the speakers did not need to be connected.

But I expect that one day I will turn on the

amp and will have forgotten to either attach

the speakers or the headphones, and then…

So, I would like to make a pair of 8 ohm

resistors. Can this be done easily from a pair

of speaker binding post soldered up to a 8 ohm

resistors, or is it more complicated than that?

If it is a DIY project, how do I do it? I don’t

trust the guy at The Source. Tim Leeney

GEORGETOWN, ON

We’re not sure why you want those 8

ohm resistors, Tim. You can’t leave them

connected all the time, and the danger

remains that you might turn on the

amplifier when none of the loads is con-

nected: speakers, phones or resistors.

That said, we can understand why

you’re wary of the people at The Source

(full name, for the benefit of non-Cana-

dians, is The Source by Circuit City, the

sign affixed to what used to be Radio

Shack stores). The resistors you’re likely

to find there have a power rating of a

quarter watt, and we’re being optimis-

tic. Put any amount of power into one,

and…poof! Followed by possibly another

poof from a tube in your amplifier.

You’ll need a power resistor from an

electronics supply house, and you may

have to put several resistors together to

get the rating you need. When we made

up the dummy load we use in amplifier

tests, we purchased three large precision

24 ohm resistors and connected them in

parallel (24 divided by 3 is 8). If we had

found 2 ohm resistors, we could have

wired four of them in series (four times

2 ohms is 8).

I just replaced my aging Dual turntable

with a Goldring GR2. I also replaced my

Rotel RQ970 with an ASL Phono LUX

DT. The Dual had a Grado Green cartridge

with a 5 mV output. The GR2 uses the

Goldring 1012GX, with a 6.5 mV output.

The ASL phono stage has 41 dB of gain. Is

this combination too much gain? I don’t know

the gain on the Rotel, but with my old combo

I had to turn up the volume much more to

get an equivalent output level (as CD). The

current Goldring/ASL combo is at least the

same, but probably slightly more than what

I get from most CD’s.

What are the drawbacks of this combo?

Should I be looking for a lower gain phono

preamp, or should I stop worrying and enjoy

the music? Tim Leeney

GEORGETOWN, ON

We suggest enjoying the music, Tim.

It’s normal to hear some hiss when you

turn up the volume on a phono stage. A

worse sign would be hum that is louder

than the hiss. The output voltage from

even a moving magnet phono pickup is

a thousand times lower than that from a

CD player or other component. What’s

important is that the noise not be notice-

able from listening position even in a

quiet room.

The output difference between the

Grado and Goldring cartridges is not

significant, a mere 2.3 dB. Even so, it

could be accounted for merely by dif-

ferences in testing methods of the two

companies. Those figures are what are

called “nominal output.” Translation:

well, we had to say something.

12 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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I just picked up your magazine for the

first time and love it. I especially enjoyed

The High Fidelity Digital Jukebox (in

UHF No.74) and looked up your previous

articles on the CEC DA53 and the iPod.

I would like to know what would be

necessary to make a “hi-fi” system with this

technique. I would start fresh and abandon

all my mid-fi and at this point would use a

CD or DVD player and stream music via

Wi-Fi or LAN. Thus I am most interested

in playing music from digital sources. I would

like to start building my system, so could you

list the components in order of necessity? I

already have a computer, iTunes (I use Apple

Lossless) and a network. Derek Sou

VICTORIA, BC

Derek, this issue includes a review of

the Slim Devices Squeezebox, which may

be one key to getting the best possible

sound from your computer. The Squee-

zebox connects by Ethernet or Wi-Fi,

and it can feed a digital signal into a

genuine hi-fi system. Using the Apple

Lossless codec is the right choice in our

view. Anyone not able to use iTunes

can download the Free Lossless Audio

Codec (FLAC), available for all com-

puter platforms including Linux, Unix,

Solaris, plus some we’ve never heard of.

It’s at http://flac.sourceforge.net. Actu-

ally, if your computer is near your music

system and it has a digital output, you

don’t even need the Squeezebox.

The idea of getting a digital signal

from the computer or the accessory box

is to avoid letting cheap computer gear

handle the digital-to-analog conversion.

That means you’ll need a good quality

external converter, which could turn

out to be your most expensive single

component. If you want to be able to play

CDs directly, look for a good CD player

which also has a digital input.

Then add what you can afford in

the way of an integrated amplifier and

loudspeakers. Both should be made by

companies that also make the products

you wish you could afford.

First of all I want to tell you how much

I love reading your magazine. I am very

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 13

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familiar with many of the audiophile maga-

zines, and I think yours is the most objective

and informative of all of them. It makes me

proud to know that such a great magazine

comes from Canada.

Now on to the CEC DA53 converter.

After reading your review in UHF No. 72,

I purchased a DA53 and it is very good. As

you noted in your review, it certainly adds

punch to CDs. Like you, I was most interested

in its versatility and particularly its ability

to be used with an iPod.

The only problem is that I haven’t been

able to figure out how to connect it to the

iPod. I would still like to know how you guys

connected an iPod to the DA 53.

John Lorito

OAKVILLE, ON

In fact, John, we jumped the gun on

the question of connecting the iPod to a

DAC. We had no difficulty connecting

our computer to the DA53, and we made

the assumption that, since the iPod can

connect to a USB network, the two were

made to go together. That doesn’t appear

to be true.

But we haven’t given up. We have

talked with two accessory companies

(one of them Griffin, which brings out

clever iPod accessories almost daily)

about making an adapter to get pure

digital from the iPod. We know the

signal’s in there, and it appears that

there’s at least one device, Apple’s penny

dreadful “iPod Hi-Fi,” that can get

access to it. We hope to crack the secret,

and we’ll let you know how we do.

If the Cambridge DiscMagic/DACMagic

are a matching pair, why is the DAC input

limited to coax BNC, when the transport has

an XLR output?

Furthermore: this may be relevant (it’s

from Audio Asylum):

Join the two “hot” wires from the AES

plug side into the single “hot” on the RCA

side. Keep ground on AES to ground on the

RCA side. It works but is not ideal, as an

AES cable needs to be 110 ohm impedance

and an SPDIF (coax) is 75 ohms. Be aware

that the SPDIF digital signal is a +0.5 v to

-0.5 v signal and an AES signal is +5.0 v to

-5.0 v, but this should not be an issue, because

most DACs wont bother about this..

Does the above DIY make any sense,

or is the transformer to match impedance

absolutely necessary, if not advisable?

James Tay

TORONTO, ON

The Audio Asylum instructions you

quote for matching a balanced output to

an unbalanced input won’t work, James,

and it’s obvious on the face of it. Mix

together a positive voltage and a nega-

tive voltage of the same value, and what

do you get? Zilch. Whoever posted this

hasn’t tried it, or else loves the sound of

silence.

If you want to try a more rational

method for adapting balanced to unbal-

anced, these are the pin readouts: pin 1

is ground, pin 2 is “hot” or positive and

pin 3 is negative (it’s the inverted version

of the signal on pin 2). However there is

absolutely no point in using the balanced

input or output on one component unless

the other component is also balanced.

We should also add that a lot of “bal-

anced” components are not balanced at

all, because the goofs who designed them

don’t understand what balancing is or

what it’s for. And if “balancing” has been

accomplished by adding an extra circuit,

perhaps an op amp chip, you can guess

what the result will be.

I have been reading your reviews on two

integrated amplifiers, the Copland CTA-

405 and the Audiomat Opéra, and they both

seem like they offer a lot of refinement for the

money. Could you please guide me towards

the best sounding of the two regardless of their

price difference?

I also noted that in both your reviews on

these amplifiers there was a moment where

they seemed to sound more enjoyable than

the reference system, and on that particular

note it seems that the Copland definitely had

the edge over the Opéra at sounding better

than the reference system. Is it possible that

the Copland 405 is better than the Opéra?

Please help me buy either of these as to the

best sounding amplifier of the two.

Laurent Shriqui

MONTRÉAL, QC

You aren’t the first to ask this, Lau-

rent. We should explain that the two

amplifiers were not reviewed on the same

14 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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system. The Audiomat Opéra, with its

much larger power supply, was listened

to on the Omega system, because we

thought (correctly as it turned out) that it

could handle our Reference 3a Supremas,

with their push-pull passive subwoofers.

The Copland CTA-405 would no doubt

have had a more difficult time deliver-

ing the current needed, and so we made

the decision to listen to it in the Alpha

system, with our Living Voice Avatar

speakers. The Copland’s excellent per-

formance pointed up what we had been

suspecting: that an upgrade of the Alpha

system might be in order. That has since

been done.

I have the following eight-year old

system: Linn Classik, Linn LK100 and

Linn Keileigh speakers. I have a budget of

about £2000. Could you suggest what the

best upgrade route would be?

Darren Gibson

BRIGHTON, Sussex, UK

We wish we could make all of this

section available free, but our accountant

has this little thing about us staying in

business. Ah well!

But the rest of the issue can of course

be seen whole. You have your choice of

the print version or the electronic ver-

sion.

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 17

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Nuts&Bolts

What is the impedance of

your loudspeakers? Is

it 8 ohms? Or 4 ohms?

Perhaps you know that

it is not just a single number, but what

difference does it make anyway?

At the very least you are no doubt

aware that a speaker with a very low

impedance can present a problem for an

amplifier, and potentially can damage it.

Think about the fact that short-circuit-

ing an amplifier output can either break

it, or blow a fuse, or trigger a protection

circuit. The lower the impedance of

a loudspeaker, the closer it comes to

being a short circuit. Some amplifiers

can drive a load of 2 Ω or even 1 Ω, but

most will not. (The Greek letter Omega

is of course the symbol for resistance).

In any case, low impedance may not be

your only worry.

With this issue, UHF intends to begin

publishing impedance curves for loud-

speakers reviewed, and for that reason

I have been asked to explain speaker

impedance, and also to suggest a simple

manner of measuring a speaker's imped-

ance. “Simple” in this case means using a

minimum of specially-purchased equip-

ment, though in day-to-day operation it

is less simple than using a purpose-built

instrument that can spit out a complete

impedance graph in a few seconds. Yes,

impedance measurements result in a

graph, not just the single figure usually

found in loudspeaker literature, but let

me begin with some basic concepts.

What is impedance?

If a loudspeaker were to be driven

by DC (direct current) we could speak

simply of its resistance. The speaker’s

internal wiring has a certain (low) resis-

tance, as does the fine wire that makes up

each driver’s voice coil. However loud-

speakers are intended to be driven by AC

(alternating current), whose frequency of

alternation is that of the sound we are

attempting to reproduce. Thus we need

to take into account the speaker’s induc-

tance and capacitance. The voice coil is an

inductor, and the internal wiring may be

as well. Inductance can be thought of as

a resistance that is frequency-dependent,

with its ohm value rising as frequency

drops. Most crossover networks include

capacitors, which introduce capacitance.

A capacitor can also be thought of as a

frequency-dependent resistor, whose

ohm value rises with frequency. Since a

capacitor’s impedance characteristic is

exactly opposite to that of an inductor, it

is easy to see how capacitors and induc-

tors can be combined to make filters.

I shall add, without great elabora-

tion, that these are not the only factors

determining the impedance reflected

back to the amplifier. For example, as

a woofer cone moves back and forth,

acting as a linear motor, it also acts as a

generator, actually generating a voltage

that is opposite to that coming from the

amplifier. That this complicates things

is an understatement.

It must also be evident that, in a

speaker that combines resistance, induc-

tance and resistance, the total impedance

cannot be a single number, since it will

inevitably vary with frequency. This is

not typically taken into consideration by

designers of amplifiers, who test their

designs by loading them with an 8 ohm

resistor, possessing neither capacitance

nor inductance, and having a constant

impedance at all frequencies.

The ideal, and the practical

The closer a speaker is to a pure

resistance, the more confidence an

amplifier designer can have that his

product will behave in the customer’s

home exactly as it did on the test bench.

That said, few loudspeakers are very

much like resistors at all, and so in fact

amplifiers must be designed to operate

with impedances that are vastly different

from that ideal resistor. What is more,

the designer cannot know in advance the

characteristics of the speakers that will

be used with his product.

To see what he (and we) are up

against, let us look at the impedance

curve of a small two-way speaker, which

has a famous name I do not propose to

reveal. It is shown on the next page.

The curve has been drawn by a

technique I shall describe presently

(see Measuring Impedance on page 20).

Most speakers, I might add by way of

explanation, have a considerable peak in

impedance at the point of resonance of

the woofer and cabinet. The one I have

arbitrarily selected has only a small rise,

centred around 100 Hz, which would

be the practical lower limit of its bass

response.

The manufacturer’s nominal imped-

ance rating is 4 Ω, but you need only

glance at the curve to see that it deviates

from that rating quite considerably. It

dips to about 3 Ω at 16 Hz, which should

present little problem for an amplifier

designed the least bit competently.

Speaker Impedance

by Paul Bergman

18 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Nuts&Bolts

Rather more formidable is the higher

part of the curve, specifically the imped-

ance at 6 kHz. As you can see, it rises

well over 20 Ω. What will this mean for

the poor amplifier?

Let us consider first a solid state

amplifier, the type most people use. It

is common for an amplifier to have

But that’s as far as the article goes

in plaintext. Do by all means check out

either the print or electronic edition.

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Impedance and damping factor

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 19

Feedback

Nuts&Bolts

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20 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Good enough UHF uses them!

This remarkable cable is from Atlas.

Unlike so many cable companies, this Scottish

company keeps markups reasonable.

Navigator All-Cu is made from strands of pure

copper, each drawn from a single crystal.

So are the connectors.

The Navigator All-Cu passed a blind test

in UHF No. 71.

Can it pass your test?

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE

www.uhfmag.com/Cables.html

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 21

It seems forever that the Montreal

show has been at the Delta hotel,

right downtown. The Delta was

a great venue for hi-fi companies

looking for solidly-built rooms whose

acoustics you could work with. It wasn’t

so good for those needing vast space,

and the show had long spilled over into

adjacent hotels. This time organizer

Marie-Christine Prin intended to attract

other consumer electronics firms: Sony,

Toshiba, Nikon, perhaps even (snicker!)

Apple Computer. Hence the shift to the

Centre Sheraton, also downtown.

I was the one snickering about Apple,

but guess what…Apple was there.

UHF was not, however. Unlike the

varied hotel rooms at the Delta, the

Sheraton rooms are too small for what

we do. We made up for it (sort of) by

putting a “virtual room” on the Inter-

net, (complete with a system that could

be seen and examined, if not actually

heard), which remained open through

mid-April. Our absence meant that both

Albert and I had plenty of time to tour.

Albert’s account follows this one.

The official guide to the show, by

the way, had a hopeful photo of a Nikon

camera, but Nikon wasn’t there. It could

have been worse…imagine Nikon hadn’t

come and Canon had! On the other

hand Sony did have some cameras there,

including the DSC-R1, which Albert and

I had a great demo of. After the show we

bought one…and the product pictures in

this issue (except for the show pictures)

were taken with it.

For several years the show has been

affiliated with a good cause, research

into children's diseases. Proceeds of the

official show CD have gone to that cause.

This year the cause also had an official

spokesman, actor Rémy Girard, shown

on this page with Marie-Christine.

Girard will be familiar to worldwide

movie audiences as the man in the hos-

pital bed in the Oscar-winning film The

Barbarian Invasions.

Did the show’s shift in venue and

orientation pay off? At show’s end

Marie-Christine told me it definitely

had, and I talked to a number of exhibi-

tors who were ecstatic…the ones in the

large rooms and salons. I also talked to

less happy exhibitors, who had found

the hotel rooms too squeezed, the

entranceways to them too narrow, and

the acoustics…well, it’s a hotel, isn’t it?

I have no idea whether the happy ones

or the unhappy ones predominated.

Notwithstanding the show’s ambi-

tions to be a sort of mini-CES, this is a

consumer show, not a trade show, and it is

therefore normal for local dealers to be

major exhibitors, albeit with the support

of their suppliers. And thus there were

large rooms backed by such stores as

Audioville, Coup de Foudre and Codell.

Not at the show was the largest of these

dealers, Audio Centre. I had heard before

the show that this suburban store would

move back to its old building (very old,

in fact) to save money. Rumor said that

it was just…gone.

I’ve often deplored that the Totem

Mani-2 loudspeaker (reviewed in this

issue) is never heard at shows. It was there

this time, in the Audioville room (see the

photo at lower right on the next page),

driven by Conrad-Johnson gear. As usu-

ally happens when it is demonstrated,

visitors commented on how amazing it

was to hear a small speaker filling that

huge space.

The official show CD, a music

sampler, is produced by a local high

end recording company, Fidelio. The

company had brought not only its own

CDs but also its Nagra master recorder,

shown on the next page. I got to hear the

master tape of a new percussion SACD

the company was launching. It’s tough

for other exhibitors to compete with

that.

Montréal 2006

by Gerard Rejskind

Feature

22 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Feature

Aurum Acoustics (from

Newfoundland) was back with

the final version of its astonish-

ing tri-amplified loudspeaker (it

comes with its own amps, four

of which are single-ended tube

units). Now that the system

(including the manifestly

excellent CD player/pre-

amplifier) is entering

production, our inter-

est in doing an in-depth

review has definitely

perked up.

Aurum is not the

only high end company

situated well outside

metropolitan centres.

From Mascouche (a

medium-sized town just

far enough from Mon-

treal to qualify as more

than just a suburb) came the

Revelation Mistral S-5 (its pic-

ture is on page 25). It caught my

attention because, like the Reference 3a

speakers in our Omega reference system, it

is a two-piece speaker: a smaller two-way

unit sitting on a massive subwoofer. When

I heard it, driven by Exposure electronics,

it had a simply huge sound.

From closer to us came an amplifier and

a pair of small speakers, under the name of

Merikaudio. The company is in Longueuil,

which in case you don’t know is the Mon-

treal suburb where UHF is located. The

amplifier is not yet in its final form, and the

matching preamp is

still on the draw-

ing board, but

they may bear

watching.

One of the nicer rooms

belonged to a Canadian com-

pany not that well known even

in its home country, LaHave. Its

Wedge speaker is on page 28. It’s

pleasant musicality kept me in

the room for a while on the third

day.

The amplifier at bottom left

caught my eye too, because I

had noticed it in an ad in our

last issue. It’s the Audio Space,

and it’s next to the JAS Odin

loudspeaker. Yes, the speakers

have ceramic woofers. The price:

C$7800. I must say that the demo

I heard was worth sitting down and

listening to for a bit.

I’ve often heard the huge wooden Edgarhorn, shown at

left, at CES. I had never been very happy with it, but it actu-

ally sounded quite good this time, with natural tonal balance,

though (as is often the case with very large woofers) little in

the way of a real stereo image. Dr. Bruce Edgar was there, and

as you’ll see from the next report Albert was impressed with

neither the speaker nor Dr. Edgar.

In Vegas I had heard an oversized “bookshelf” speaker

called the Escalante Fremont. This time I heard a smaller

model, the Pinyon (above right). It looks rather conventional

until you look closely at the metal-clad enclosure and the

ring radiator tweeter. Like the Fremont, it sounded truly

excellent.

Also sounding rather interesting was the Mirage OMD28.

The new OMD series replaces the OM series, which replaced

the M series. The $10K speaker has carbon fibre woofers and

midrange, and a dome tweeter facing upward into a diffuser.

Seeing how the company was rather disappointed with our

review of one of its speakers in our last issue (see Feedback in

this issue), I refrained from suggesting a review.

Regional show though this might be it does manage to pull

in a few high end celebrities. VTL’s Luke Manley was here last

year. This year William Andrea of Mimetism was here (his

integrated amplifier got a warm review in our pages in issue

No. 74), and so was David Berning (you can see him on page

26). Berning had

brought his newest

preamplifier. His

monoblock power

amps, alas, were

not quite done

yet, though he

had prototypes in

unfinished form.

Also present

was Linn’s Martin

McCue, who was

show i ng some

products that will

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 23

Feedback

Feature

arrive in stores soon. That includes

the Artikulat speakers (shown on page

27), and the new Majik strictly two-

channel component series. I’ve already

asked to review the Majik CD, which

will replace both the Genki and Ikemi,

with a price situated about midway.

Before you ask, like the older models it

will still have HDCD decoding.

I’m always happy to see (and espe-

cially hear) Sonus Faber speakers, and

there were two new ones at the show. The

Anniversario (extreme right) is gorgeous,

as you’d expect, and it sounded luscious

too. I saw but didn’t hear the Guarneri,

next to it, bearing serial number 002. Its

projected price is C$14K, but if it’s any

consolation the stand is included.

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24 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Feature

“Look at t he beaut if u l

tubes,”said

a visitor as

he walked

into the room, calling his

friend over to a table display,

completely oblivious to the

music being played. There

it is. I think I’ve cracked the

mystery of why there are

so few female audiophiles.

While men and women may

equally love listening to

music, men have that unique

tendency to also want to

read about, to talk about and

to argue about…the gear.

This article is about them and the gear, and most impor-

tantly about the sound and the music they listened to and

their reactions to it. Warning: you will read about personal

opinions. If you don’t like personal opinions and prefer a

detailed account of what was played and displayed, you might

consider putting this magazine down and delving into the

complete list of exhibitors and components available in the

official brochure.

You may find praise in the next paragraphs, and occasion-

ally harsh comments. However, this is not a listening test, by

any means, and we won’t blame anything unless we mean it

specifically for the purpose of improvement.

“You must listen to these speakers,” said Michael and

Jimmy, as soon as we met in the lobby. “They’re shaped like

huge horns, and the sound is so natural and smooth,” they

added, pointing to the name of the Edgar-

horn Titan II speakers on the

brochure. Off we went.

Along the way we stopped

by the Totem Acoustics home

theatre demonstration. Neatly

placed on the walls, front

and back, the new, discreetly

styled, 3.5" deep Tribe 1 and

2 speakers gave an absolutely

spectacular performance of

Hero, with the dramatic contri-

bution of the Storm subwoofer.

Played on the Arcam DV 78

player with Arcam’s AVR, the

sound was riveting and carried

tons of impact

while outlining

the finest details.

I did return

to that room

more than once during the next days,

with different visitors, and their

reaction was always the same:

they remained speechless. That

such quality (and quantity!)

could issue from such diminutive

speakers was amazing.

We were no less impressed

by the Simaudio room, where

we listened to an excerpt from

Holst’s The Planets, played on

the Andromeda CD player and

power supply, the P-8 controller

and preamplifier, the W-8 power

amplifier and the large Dynaudio

Confidence C-4 speakers. Before

leaving the large room, Michael and Jimmy wanted to have

their picture taken in front of the huge Simaudio monobloc

power amp on display.

(Can you ever, ever imagine a female audiophile asking for

a souvenir shot such as this?)

In the small Fidelio room, everything was quiet and refined.

The first track of Nemesis, their latest album of percussion, was

playing on an Esoteric deck through a Nagra PL-P preamp and

a pair of pyramid-shaped Nagra PMA power amps, into Verity

Audio’s shiny black Parsifal speak-

ers. “I feel good,” said Michael, as

we were going out into the hallway

“Just a few minutes in that room

and I feel so relaxed.”

Soon after, Jimmy really wanted

us to listen to the Revelation speak-

ers, and as we walked in we noticed

the energetic sound of the K&D

Sessions handled with authority

by the Revelation Mistral S-6

speakers (at right), helped by a pair

of Odyssey Stratos power amps, a

DSC VAC Auricle preamp, and a

Naim CDX player. A request to

play Un Aeroplano a Vela, a song

by Gianmaria Testa from his CD

Montgolfières, demonstrated con-

vincingly the imaging capabilities

of that system.

Just as fascinating was the sound

of a ClearAudio turntable, playing

Take Five, linked to a Korato Anni-

versary Series

R e f e r e n c e

Valve preamp,

two Korato

tube monob-

Touring the Old/New Show

by Albert Simon

At top: Albert at work in the Blue-

note room. At left: the Opera SP

speakers. At right: the two-part

Revelation speaker.

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 25

Feedback

Feature

locks and

a pair of

l a r g e

Villa-

R e a l e

s p e a k -

ers. It was

a lively and won-

derfully syncopated version

of the legendary Brubeck composition.

We had another treat on LPs with My Funny

Valentine from the 70’s direct-to-disc album The Great Jazz Trio

Direct from L.A., with Hank Jones, played on a Brinkmann La

Grange turntable and introducing the Brinkmann tone arm.

That was fol-

lowed, in the

same room, by

Rachmani-

nov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on a completely

rebuilt 1956 Thorens 124, with amplifiers by Brink-

mann and Litho Phon speakers with ribbon tweeters.

Actually, turntables were almost everywhere this year, and

we enjoyed tremendously the music of De Falla from his Three

Cornered Hat ballet played on a Red Point turntable, a VAC

Renaissance Signature preamp and a Manley Steelhead tube

phono stage, amplified by a VAC Beampower amp linked to

a pair of sculptured, large, shiny black Hansen speakers.

Michael was eager to try his CD of Le Pacte des Loups, on

the Raysonic vacuum tube CD 128 player and the Raysonic

SE-30-A integrated amplifier (shown above left). The opening

track of this impressive film score sounded accurately dark and

ominous on the new Living Voice IBX (Auditorium Series)

speakers, similar to our reference OBX but with a built-in

crossover filter.

As we walked toward another room, Jimmy suggested

exhibitors should keep their doors shut and post a clear sign

inviting people to walk in. The noise carried along the hallways

(of male audiophiles talking passionately about…the gear, what

else?) was always too invasive, and as a result, many rooms

had to raise the sound to absurd levels. Michael nodded and

remarked that this year he noticed how loud music was being

played in most rooms. And by the way, during the three days

of the Festival, that was the most common complaint I heard

from a large number of visitors.

So here is a hint to those with have access to the volume

control: don’t try to impress audiophiles by flattening them against

the wall. Strange as it may

seem to some, most of us

want to be soothed by good,

rich, natural sound. When

it’s too loud, we can’t hear it.

“And, yet,” Jimmy added, “I can tell that the overall level

of sound quality has increased, this year.” We all agreed.

The next room was large and dark and all eyes were

focused on the large, widely-spaced Lohengrin speakers by

Verity Audio, flanking a pair of single-ended triode WAVAC

monoblocs; huge, brightly lit amps delivering 150 watts each

(one of them can be seen on the next page)! The source and

control came from the trio of dCS Elgar, Purcell and Verdi.

Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale filled the room smoothly, effort-

lessly, the musicians spread across the wide stage.

In another room soon after, Michael remarked again

about the high sound level as single piano notes were struck

repeatedly with a furious right hand. “Not to worry, ” I said,

“it sounds like the karate style of a Three Blind Mice recording.”

And sure enough! The new Mirage OMD-28’s (Omnipolar

Reference Speaker System) were doing their best with that

recording, fed by a pair of Bryston 7B SST power amps, a

Bryston preamp and power supply and an Arcam CD36 player,

all filtered through a Torus Power Line conditioner.

Enjoy the rest of this article in our print issue, or in the

electronic version, available from MagZee.

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si.

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nim zzriure tem zzrit euis-

At left: the new CD player and

integrated amplifier from Ray-

sonic. Below: David Berning with

his new preamplifier.

26 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Feature

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At left: the new CD player and

integrated amplifier from Ray-

sonic. Below: David Berning with

his new preamplifier.

Above: Aldburn’s Mike Reming-

ton showing off the new Linn

Artikulat speakers. At right:

The Verity Lohengrin speaker,

a Wavac 150 watt single-ended

monoblock, and the prototype

Merikaudio amplifier. ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 27

Feedback

Feature

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quam nulla facilit, vel utem quamet wissequis nosto elenibh

elismod ionsed magna feumsandreet ip exeraestinis dolor sum

autatismolor sed minisi.

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consenis exer sus-

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dolum il delent nos ad

tat iriliqu amconsed eugait autpat

lor summy nullutat, velisi.

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esequamet prat utat do exer si euisis

nim quat. Duis del inim quipit iusto

dunt luptat. Duisim zzril del elessi.

Liquisl irilla autpat, vullut ea

feu facipit pratueratue dolor

aut ea conum nonsequat.

Equis ad del iure faccum

dolorer aestrud eugait

alismolum nonse cortis

alit nullum velissi etueraese

doloreet lam, sed et dionsecte conum

zzrit il ute tionsenim autpat luptat.

Amet adipit lummolorer sendipit la

feugiam dio el irit autpat augait autpat.

At left: the Rogue Atlas tube

power amp. Below: the Brink-

mann LaGrange turntable, a

rebuilt Thorens 124 table, and a

Canadian speaker, the LeHave

Wedge.

28 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Feature

Utat nullandre

modipit wismodo

lobore modit ulla

feum verit aute fac-

cumm odoloreet

iuscil ex eliquat.

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miniatu erosto od mod modit, volore tat. Duis et ing et, con

henim in volorem dolum dipsum et iriustrud ex euis adignis ex

et la feugue ercil endit niat et lorem autpatis ea consequam, sis-

sequipsum vulputet et alismodolent landigna feugiam, quatuer

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dolor si.

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feuisi.

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ullam, verostrud te

facidui siscip exerci bla facip exerilit pratio eugait ad

tat eu feum quamcommodit lobor sustism olestio

nsequi bla ad tat laore cortin enibh elessequat

do od duis delis aliquam verostrud dolese

tationsed magnim irilissecte consed euisit iuscin

ulputat aut ad dio od tat ver acipis ad min ero

commolobor sustie te min verit aute magnit

la consed et irit prat. Sed tat. Ut vel ut veliqui

psummy nosto conse tat augait iliquat. Em ver

suscillandre molutpatum amcore mincing eum

volum vel dunt nonsend ipsusto odio dolore ming erostin eros

nonullum ing exerostin ea feuipisi er adit niscin esectetue dipisl

ulput atem elenibh elessequis delit.

At left: the Rogue Atlas tube

power amp. Below: the Brink-

mann LaGrange turntable, a

rebuilt Thorens 124 table, and a

Canadian speaker, the LeHave

Wedge.

Four turntables (clockwise): the Red

Point, the Eurolab Cello, the

Thorens TD350, and the Michell

Orbe. At left: Michaël and Jimmy

with earphones. Below right:

Michaël and Gaetan listening at

the end of a long show.

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 29

Feedback

Listening Room

Were we the very first

ever to review a Totem

loudspeaker? We think

so. It was of course the

original Totem, the Model One. We

were impressed with it, as we still are,

and we eagerly awaited the Model Two.

This was the Model Two, with a clever

pun identifying it as the second model,

all the while tying it to the company’s

faux Native image.

The Mani-2, first reviewed in UHF

No. 43, impressed us too. Though in pic-

tures it looks like a slightly larger Model

One, it is different in both configuration

and sound. With its twin woofer setup,

it was capable of very deep bass that

was perfectly controlled right down to

its lower limits. We concluded that the

Mani-2 was one of the world’s truly great

loudspeakers.

It did, however, have an Achilles’

heel. Its configuration was accompanied

by a strange impedance curve unlike that

anticipated by most amplifier designers.

Even Totem’s own (short-lived) Amber

amplifier was not recommended. An

inadequate amplifier could actually

damage the Mani-2!

But oh, how it sang when properly

driven! We recall taking a pair of them

to a show right after our review. The

first afternoon a blind visitor spent a

quarter hour listening before asking us

what subwoofer we were using.

Superficially the Mani-2 looks like

a bigger version of the Model One,

with its attractive finish (mahogany is

our favorite) and its rounded sides,

with gleaming WBT binding posts at

the rear. Not visible from the outside

is that, behind the woofer is a second

woofer, connected in tandem so that

the two move in and out together. That

gives the Mani-2 its unique way with

extreme bass and dynamics…and also

gives headaches to amplifier designers.

Just as invisible is that the cabinet is

veneered inside as well as outside, to

prevent warping of the monocoque

structure. The inside is not stuffed

with mineral wool, as most speakers

are. Damping is done with borosilicate,

an anti-vibration coating used in aero-

space applications, long ago adopted by

Totem for its speakers.

Since our original review the Mani-2

has been considerably revised, raising

its efficiency somewhat and making it

less fragile. And it is now available as

a Signature version. Would we be as

delighted as we had been a decade and

a half ago?

We set up a two-part review. We

would begin in our Alpha room, where

we had listened to the earlier Mani-2

(since that was our only listening room

back then). We would then move to the

much larger Omega room, and put the

Mani-2 up against our vaunted Refer-

ence 3a Supremas.

The Alpha room

The room is rather small, but our

Living Voice speakers are quite comfy

about 30 cm from the absorbent rear

wall. The tonal balance of the Mani-2’s

was a little strange in that position. Pull-

ing them another 15 cm closer to us did

the trick. Note that our photo shows the

speakers sitting on a pair of Totem’s own

T4L steel stands (C$775/US$750). Using

them would have meant filling them with

sand, however, and we opted instead for

our own extremely dead Foundation

stands. Dollops of Audio-Tak held the

speakers tight.

The power amplifier in that room

is a Simaudio Moon W-5LE, which

is explicitly not recommended for the

Mani-2’s. We were told off the record

Totem Mani-2

Signature

The Listening Room

30 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

that it would be all right if we didn’t

turn up the volume too high (loose

translation: on New Years’ Eve keep

the inebriates away from the system).

However we did have to run the system

louder than usual, because the Mani-2’s

85 dB sensitivity is way below that of

nearly all contemporary speakers. You’ll

be needing some watts!

We began the Alpha listening session

with the dramatic Percussion Concerto by

Joseph Schwanter (from the Poetics CD,

Klavier K11153).

For the rest of this fascinating review

through two of our reference systems,

check either the print or the full elec-

tronic version.

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alisi et aut illa atuer ipit laorem il inis

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nibh ea conullut veliquat dolortiniat.

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tis dolorem velismodo et alit, veliquate

magna faccumsan ut wis dit lore facidunt

nullum illutatis dit adit lorem dipit lortie

estissi.

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ut nullaoreet ea feuiscil ea faci eugiatem

dolobore dunt del exero odit at aut

alisisi.

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eet augue eleniam vent ilit wiscil dolore

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tis ate facipsummy nim am duisism

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dolessi tis ad euipisit nullutem in heni-

sisl utet nim velesendio consed tisi tie

minim verostis acillaor iustrud eumsan

hendrem iusci ea consequat augiamcon

volenim ex el eros dolore min ut acil

duisit prat, verciduis ad esto eum iliscil

lumsan exeros nulputpatie dunt wisim

alit ipsuscipis augait am ing et, quat.

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exero od dolorpe raesto commod dionse-

quis adion ut nullutpat ad del utpatueros

augiat adit niat venibh euisi tem ex et,

quisl ut vero ero con ent adit aut digna

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acing ea con vero exerostrud magna

faccumsan ea feum ing elit inim essectet

eum am essent velenit num velessi.

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quissi.

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facilit ing elestrud mod magna consed

tetuercidunt alit, vent prating ea feum

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zzrit alit ad molorercilit nim dolore feum

iure velendipit lum dolore tat nullam,

con utpat.

Suscin ea feuguer aesenim zzriustie

faci te cor iusci blam, consequat vullan

exeriure do ex ea feugait prat, com-

modipsum eros alit utatissim delis at.

The Omega system

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ad diatum vulput augiam, se facil euipit

vel exeriusci ea faccum zzrilit lutetue

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quissit in hendreet eu facipisisi.

Dolessi te modolum augait ing ex

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 31

Feedback

Listening Room

eros dolore dipisim dolu-

tate magna ad dolobore

molorperos et ut alit non-

sequat accum nulluptat

acillaoreet utat lute min

hendre core dolore feum

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acipisim dipisi.

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tat vero dionse te faccum

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sendre dignibh eugait, consectet loreet

vercin vulla auguercipis exero digna

facil ut praestio od esto ea conum nis-

siscinim nulput eugueros adit del incilit

in veliquamet, consecte diam aliquam

eros essed dolumsandre moloborercil

iniscilis nummy nulputpating ex et adio

digna feugiat, conullute feugait veliqua

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lum dolore tat nullam, con utpat.

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faci te cor iusci blam, consequat vullan

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dipsum eros alit utatissim delis at.

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incidunt iril dolortin ver sed modiam

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alisi et aut illa atuer ipit laorem il inis

nibh ese volesti ncillam irilluptat am

eros eu faciduipisit nim dit ad magna

faccum zzril ute miniam dolore consed

te tem dolendrem dit acidunt iriuscin

euguercil et nonulla facin ut illum exeril

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nibh ea conullut veliquat dolortiniat.

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vullamet, commy nostis am ip et vel ulla

aliquissim zzrilit, commolortis niamet,

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tis dolorem velismodo et alit, veliquate

magna faccumsan ut wis dit lore facidunt

nullum illutatis dit adit lorem dipit lortie

estissi.

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dolorem zzrit ad dolobore cor irit aliquat

incilla ndreet lutat dunt ute vel doluptat

dolent landre er ip elenim del ulputem

diamcom molorperit adiat autpat am

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ea aliquamet alit aci tatet ut nit at lum in

utpat.

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dolor sed magna facilissi.

Lobor sumsan utat dolore tie te

Brand/model: Totem Mani-2

Price: C$5595/US$4595

Size (HWD): 42 x 21 x 30.5 cm

Sensitivity: 85 dB

Impedance (claimed): 4 ohms

Most liked: Dunt laoreet volore

magna alit

Least liked: Et dolessi tis ad euipisit

nullutem in henisisl

Verdict: Vel ea alit lore tat

Summing it up…

32 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

faccum ver sustrud dignibh

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sis adigna feuis elit la con

hendion sectem in eugiamc

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CROSSTALK

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 33

Feedback

Listening Room

Does the name ring a bell?

Mention ELAC and we

think of turntables of long

ago, or more recently of

phono cartridges. Indeed, ELAC (the

name is a contraction of Electroacustic)

was the first to make a relatively inex-

pensive phono cartridge with a Van den

Hul profiled stylus. That turned out not

to be a great idea, but its heart was in the

right place.

And now ELAC has brought out the

first inexpensive speaker with a Heil

tweeter. Not all the company’s speakers

are this size or this price either, but once

again its heart is in the right place. Oskar

Heil’s famous tweeter has long been

admired for its exemplary smoothness,

and indeed for the lack of peakiness

that is found in nearly all conventional

tweeters.

So where have we seen it before?

Well, the Oskar Aulos, a smallish

speaker with a similar tweeter was on

the cover of UHF No. 57. And its larger

brother, the Kithara, was reviewed in

issue No. 59. Subsequently Albert pur-

chased it. But none of these speakers cost

as little as this one. The finish, designed

for modern decors, belies the cost, as do

of course the drivers used. The woofer

is a sandwich of paper and aluminum.

And the “JET” tweeter is ELAC’s own

version of Oskar Heil’s “Air Motion

Transformer.” From 2.8 kHz up it does

the heavy lifting.

We set the speakers up on our Foun-

dation stands and connected them to our

Alpha system. It took very little fiddling

with the placement before we were happy

with the image and the balance. The

speakers come with foam “muffs” that

can be placed in the rear port for place-

ment close to a wall, but we didn’t use

them.

We opened the session with the

SACD version of the famed Proprius

choral recording, Now the Green Blade

Riseth (PRSACD9093). We’ve heard

both the male and female voices sound

hideous on speakers far more expen-

sive than these, and we were pleased

to note that the ELACs reproduced

them pleasantly. We were hoping for

great smoothness in the highs from the

famous tweeter, and we got it, except

for…

Except for what? Do check out the

full version of this review in the print

or electronic version.

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sed dunt nonse vulputp atueraessed exer

Elac 204

Brand/model: ELAC 204.2

Price: C$1650

Size (HWD): 33 x 20 x 28.5 cm

Sensitivity: 88 dB

Impedance (claimed): 4 ohms

Most liked: Deliciously smooth highs

Least liked: It’s a little speaker,

remember?

Verdict: A high end that’s really high

end

Summing it up…

34 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

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CROSSTALK

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 35

Feedback

Listening Room

So here’s Castle again…with a new

Canadian distributor, but then

again new ownership too. Castle

was founded many years ago by a

group of former Wharfedale executives,

who had left when the aptly-named Rank

organization had bought Wharfedale.

Those execs are now retired, and Castle

was bought by…a group of Wharfedale

execs. Plus ça change…

This very small and inexpensive

speaker is very much a Castle, though.

Notice the 13 cm carbon fibre woofer

(with a cast metal basket, which of course

you can’t see), and the “upside down”

configuration. Notice the subtle shape of

the Skipton castle pressed into the soft

dome tweeter face plate. Notice the fine

finish, brighter in the centre, darker at

the edges. Inhale the furniture oil while

you’re at it.

Then look at the rear for the cheap

plastic binding posts Castle has long

used on its economy speakers. Only you

won’t find them. These gold-colored

posts are better than most.

We set the Richmonds up on our

Foundation stands (which cost more than

the speakers themselves do), connected

them to our Alpha system, and pulled out

a few potentially difficult recordings.

The first was our familiar choral

recording, but from the SACD version

(Proprius PRSACD9093). Albert and

Gerard had plenty of praise for the great

clarity of the choral voices, for the way

we could pick them out individually,

and yet for the way they hung together.

The rhythm was at least reasonable, the

recording’s great depth reduced but not

destroyed.

And yet not everything was perfect.

In one passage the women took on a

“honky” tone, and Reine liked neither

the male voices nor the counterpoint

with the flute. Albert would have liked

a little more energy. Turning up the

volume helped, but these little speakers

are not designed to be run that loud, and

we backed off again..

With a large-scale orchestral record-

ing (Beethoven’s Symphony No.5, Penta-

Tone 5186 102) we realized again how

easy it is to run these speakers too loud.

The violins were first to tip us off and

cry for mercy. Once we found the right

compromise the Richmonds surprised us

with their energetic sound and the coher-

ent way they made sense of Beethoven’s

complex orchestration. The music was,

by turns, lyrical and lively. The stereo

image was precise, each orchestral sec-

tion well anchored in space. Well…space

is perhaps the wrong word, because the

depth was all but absent.

We were in the mood to make this

speaker work hard! We turned to a

DVD-A of the Ray Brown Trio’s Take

the ‘A’ Train (from Soular Energy, Hi-

Res HRM-2011). Through such small

speakers this recording should have

been unrecognizable, but that’s not what

happened. Brown’s powerful bass was

surprisingly lively and rhythmic, though

of course we heard the slap of the strings

more than the resonance of the instru-

ment body. Pianist Gene Harris really

pounds the right side of his keyboard

in this piece, and the notes had a decid-

edly hard edge. “But that’s the way he

plays,” said Albert. Both the bass and

the (subtle) percussion kept the swing on

track. “What I like,” said Gerard, “was

that even when these speakers play too

loud and they harden up, they never get

blurry or fuzzy. They stay clean.”

We wondered how well they could

render the expressive voice of jazz singer

extraordinaire Margie Gibson (Say It

With Music, Sheffield CD-36). They did

more than honorably, with only a touch

of hardness here and there, but lots of

clarity and expressiveness in the song

itself. We liked the sensuous way Gibson

glides along a note before settling on its

perfect pitch (actually we always like it,

but the Richmonds didn’t spoil it). The

accompanying instruments — piano,

bass and cello — were very good, and

their dialogue was coherent and pleasing.

“It’s surprising how much you can hear

in the background,” said Gerard, “like

for instance the piano solo when she

hums softly along with it.”

We ended with Victor Feldman’s

Secret of the Andes, figuring it might have

trouble with a couple of those exotic

drums that make up the introduction.

If a cabinet is poorly put together, this

recording will spotlight it. The Rich-

mond wasn’t quite perfect on this test,

Brand/model: Castle Richmond 3i

Price: C$799

Size (HWD): 33 x 17 x 23 cm

Sensitivity: 88.5 dB

Impedance (claimed): 8 ohms

Most liked: Beautifully made, great

energy and clarity

Least liked: Very limited depth

Verdict: The Energizer bunny in

speaker form

Summing it up…

Castle Richmond 3i

36 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

getting the tone wrong on a couple of the

really large drums. But because the bass

response is necessarily limited, the prob-

lem wasn’t more than detectable. Much

more noticeable was the furious rhythm

and the energy. That odd scraped gourd

in the introduction came on with power,

and so did the whistle. The kick drum,

which some speakers simply ignore

(perhaps fortunately), was surprisingly

good. So was Feldman’s piano.

We were curious to see how the

Castle Richmonds would do on our usual

battery of technical tests. We began by

drawing its impedance curve, which is

shown in the graph above. Despite the

claim of an 8 ohm impedance, the curve

actually gets rather closer to 4 ohms

over an important part of the range,

and considerably below 4 ohms at high

frequency.

We set up our precision calibrated

microphone 1 m in front of the Rich-

mond, but weren’t certain how we

should orient it. We usually position it

on axis with the tweeter, but the inverted

configuration of the speaker places the

tweeter rather low. We finally put it

at woofer height, but slanted down so

that it pointed toward the tweeter. The

resulting frequency response curve (top

right), is very good, especially through

the upper midrange and the top end, The

waviness in the lower part of the band is,

as usual, due to room modes. Of course

there’s not much in the way of very

low bass. Clean response mostly ends

at 50 Hz, and even then the waveform

(second image at right) isn’t really clean.

Below that you’ll hear sound, but not the

fundamental tone.

The 100 Hz square wave (bottom

right) is quite good, with barely a glitch

on the riser, and a funny little lateral

wave almost certainly caused by distor-

tion in the bass. But then we do test at

high levels: 100 dB reference level at that

1 m distance.

By the usual high end standards,

these are low-cost speakers. They prob-

ably won’t be the cheapest in the store,

however, and people not used to high end

gear may find their gaze wandering over

to speakers half the price and triple the

size. But you’re buying music, not scrap

iron. For a price most people can either

pay or save up for in a reasonable time,

they’ll amply justify buying something

other than a mini system.

Too bad they’re not available in

fivepacks. We were thinking that you

could add a subwoofer and you’d have a

home theatre system that would make

your home-theatre-in-a-box neighbors

green with envy.

In an ideal hi-fi world speakers would

all be affordable and equally suited to re-

producing all types of music effortlessly. In

the real world, many speakers strain with

the task of handling the weight of complex

music. This one was no exception.

Choosing a pair of speakers is often a

sum of compromises, and, in this case you'd

best limit your music listening to smaller

groups, with or without voices. You'll ac-

tually be happily surprised, as I was, with

these speakers' ability to deliver a clearly-

defined image, and the solid, palpable pres-

ence of each performer. —Albert Simon

This is a much smaller speaker than any

Castle we had ever tested, but its consider-

able virtues make it a worthy member of a

distinguished family.

No of course it can’t play a full orchestra

at realistic volume. Of course it can’t repro-

duce kettle drums and plucked basses real-

istically. But what it can handle it handles

with aplomb. It has none of the grey opaque

sound of too many inexpensive speakers. It

plays music, for real.

I was bemused by the quality touches

Castle has provided even at this price. The

terrific wood finish for one. The curved

grille (best left off, as usual) for another.

And have you noticed that they went to the

expense of making right-left mirror image

speakers?

This is a class act all the way.

—Gerard Rejskind

Despite their modest price these little

speakers can give their owners a lot of plea-

sure. Find a volume level they’re comfort-

able with, and you can start to discover their

numerous assets. I’m talking about image,

depth and width, all of which are perfectly

acceptable. If the bottom end could use a

little more weight, the midrange is very

good and gives the music considerable rich-

ness. The sensitivity of the musicians, heard

through these speakers, is contagious.

Add to that a multitude of details, good

inflection, lyrics you can always follow.

These qualities make you forget, or at least

forgive, an occasional hardening here and

there, and perhaps a bit of drag on certain

rhythms.

On the æsthetic side, you can hardly

help noticing the refined wood finish that

invites you to touch them, to appreciate

their satin smoothness. These cabinets

were made by artists, not mere laborers.

—Reine Lessard

CROSSTALK

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 37

Feedback

Listening Room

Got an amplifier? Got head-

phones? Now how do you

plug the second into the

first?

Headphones have long been an alter-

native listening method for those whose

partners don’t share their musical tastes.

Or those with thin walls. In recent years

the idea of listening to music through

headphones rather than loudspeakers

has gone mainstream. The reason for

that can be summed up in a word: iPod.

(Then again, there’s the word Walkman.

Remember that? Neither do we.) But no

portable player can do justice to great

headphones.

Neither can your high end ampli-

fier, chances are. Because headphones

are sensitive and go right against your

ears, they’ll let you hear hiss and hum

normally inaudible. And you can’t

rig up a switching system without

doing major damage to audio

performance you’ve spent good

money for.

An amplifier made specially

for headphones may be the solu-

tion. Run it from your regular

amp or preamp’s Tape Out jacks,

and you’re set. We reviewed three

possibilities.

But first, let’s talk about a new head-

phone, the one below.

The Goldring DR150 headphone

It’s from a surprising company, but

then Goldring seems to offer all kinds of

things these days, even turntables. The

DR150 phones are the most expensive of

three models at C$260. This is of course

much more than the phones on the racks

of iPod stores.

They’re dynamic phones, with a

titanium film diaphragm, comfortable

circumaural muffs and open backs.

They don’t block much sound, and

consequently you won’t want to listen to

them next to someone trying to get some

sleep, because they leak like the Titanic.

The good side is that if the phone rings

while you’re listening, you’ll hear it.

If you don’t see a cord in our picture

it’s because it’s detachable. The 3 metre

cord in fact has a gold-plated miniplug

at each end, with a full-sized phone

plug adapter. All three of us rated them

comfortable, thanks to their lightness

and the design of the muffs.

Do we have a reference headphone

for comparison? Yes we do, though we

seldom list it. It’s a Koss PRO/4AAA,

purchased many years ago for studio

monitoring (anyone recall that our Alpha

room was originally a broadcast produc-

tion studio?). It was excellent then, and

it still is. We ran a single recording,

Margie Gibson’s The Best Thing For

You from her Say It With Music album

(Sheffield CD-36), first through the Koss

phones, then through the Goldring.

Each panelist (listening separately for

once) would evaluate the Goldring, and

then continue the amplifier evaluation

with the phone of his or her choice. The

choice, however, would have to be made

on the basis of the sound, not comfort.

Did the Goldring sound neutral?

Not really. Albert found it colored, with

an alteration not only of Gibson’s voice

but also of the piano, bass and percus-

sion. We did note some strong points.

The transients are quick and lifelike,

the dynamics impressive, and Gerard

thought the somewhat leaner bass might

actually be a plus. But we didn’t enjoy

the increased graininess of the highs,

nor the somewhat claustrophobic space.

All three of us opted to do the rest of the

test with our Koss reference phone.

The Goldring, we should add, seemed

sensitive to the quality of the amplifier. It

sounded best with the CEC amp (but of

course so did the Koss). Plugged into

an iPod, it was harsh and edgy.

Then on to the comparisons of the

amplifiers. We usually listen to our

reference system first, and then drop in

whatever component we are reviewing

and listen again. However we have no

reference headphone amplifier, and that

Headphone Ampliers

38 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

complicated things.

Here’s how we solved the problem.

The source we selected for these tests

was a combination of our CEC TL51X

belt-driven transport and the Bench-

mark DAC1 converter reviewed in

our last issue. We did that because the

Benchmark’s headphone section was one

of the products to be reviewed, and that

way we could keep the source constant.

We listened first to three recordings

through the DAC1, but kept our conclu-

sions for later, since we had as yet noth-

ing to compare it to. We then listened

to the same three recordings through

the Lehmann and CEC amplifiers, and

then returned to the Benchmark. So let

us begin with the end, as it were.

If the name is familiar it’s because

we reviewed this digital-to-analog

converter from a little-known

company in our last issue. It’s

not expensive as high end DACs go, at

US$975, and fortunately it really is high

end. Benchmark Media, which produces

the unit, sells directly where it has no

local dealers.

But there’s more to the DAC1 than its

obvious function. Notice the volume

control on the front panel? It

can be disabled, and we

had disabled it in our

original session. Now

notice the two headphone

jacks? Yes, the DAC1 is

also a headphone ampli-

fier, a function which, you

might say, is thrown in for free…as if the

DAC1 weren’t enough of a bargain in the

first place!

Because we know that the DAC1,

plus our CEC TL51X transport, is a

highly credible source, we used that

combination for the listening sessions.

That way the source would always be the

same. We would listen to the Benchmark

itself first, and return to it last for a final

comparison (since we have no reference

headphone amp). To try the other two

amplifiers, we would disable the DAC1’s

volume control (by flicking a switch on

the rear panel), and run a pair of our

reference interconnect cables from the

DAC1 output to the input of the test

amplifier.

We began the session with the

Margie Gibson song we had used in

the headphone evaluation. It really did

sound…

Oh well…back to Latin!

Irit at. Exer accumsan euis alit eui

exero er iuscilis do er inis num volore

dunt adipissent elenis nulla faccum

doloreet iuscipit lan ut dunt voloborer

inim dolore ming eniam iustio od dolent

volore dit, vullam, sim dolum aliquis

am dolorem do et laore tet num quis

am quat ad eugiamcommy nosto odit

ullum augait wissendit wismodolenit ilit

wismolor sustisc iniscil iquisi tem ing

erit ad tatum eum dolorpero delenim

dolenisis eli-

quam, sit vero exer sequam am

vulla adip elenisse faciliquisi.

Riusto odiatet nos dolorperci ero

odolesectem am vent autat utpat, conul-

lan henim dolor suscipit volore molorper

sed mod tat non eliquisi bla alit, sisi

blandrem ing euip et, quat, vel in eum

ex ea consequat exerit ver iureet wisi

tin vel doluptatum volobore duip el

eugait alit ullandigniam aliquisisl illam

veraesequi tie conse dionum delis ea

aliquat ero odo esequis nonse dolenis-

sissi tat. Dui blamconsent adiam do

doluptatuer il dolorer cincing essequisl

incidunt prat vel dolorpe rcillamet lore

te velessis augiamet, quismolum venibh

eugiam iniat, volore magnibh eum exerit

verciniatio od tat, vullaore commy

nismodolore minciduisim in ea facipit

ad tet nummodo odio conse dolor ilit

lumsan eu feugiam nonsed modip ea

facilla commodo con et landignim venim

am euisit niamcon sequisl ulla feummy

nim dolorer in veraessi.

Cidunt euis er ipisisse-

quis augue

do er ipsusto

o d m o d

minim dolor

ilis nulputat.

Q u i

exer su m i n

velesto odipit lorem

vel ip et aliquat. Ut nisl

dolorer iusciduipsum quis

nullaor ipsustrud ea cortie

magna feum acipisit loreet alit

nostrud eum zzriurer suscidunt

luptat inim et volore dipit dit wis

num aliquis dolore moloborem volor ing

eum eu facilit inci eugueri liquat nis ad te

eugiam volore dolore delesto dolestrud

molor sisim nit lobor sequam, conseniam

verci ea alit nisim nullam inci blan henim

zzrit lortie tionse tie dolenit num in velit

alit lut praesenibh exer iriurem digna

feugait adipit autem adignit iureet in

heniam, sis amconsed magnissisit am

dit aut velis ad dipsumm odipsuscipis

augait, sent doleniat ut venim dolessecte

do doluptat. Ut acipit amet wismolore

dolore esto commy nim nisisl ut eum

acillaor se facipis senisl ulluptatie diam

ipisisim zzrit wisis autpatie el ute con-

secte tismolobore ea con utet amconse

voleseniat, quipis ad min verostrud tion

henit wisl ut laore do ea feum zzriureros

auguerci blan velenisl ea faciliqui euisi.

Laore velenim nim velenim nisl il in

henis el euismod ipsusciduis nonullut lan

vullamcommy nosto dio eugiamet ipisi.

Duisl ut am aliscin.

Brand/model: Benchmark DAC1

Price: US$975

Size (WDH): 20.5 x 21 x 4.5 cm

Most liked: Volore dipit dit wis num

aliquis dolore

Least liked: Ut nisl dolorer iuscidu-

ipsum

Verdict: Dolor suscipit volore

molorper sed mod tat

Summing it up…

Headphone Ampliers

Benchmark DAC1

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 39

Feedback

Listening Room

This headphone amp is from the

same German company that

makes the phono preamp

o f n e a r l y

the same name. It

is, as you will have

observed, neither

black nor a cube, but

oh well. The power

supply is built in, and so

it has a standard IEC cord.

The two sets of phono jacks

(the second set is an output, so

that the Lehmann can actually be

used as a simple preamp) are reasonable,

and were a tight fit with our reference

interconnects.

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at iurem ing ex el exeratuercin el in

utetumsandit at. Lore dipsumsandit

in veliqui blandipsum diam zzriure

venim zzrit wismolor ipsumsa ndiam,

quat. Ulputatue min el ullaor iusting

ea feugiam dolessisi tat. Duipit velisi ex

eumsan ullam, corem vullum vullam,

velit, sit nisit autat vel dunt adionulla

consequam nulla feugue magnisc iduipit

at. Na alis nostrud tat. It prat. Ut lut ad

euguerate faccumsan volumsan hent

auguerilit in henim er in henibh eugait

nis nim zzriusc iduisit ad

et nonsequat, quat lan

henisl doloreet in

eu facipsum

quat, quat do

doleniscil il erit

iriuscil il exerosto dolenit augait vel

ullam quam zzrilit, sim inisi.

Magna acillutpatet dunt la faccum

eu faccum adiametum ilit praesed ent

lutpat. Tisit, commy nonsend reetum

iusto exeros at. Duis nonse velit prat.

Ut adigna faccumm odolore faccum

vel in eugue esequam zzrit ilit, conse

eugiam am il utpat. Ut vercipit, core

tatuero commodo loborper am il ut

la faccum irit vulputet vulla feui blam

dolobortis am alisi.

Re tem dolor sumsandre mod tem ing

er sequamconsed diat autet, consenim vel

dolorem volorem do eugait adip ea feu-

gueriure feugait augait ulla faccum ex el

ullum nulland rerostrud tatue estrud

miniamc onsequa mconulla

alit nos dipit nulla facil

ut alit prat lum iriustis

erciliquisl iriure dolore

mod min henit prat ate

magna conulla aut alisl

dolor sum velit nulput-

pat. Duis at, qui tio do

esequat ip el iustrud et ut

amconullum exerosto enisis

exerit wis dit ad del doloreril ullandr

eriure modolorperci tie dolutet autat

wisl eugiam dipsustrud et lutat ut ing et

velesequamet volorper sit praesequisi.

Ut prat wissi. Del dunt am adit

dolobor eetuerilisit luptat lut venim

numsandipsum digna.

If the Lehmann amplifier had

seemed expensive, what to think

of this one? In fact it is only a little

more expensive than the Lehmann,

and that would be fine…if its perfor-

mance turned out to be substantially

superior.

And the CEC is rather more versa-

tile than most headphone amps. On its

picture on page 42, you can make out

the output binding posts at the rear.

Why would a headphone amp need

binding posts? It’s because this is also

an amplifier of not insubstantial power

(10 watts into 4 ohms according to the

specs, which we didn’t confirm), and it

is actually possible to connect speakers

to it. More on this shortly.

This is an all-in-one amp, with

the power supply in the quite heavy

aluminum case, and with the usual IEC

plug for the cord of your choice. The

phono input jacks are — as on the CEC

integrated amplifier reviewed in our last

issue — not inspiring. On the other hand

there are also XLR balanced jacks if you

have the appropriate source.

A small rear panel switch adjusts the

amplifier’s gain so that you can have a

good range of volume. In our setup (we

were, you’ll recall, running it from the

output of the Benchmark converter)

we needed to select the +6 dB position

in order to avoid running the volume

control nearly all the way up. We could

hear a bit of hiss with that setting, but it

was so slight that it was inaudible with

even the softest musical passage.

But the front panel is where the inter-

esting stuff lies. There are two volume

controls, and at first we thought they

controlled the left and right channels

respectively. Not so. The HD53 actually

has two independent headphone ampli-

fier sections. It’s perfect for couples.

Each of you gets a headphone jack

(actually two headphone jacks, one for a

full-sized phone plug and the other for

a miniplug), and an independent volume

control. Compare that to what you get

with most headphone amplifiers, and it’s

clear that you’re getting something extra

for your money.

At least if the performance is ade-

quate, you are.

We began with Margie Gibson’s song

The Best Thing For You, and we were

pretty sure we had a winner. Gibson’s

voice was clearer than with either of the

other two amplifiers, but without even

a hint of strain. Her “S” sounds were

Lehmann Black Cube Linear

The CEC HD53-R

40 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

CONNOISSEUR SINGLE-ENDED AMP

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CABLES

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THE UHF CLASSIFIEDS

Run your own ad in the print issue, and on our World Wide Web site for two months

NON-COMMERCIAL: $12 per slice of 40 words or less. COMMERCIAL: $24 per slice of 40 words or less.

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are kept so low, we cannot engage in correspondence concerning ads. Fee must be paid a second time if a correction is required, unless the fault is ours.

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PHONE: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383. E-MAIL: uhfmail@uhfmag.com

Coming up in issue No. 77 of

The Bryston 2B-SST amplifier…does it measure up to the legendary 2BLP?

The Simaudio Moon P-8 preamp…is it in the league of the W-8 power amp?

The Harmonix DAC…can you get $15,000 sound for a third the price?

Can you make your own high resolution recordings at home?

Lehmann Black Cube Linear

Feedback

Listening Room

natural, prov-

ing once again

that the sibilant

artifacts we often

hear are the result

of problems in the

playback, not the origi-

nal recording.

But it’s not even the voice

that strikes you first. Rather

it’s the perfect balance of voice,

piano, cello, bass and percussion. We

all asked for a second listen, and then

we noticed the other virtues: a drum kit

that was clearer and much more natural,

and details of diction we are not used to

hearing quite so clearly. Gibson’s presence

was notable too.

We continued with Eric Bibbs’

Gospel Blues piece, Needed Time. It

opens with a soft and subtle duet

between Bibbs’ own guitar and Göran

Wennerbrandt’s bottleneck, and it was

well night on perfect. The balance

between the actual sound of the guitar

strings and the resonance of the instru-

ment bodies was just right.

As for Bibbs’ voice, it was pretty

well nailed by the CEC as well. It was

very clear, putting the lyrics in

evidence, full of life and expression, but

without at any point overemphasizing

any aspect of it. “He’s just there,” said

Albert, “and there’s a lot of space

all around him.”

We ended with the

Stölzel piece sung by

Karina Gauvin, and

once again we were

delighted. She sang

with lots of power,

and indeed we all

reached for the volume

knob to turn her down a little, though

only because this CD is recorded louder

than most. Gauvin’s voice remained

smooth and effortless even when she

rose in both pitch and volume. The

harpsichord was clear, but a little way

back, as it should be. Albert, it must be

said, thought this recording sounded

superb with all three amplifiers.

With the session over, we hooked up

our Living Voice speakers to the output

binding posts. They’re the same horrible

posts as on the CEC integrated amp,

unfortunately. The sound was clear,

without artifacts that made us cringe, but

we would consider this a stopgap bonus,

not something you would plan on using

for the rest of your life.

The clear winner here, I think, is…

Acilis at. Is nim ad tie magna conulla-

met veros ad tet vulputat ad tate do dit, sed

mod dolobore dignim velit praesectem eles-

tis num zzril dui ex euguer aliqui blandignis

enim ing et, sum diamcommod tem aliqui

blandiamet praestrud magna consectet lor

si blaore eu faci bla core diatie facidunt ius-

cipit wisi.

Vulla faccums andionulla faccum zzril

dolorpero cortie modolore euguerostrud

modignim accumsan hendreet ute modig-

na facilla adigna feu facil dolore euguerilit

aciduissisi.

Accum diam et augiam, quat.

Verat ipit landre cor si.

Um niscin ullan ute feugait lortionsed

exerostio odolortisim quis acipissi.

Im ing eliquam consequis digna faci

blam, si.

Liquam zzrit luptatummy nulputpat

velenibh esecte te vullut nosto essi.

Tet, corerit ad tat alismod te delit del-

isl dolor sequipis augait ip erci enim vero

odigna consendre magna commodipit utpat

ulla conum in euisiscin hent init nulputpat,

velis acilit lum velendionum ero erat la am,

quamconsecte te dit, secte facilla feuguer

iliquatue magna adio core diam zzriustrud

mincipsum volor irit nonulputpate tat.

Accum vulput nisi. Lut ad tatet nim dip

eugueri uscidui smodip ex eum zzriusc ilis-

cidunt ver sequat. Eniat landipsusci blaor

inim veliquisl ullaor si.

Put alit ver secte volor sed te te consen-

dre tin ver sim zzriusci te tin veraessi.

Equate doluptat. Duipit ullam vero od

dolor sit dolobor adipsum vel ipsuscilit at

adipsum aute tissis am nulla con volobor

eetumsandre do dolore dolor augait prat.

Mincilisl duisl ea ad dolor at adipis dolorem

nonsenim alit nostrud del dionum ing et, vel

init adigna corerostrud tat, commodo lese-

quat, qui tat, sequisc ilismod olobore vel in

veliquismod etue commodiam vel ip et non

vent lorem augait ex et wis nis acipit lan ut

dolobore faccumsandip ent iuscing enibh ex

essit velit, consed moloborero cortis non-

send rercil iriuscil utpat. Duismodolum del

ip exer suscincipit ing ex et, si.

El dolum quam, vulputet iureet prate

eu feu facinim alit auguercipit veliqua mco-

nulputpat vulput dolenim amcommo dip-

susc ipissequate minit eugiamc onsequam,

core eugait amet utpatummy nulputat. Um

illutat dolum quissequis alit, sum dunt alit

dolore deliquis augiatu mmodoluptat. San

el utpatum dui bla aliquamet ex ero odipis

augait nim doloborerci blamet, sit nullan-

dre dolore feugue tem duisis dolorer sequi

tatue mincin vullan velent lore min et prat.

Ommodo conum ipit dionullam zzrilla

faccum nis accum zzrit aliquamet adio odo-

lore dolobore modigna aliquis sequat. Tisl

inciliquam vullan henibh eu faccummy nul-

lan etum in essequat, quat autpat ullam nit

aciliqu atisit, veraese ndignibh et aliquat wis

alismolore vercidunt vent wissi tinciduiscin

vel ullaorperit nosto con eui blam quisse

venim in hendiam et ad tat voluptat.

Ut aliquis doluptat augait lum volesti

ssisi.

Bore volor ilit iureet lore facip eugue

min ex eum velit lorerostie venim zzril duip

enis duisi.

Ro odolore tem nis niam zzrit iriustie

facin volor ilit ad dolor ip ea feu feuguer sim

delit atue diam ent landre.

CROSSTALK

Brand/model: CEC HD53-R

Price: C$990/US$790

Size (WDH): 22 x 26 x 6 cm

Most liked: Fine performance, two

independent sections

Least liked: Crapola output binding

posts

Verdict: Worthy of the best phones

you can afford

Summing it up…

42 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

EACH ISSUE costs $6.49 (in Canada) plus tax (15.03% in Québec, 15% in NB, NS and NF, 7% in other Provinces), US$6.49 in the USA, CAN$10.75 elsewhere (air mail

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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.75: Amplifiers: The new Simaudio Moon W-8

flagship, and integrated amps from Copland (the

CTA-405) and CEC. Speakers: the Reference 3a

Veena and the Energy Reference Connoisseur

reborn. Plus the Benchmark DAC converter. And

also: Bergman on the changing concept of hi-fi

and stereo, a chat with FIM’s Winston Ma, and

the rediscovery of a great Baroque composer,

Christoph Graupner.

No.74: Lots of amplifiers: The Mimetism 15.2,

Qinpu A-8000, Raysonic SP-100, Cyrus 8vs

and Rogue Stereo 90. More reviews: Atlantis

Argentera speaker, Cyrus CD8X player, GutWire

MaxCon Squared line filter, Harmonic remote,

Music Studio 10 recording software. Cables:

Atlas, Stager, BIS and DNM, including a look

at how length affects digital cables. Plus: the

(high fidelity) digital jukebox, why HDTV doesn’t

always mean what you think, and Reine Lessard

on The Man Who Invented Rock’n’Roll.

No.73: Integrated amplifiers: The superla-

tive Audiomat Récital and the affordable but

musical Exposure 2010S. Analog: Turntables

from Roksan (the Radius 5) and Goldring (the

Rega-designed GR2), plus two cartridges, and

four phono stages from CEC, Marchand and

Goldring. More reviews: The Harmonix Reimyo

CD player, the Audiomat Maestro DAC, the

ASW Genius 400 speakers, and the Sonneteer

BardOne wireless system. Plus: Paul Bergman

on the making of an LP and why they don’t all

sound the same, the many ways of compressing

video so it looks (almost) like film, news from

Montreal 2005, and the story of the accordion.

No.72: Music from data: We look at ways you

can make your own audiophile CDs with equip-

ment you already have, and we test a DAC that

yields hi-fi from your computer. We review the

new Audio Reference speakers, the updated

Connoisseur single-ended tube amp, upscale

Actinote cables, and Gershman’s Acoustic Art

panels. How to tune up your system for an inex-

pensive performance boost. And much more.

No.71: Three small speaker: Reference 3a

Dulcet, Totem Rainmaker, and a very low cost but

surprising speaker from France. We do a com-

plex blind cable test: five cables from Atlas, and

one Wireworld cable with different connectors

(Eichmann, WBT nextgen, and Wireworld). The

McCormack UDP-1 universal player, muRata

super tweeters, the Simaudio I-3 amp and

Equinox CD player. Paul Bergman reveals the

philosophical differences behind two-channel

stereo and multichannel.

No.70: How SACD won the war…or how DVD-A

blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal

player and Shanling SCD-T200 player. Speakers:

Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso, Equation 25,

Wilson Benesch Curve, 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 inte-

grated 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 music-

related computer game that had us laughing out

loud. Paul Bergman on the return of the vacuum

tube, and how music critics did their best to kill

the world’s greatest music.

No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus

Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur

I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated ampli-

fiers, 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 intercon-

nects (Harmonic Technology Eichmann),

5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabriel, vdH ,

Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power

cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology,

Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on

soundproofing, how to compare components

in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away

from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.

No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I-4, Musical Fidelity

Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab MG-S11DT.

Passive preamps 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.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge

Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport. Speakers:

Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-9. Soundcare

Superspikes. And: new surround formats, dezon-

ing 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 cur-

rent…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 repro-

ducing 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 recommend

to friends, ATI 1505 5-channel amp, Bergman on

impedance, why connectors matter, making your

own power bars.

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.49: Power amps: Simaudio Moon, Bryston

3B ST, N.E.W. DCA-33, plus the Alchemist

Forseti amp and preamp, and 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. Yves-

Bernard 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.44: Digital: Rotel RCD970BX, Counterpoint

DA-10A DAC. Speakers: Apogee Ribbon Monitor,

Totem Mite, more on the Gershman Avant Garde.

Also: Laser-Link cable, “The Solution” CD treat-

ment, 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 ESL-63

with Gradient sub. Plus: Keith O. Johnson on 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.

No.40: Integrated amps: YBA Intégré, Rotel 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 the truth about Pro

Logic.

No.36: SOLD OUT

No.35: Speakers: Castle Chester, Mirage M-7si,

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.

To see a list of older issues:

http://www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html

Back Issues

Feedback

Listening Room

In UHF No. 75 we explained how to

use Apple’s iTunes program (free

for Windows and Mac OS X) to

get instant access to a vast music

library. What was not evident was how

to listen without taking a huge perfor-

mance hit. A very few computers have

digital outputs, usually optical. But

your computer and your music system

are probably not adjacent. How do you

get a pristine digital signal from here

to there?

The most tempting way would be to

somehow get it out of an iPod. Unlike

most portable players, the iPod can carry

music around in either uncompressed

mode or lossless compression (more on

that in a moment), or no compression

at all. And the larger iPods, like the

official UHF iPod on the next page, have

the capacity for it. At first we thought

it would be a piece of cake to get the

digital signal from the iPod and into

an audiophile-grade converter. Wrong.

Converters expect to see digital data in

S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface

Format), and that’s not what the iPod

supplies. Nonetheless we believe it can be

done, and we are pursuing our research.

So how do you get a good digital

signal over to your stereo system?

There are several ways, though we

think the little machine shown above is

the best we’ve seen: the Squeezebox 3,

from Slim Devices. This device is so well

thought out and does so much, that it is

difficult to believe it can be sold at such

a low price (US$299). Before we actually

get into setting it up, let’s look at what it

is and what it does.

The Squeezebox is a music controller

for your computer, except that it doesn’t

have to be connected physically to your

computer. If you have a wireless (Wi-

Fi) home network, as more and more

computer users do, it hooks on to that.

It can also connect by Ethernet, and

indeed there is an Ethernet-only version

available for $50 less. If you use a jukebox

program such as iTunes, the Squeezebox

can control it too. That means you can

use its remote to select any piece of

music that is in iTunes and call it up. If

you don’t use iTunes (as you can’t if your

computer runs Linux or Unix), Slim

Devices’ own software lets you do much

the same. The bright, large fluorescent

display shows you what’s on.

The rear of the device has a plethora of

connectors. You can plug in headphones,

or interconnects to your amplifier (there

is a built-in Burr-Brown DAC), or you

can use a coaxial or toslink digital cable

to put the digital signal right into your

own DAC, or into your one-box player’s

digital input. Enough for you?

But wait, as they say on late-night TV

infomercials, there’s more! You can set up

several Squeezeboxes, and they can be

playing different selections at the same

time, at least if your network has enough

bandwidth. If you get tired of the music

you own, you can also listen to Internet

radio, and you can set up the screen to

scroll through news headlines, stock

prices, or weather forecasts.

We do actually have a large collec-

tion of music on a hard disc, which is

there to feed our iPod (see The [High

Fidelity] Digital Jukebox in UHF No. 74).

Nearly all of it was compressed in Apple

Lossless, which as its name suggests

can compress music without doing irre-

versible damage. The Squeezebox also

handles the free lossless codec FLAC,

plus AAC, MP3, WMA (on Windows),

and lots more. What it can’t do is stream

protected music, such as that from

Apple’s iTunes store. Compressed music

from current stores is of little interest to

serious music listeners, however, and we

don’t consider that a dealbreaker.

Setting up the Squeezebox to con-

nect to our network was aided by clear

on-screen instructions. Once connected

it “saw” our massive iTunes collection

and gave us full access to it. From the

operational point of view, the Squeeze-

box is a wonder, marred only by a serious

security problem, which we will get to

shortly.

But we are audiophiles, and what we

really wanted to find out was whether

what the Squeezebox provides is some-

thing we would want to listen to. We set

it up in our Alpha system, with its digital

output (we tried both coaxial and optical)

feeding our Counterpoint DA-10A con-

verter. Our first observation: HDCD-

encoded recordings stored with Apple

Lossless compression maintain their

encoding. That much was interesting,

and since the code is found in the dith-

ering, it also means that very low-level

digital information is preserved through

encoding, decoding and transmission.

The proof of the pudding

A lot of our favorite test recordings

are already on hard disc, and that made

comparisons easy. We selected some CDs

High end Sound

From Your Computer?

Meet digital audio’s

missing link, the

Squeezebox

44 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

we know well, and listened to them on

our two-box player: a CEC belt-driven

transport and our Counterpoint DAC.

We then connected the Squeezebox

to the DAC using the same coaxial

digital cable (an Atlas Opus, in

a 1.5 m length). Listening was

done through our Alpha system,

two floors above the location of

the Macintosh G5 that holds the

music collection.

We began with an old favorite,

Now the Green Blade Riseth (Proprius

PRCD9093). As we have noted countless

times, this beautifully-recorded choral

disc can embarass the designers of some

surprisingly expensive systems.

This article could turn out to be be

one of the most important we have ever

published, and we can pretty much guar-

antee that it is different from supposedly

similar reviews, mostly uncritical, found

in other publications. We think you’ll

want to get the full version.

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 45

Feedback

Listening Room

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What about HDCD?

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“Lossless” compression?

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sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt

lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute

feugiat. Lorem eum iurer

iure tatue modigna feugait

eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu

feui eu facipsusto ea fac-

cums andignis dit illaore do

odit ilis dipit do euis eui te

feugait niamcom modolor

perilluptat. To commy nim

iustio duipis num nostrud

magna facip euis exerosto

dolor sequipit augait lor se

commodo lobore dolore

conse conumsandit aliquisci

46 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

tet lore tio eugait ad magnit

utpat la feum nisl exercil luta-

tio consed tatem zzrilit aliq-

uam quat utpat wisit praestie

feuisim num do od exer augait

duisse et lumsan etuercilisit

nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat

verostio et wisi tetueros nos

autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip

esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu

feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi.

Commod dolestrud te te euis alis

niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili

quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con

ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam,

quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem

nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit

luptat.

Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum

vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-

modolore commy num veniam dolut

wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim

dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut

wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos

nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit

ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis adip-

issecte do eu feugait praessit ute veniamc

onulla feugueril et lore min essenis nos

et amet lore molobor percipit in eniam,

vulla coreet, venim eugiate dolore dion-

seniam nulla conse dip ex exerat, sequat

nosto do euisciliqui etum delit nos nonse

tem iriureet, secte dolor sum zzriustrud

tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore modo

conse modolortio et nos nit utem zzrit

irit pratueros dolorem diat, quipit non-

sequate magna facip exer summodion

vullaore duis euismod ignibh esting

et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis

aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit

lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis

am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla

adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu feu

facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi.

The dark side of the Squeezebox

Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-

sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor

iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.

Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna

feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui

eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit

illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te

feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat.

To commy nim iustio duipis num nos-

trud magna facip euis exerosto dolor

sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore

dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet

lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum

nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit

aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim

num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan

etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon

utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat

lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto

delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu

feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi.

Commod dolestrud te te euis alis

niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili

quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con

ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam,

quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem

nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit

luptat.

Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum

vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-

modolore commy num veniam dolut

wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim

dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut

wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos

nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit

ad doluptat.

On the test bench

Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-

sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor

iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.

Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna

feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui

eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit

illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te

feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat.

To commy nim iustio duipis num nos-

trud magna facip euis exerosto dolor

sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore

dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet

lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum

nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit

aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim

num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan

etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon

utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat

lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto

delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu

feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi.

Commod dolestrud te te euis alis

niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili

quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con

ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam,

quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem

nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit

luptat.

Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum

vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-

modolore commy num veniam dolut

wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim

dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut

wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos

nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit

ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis adip-

issecte do eu feugait praessit ute veniamc

onulla feugueril et lore min essenis nos

et amet lore molobor percipit in eniam,

vulla coreet, venim eugiate dolore dion-

seniam nulla conse dip ex exerat, sequat

nosto do euisciliqui etum delit nos nonse

tem iriureet, secte dolor sum zzriustrud

tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore modo

conse modolortio et nos nit utem zzrit

irit pratueros dolorem diat, quipit non-

sequate magna facip exer summodion

vullaore duis euismod ignibh esting

et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis

aliquam eum doloborer sed tionsenit

lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis

am euipsum molobore cor at. Duiscilla

adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu feu

facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi.

Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore

consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci

bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit,

Brand/model: Squeezebox 3

Price: US$299

Dimensions (WHD): 19 x 9 x 7,7 cm

Most liked: Well thought out, good

performance, huge potential

Least liked: Serious security hole (see

text)

Verdict: Stop the presses: music on a

computer is not the devil’s spawn

Summing it up…

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 47

Feedback

Listening Room

Listening Room

velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese

duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et

nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie

verosting.

Alternatives

The cheapest we know of is from

Apple. The Airport Express looks like

the little power supply that comes with

Apple laptops, and contains a Wi-Fi

transmitter that will hook up to your

local network, or directly to your com-

puter if it has a Wi-Fi card.

Since it has no display, you configure

it from your computer. You can then get

analog audio from it via a mini phone

plug, or you can get digital audio into

your own DAC with an optical cable. It

plays what the computer sends it, since

it has no controls of its own. The box

has an Ethernet connector for printer

sharing or setting up an ad hoc network.

It costs US$129, or C$159.

The Roku Soundbridge M1000 has a

feature set closer to that of the Squeeze-

box, and costs $100 less. The M500, with

a smaller, nearly unreadable, display is

even cheaper. It won’t run Apple Lossless

tracks unless (ironically) you download

Slim Devices’ software. The picture

shows an “M2000,” which appears to be

vaporware.

We attempted to get a Soundbridge

for review, without success. Roku’s listed

Canadian distributor shows startlingly

high prices, and e-mails to its site bounce

back. Roku told us it would “look into

it,” but that was nearly a year ago. In the

meantime we have had a reader report

that the Soundbridge’s optical output

is poor. Since Roku will not or cannot

supply a unit for review, we pretty much

have to leave it at that.

Conclusions

We have no plans to sell our rather

expensive CD (and SACD) players and

shove everything into the computer. Nor

will we stop reviewing (and recommend-

ing) standalone music sources, both digi-

tal and analog. It is, however, possible to

get real high fidelity from a computer if

you know what you’re doing.

And it’s probable that better devices

yet (the Squeezebox 4, perhaps) will yield

even higher fidelity. It’s important to

understand that the digital signal from

your original CD remains digital right

through the entire process, and finally

enters the analog domain only at your

stereo system. The acrobatics that your

computer, your Wi-Fi router and the

Squeezebox put it through are as noth-

ing compared to the manipulations that

go into the actual manufacture of the

Compact Disc itself. Even so, there’s a

better than even chance that the disc was

mastered on a computer not unlike the

one you own.

We’ve been told, by the way, that we

can obtain much better sound from the

Squeezebox by replacing the tiny power

brick that comes with it. Expect us to

take the hint.

Piscin hent ilis delit erci te delit lobor sis

ex ex el eugue dignim in velenibh eugiam

inisciduis exerit, secte commy nosto conulla

facincin hent wismodit adit nulla feu faci

eriusto odiat prat utpat.

Estin vel in veliqua tincil dolore eugait,

vulla facing et ulla corperostrud eum qui

blamcorper sustrud ea acillandipit lam, vel

eugiat.

Iriusto consenim volobor ercilisim

ilisi exer sum dolore min utatetumsan ut

adiatet at prate ming et nonse modolorperos

nulputatue dolute feu feui blaorpe rcilla

feum irillam, qui enim iriureet etue dipsusc

ilissequis nim vulputem zzrit nisim num

velit prat et, commodi psumsan diamconse

con eugait nosto od tet vero con utatuerat

dunt adipsusci ex esequatue ming et lortie et,

quam iriure tatinci er adio conse te tat, qui

erit alit velit ipisi tat numsan vel ut ercidunt la

commodiamet, velit lobor iriureet init at.

Te vel ullaoreet augueraessim dolore

endit praestrud dolenim in utpat. Ut ing

exeratue elesequipis auguerit nulput am

quam quismol orpero delit inciliq uamet,

sisl in utat la conse magna faccum augiamc

onsent vel doluptat. Onsequipsum vel dolenis

amcoreet am veliquat velisi bla facilisit nul-

luptate consed et er alit accum nonummy

nisl eugait acillum vel ea cor suscin et autet

praesequat. Odignim et adionse do dio

conullam zzrit augiat nullum delit luptatet,

si.

Faccum zzrilit alissen iamcorperat lortion

sequat praesti ncilit iriliquis niamcorperos

eliqui ese tis ex ea adignim deleseq uiscillam

quat velit dio dolummy nullamconsed et

utpat. Ut prat ver sum zzriuscilit, conse vel

esecte verat. Ut dolore dionsequat, quipsum-

san ut volorer alit lore dolor sit la feugiam

del eliquis nulla corperillam et nullamet adio

commolore con ea consequiscip et, quis atem

dolore consed tat, verit, conse magnis adio

do commy nit accumsan utpat irit ullandi

onsequat, susci blamet, quating esto delent

nulputpat iriuscilis eu feum ipisi.

Ortie consequis ex endions equisci liquat,

conum dolor autet, quis ad exerillummy nulla

feugait vel inim acin utet dolorpero dolore

tat. Feu feugiat non henis nosto odoloboreet

lor ilit prat nosto eugiam irilit utet loreetum

ilis aut praestie volobor perat, quam, conum

dolor si.

Guercip ent venit nulla consequissi te

eraestrud tat ver sum zzrillam irit pratum

quis aut nonsent at.

Tum illutpat ate min veraestrud tisi.

Nis num dipis duisciduipis nonsectem

dionulpute magnim ilit amconse dunt

praesenit verosto od erilit velit volortisi bla

core min henit, si er irit wisisit el dio euguer

am venim zzriliq uipsusci tat. Mincil estisi

blamet essed tie tat.

Ed ting exer in velendio dio commy niam

eu feummod tie dolobore vel dit aut num

dolutat. Ibh eratue tem velis.

CROSSTALK

48 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Listening Room

It struck us when we were packing

up to go to Vegas for CES and

T.H.E.Show: each year we need

more and more chargers to go

anywhere.

Not all of our chargers are related

to audio, to be sure, though some of

them are. Two of us went along to

cover the shows (see Vegas 2006 in UHF

No. 75), and we actually brought along

no fewer than seven chargers! Count

’em: an iPod, a Palm Life Drive (which

is a video players among other things),

a Palm Tungsten T, an Apple iBook, a

Pentax Optio digital camera, and two

telephones (Siemens and Motorola).

We wondered what all those boxes and

wires would look like on an airport X-ray

screen!

Which is why the iGo Everywhere

Dual Power 130, shown above, grabbed

our attention. It promised to replace all

of our chargers except the one for the

camera (the Optio battery unfortunately,

can’t be recharged in the camera). It

comes in two parts. The larger box can

charge laptop computers. The smaller

add-on box, which is an option but is

included in the package we got, can

charge the iPod, phones and other small

products. Your main problem will be

rounding up the adapters for everything

you own, but with the company’s help we

got ’em all, even the one for a Motorola

P280 phone, which took a little longer.

There’s one down side: the iGo can

recharge all six devices, but not all at

once. On the plus side, you can travel

worldwide with it, because it adjusts itself

to whatever voltage is in the wall.

Each device of course requires its own

adapter tips, and in our case that meant

six adapters. The vinyl iGo carrying

pouch has a pocket for adapters, but good

luck figuring out that “A20” is what you

need for a Motorola phone. We picked

up one of those dollar store giant pill

boxes, with seven compartments for the

days of the week, and relabelled them.

Do you need one?

Not everyone travels with as many

devices as we do. Six chargers is a lot,

whereas three or four may be a bearable

number.

And six devices may not mean six

chargers. If one of the devices you carry

is a laptop computer (you’re unlikely

to buy the iGo otherwise), it’s possible

that other devices can be recharged by

simply plugging them into the laptop’s

USB connector. That’s true of the iPod,

and it’s also true of the Palm Tungsten

handheld (though not of the Life Drive).

Indeed, the Palm and iPod travel char-

gers are substantially identical: plug-in

cubes with USB jacks.

And the iGo Everywhere may not

make your luggage lighter. We weighed

all six chargers we wanted to replace and

came up with a total of 762 grams. The

weight of the iGo with its cords, except

the optional car cord? It was 738 g, and

that didn’t include the six adapter tips.

But weight isn’t everything. If we had

measured the kilometers of tangled cord

on each of our adapters, it would have

put the iGo way ahead. What’s more,

rounding up our six chargers means get-

ting down on hands and knees to unplug

them, and the danger of forgetting a

charger for a critical device is very real.

What it costs

As we went to press we didn’t have

official list prices, so we relied on iGo’s

on-line store (www.igo.com), and in

Canada, the catalog for The Source.

The unit we have seems to sell for

US$150/C$190, with adapter tips going

for US$10/C$12. Considering the going

price for just a charger for a modern

laptop, that’s not bad. And street prices

may be well below that.

An alternative?

At the same time we saw the iGo, we

also looked at an interesting universal

charger from a company called MFuel.

It’s called the Universal Power Bank,

and there was a picture of it in our Vegas

report in UHF No. 75.

The MFuel device can also charge

everything you’ve got, but it can do

more. It has its own rechargeable battery,

and it can power those devices, to give

you extra usage far from a power source.

We asked for a review sample and got no

reply. Since Vegas, its price rose from

US$300 to $400.

Our guess, however, is that it weighs

a lot more than 738 grams!

Power On the Go

And how many power

chargers do you

travel with?

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 49

Feedback

Cinema

As we write this (and probably

as you read this), the format

battle for the next silver audio/

video disc is still on. Yes, it will

affect audio as well as video.

Let’s recapitulate.

On one side are

Toshiba, NEC, and —

perhaps more impor-

tant — the DVD Forum,

the consortium that set

the standard for the existing

DVD. Their project is HD

DVD, the “HD” of course

standing for “high definition.”

It is read with a blue laser, which

has a shorter wavelength than the red

laser used in existing DVD and CD

players. In other respects the disc itself is

similar to the existing DVD, and can be

produced in existing plants (though pre-

sumably with a lower yield of flaw-free

discs). The advantages of this DVD-like

format are obvious. The discs will be

cheaper to produce and the saving can

be passed on to consumers (hey, we’re

just reporting the official line). And the

system can be brought to market faster.

Target launch: Fall of 2005.

Wait a minute…2005?

In fact Toshiba’s first HD DVD

player, the HD-XA1 (shown at lower

right), was launched on March 31, 2006,

and only in Japan. Its eventual US

price was listed as $799 (the HD-A1,

announced earlier, which was supposed

to be cheaper, was not mentioned). The

price is mostly theoretical, since at

launch time there was not a single film

available in the format. So much for

coming to market faster. It did, however,

beat its competitor to market.

The competitor is Blu-Ray, backed

by Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic),

but not the DVD Forum. The Blu-Ray

disc also uses a blue laser, as its name

implies, but its structure is different.

The polycarbonate layer covering data

side of the disc is ten times thinner than

that of the DVD, allowing a better view

and therefore more data density. Making

Blu-Ray discs will require retooling

factories, but that is of course only a

transitional drawback.

As in a shooting

war, the two camps have scrambled

to gather allies. Toshiba has powerful

partners, such as Microsoft and Intel,

and more importantly Hollywood

studios: Warner, Universal and Disney.

The Blu-Ray camp has the support of

Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple, as

well as Sony Pictures (of course), MGM

(which belongs to Sony) and 20th Cen-

tury Fox.

The first Blu-Ray player was due

for launch about now too, and one was

shown by Samsung at the Montreal show

in late March, but it has been…(surprise!)

delayed (to May 23rd, but keep your eyes

open for more news). If and when they

are released, Blu-Ray players will be

about double the price of the Toshiba

player. Take those prices with a grain of

salt, however, because with no available

software neither player will be available

for sale in any store.

Movie studio support

On the face of it, having the studios

on side is vital, because only they can

supply software. But if it’s possible for

the studios to help, it’s just as possible

that they can choose to stop the devel-

opment of tomorrow’s discs dead in its

tracks.

The industry got badly burned with

the DVD, whose CSS encryption was

supposed to make copying impossible.

Breaking CSS turned out to be trivial,

and there are plenty of shareware

and even freeware programs

for defeating it. Hol-

lywood doesn’t want

that to happen

with a much better

resolution disc. Are

the anti-copying

systems of HD DVD and

Blu-Ray done? And will they really be

more robust? We believe they are not

finalized, and if that is true no usable

player can truly be launched.

We might add that it seems unlikely a

more robust anti-copy system can resist

reverse engineering. That’s because

anyone who makes a player needs to have

the keys. Someone is going to forget the

key on a store counter somewhere. Lest

we forget, that was how CSS first got

breached.

Come to think of it, are the studios

ready to abandon DVD’s zone system,

which prevents discs from one part of

the world from being played in another?

Of course that system was compromised

years ago, but is Hollywood ready to go

with worldwide release of a single disc?

Or is this one more thing that needs to

be straightened out before the first player

is sold to the public?

Though the studios have chosen

sides, no one is interested in making

films for a player no one buys…nor

in having productions absent from a

system that becomes popular. Beyond

the posturing, the studios are hedging

their bets. They will release films for

whichever is the winning system. And

the winner will be decided by large store

chains, not by consumers.

What about audiophiles?

Whichever system wins out, the

vast space on the disc might make it

possible to make more space for sound.

Future High-Res Discs

Cinema

50 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Cinema

That could just mean more channels

(8.1 channel surround is one of Blu-

Ray’s options), or it could also mean less

compression. Or no compression.

But here we’re talking about the

video disc. Could one of the new formats

also be tomorrow’s higher fidelity audio

discs?

Sony believes it can, and that seems

to be the reason for its lapsing interest in

its own SACD format. Of course SACD

lives on thanks to audiophile labels, but

Sony Music has its eye on something

else: Direct Stream Digital on a Blu-Ray

disc.

Sure enough, DSD, the audio format

of SACD, is one of Blu-Ray’s options.

So will the Blu-Ray disc replace SACD,

prompting audiophiles (and videophiles)

to buy yet another sort of digital player?

Not so fast!

Though Blu-Ray looks like the prob-

able winner of the battle because of its

larger capacity, the DVD Forum has its

own plans. The DVD Forum is, you may

recall, the guardian of the other super

disc, DVD-Audio. That disc was made

possible by Meridian’s MLP (Meridian

Lossless Packing) compression system.

Is MLP one of the standards for HD

DVD? Well, duh!

But who needs it?

Film lovers want a disc with the

greatest possible capacity, in order to

get the best possible picture. However

audiophiles would seem to have all they

could want already. Either DVD-A

or SACD can give you an hour and a

quarter of high resolution 5.1 channel

surround sound. Who needs a disc with

15 Gb of space? Or 30 Gb? Or more?

We can get a clue by looking at

another of the DVD Forum’s formats,

the Dual-Disc. DVD-A had been done

in by its incompatibility with other audio

players, so why not (belatedly) bring out

a hybrid disc?

SACD had gone to hybrid CD/SACD

formats by using a dual-layer disc, and

that has become the norm for Super

Audio. The DVD Forum has brought

out its own hybrid. Think of it as a

DVD-A disc and a conventional CD

glued back to back. Just put it into the

player the right way up, and you’re good

to go. Unfortunately the thicker Dual-

Disc jams in many players, and some

manufacturers warn that playing one

will void the warranty. Jamming in a car

player is all but guaranteed. However a

new format won’t have that problem.

Not surprisingly, manufacturers

mainly don’t care about the audiophile

world, and for the most part they’ve used

the Dual-Disc format for something

else: a CD on one side, and a video DVD

on the other side. Clearly, the consumer

gets more than by downloading the

music with BitTorrent or eMule.

There’s reason to expect similar

products on either Blu-Ray or HD

DVD.

By the way, hybrid video/audio

discs already exist. Some music DVDs

have both Dolby Digital (compressed)

surround sound and the option of

uncompressed PCM sound that is liter-

ally CD quality. With the extra space

on tomorrow’s discs, both picture and

sound could potentially make a great

leap forward.

Just don’t expect to find a player for

sale in a real store for a while.

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 51

The first time we ever met Vince

Bruzzese he was showing a

prototype of a very small speaker

with what seemed at the time

like an absurdly high price. We're glad to

say that we encouraged him to persevere,

and the rest is history: the tiny “overpriced”

speaker turned out to be the Totem Model

One, arguably the world’s most successful

mini-monitor.

We talked with him a lot after that,

and ran a Rendezvous feature with him

in UHF No. 43. We thought it was about

time we talked with him again.

UHF: When you look back to the beginning,

when the Totem line was just one model, does

it seem an awfully long time ago?

Bruzzese: Actually not, because we still

live with that same model, but it has been

a wonderful journey, and it still is. The

joy we got out of the Model One, we get

from most of our other models.

UHF: Has the marketing side gotten easier

as the line has grown? It must have been

difficult when you had just one model.

Bruzzese: Without a doubt. It was dif-

ficult to penetrate the market back in the

late 1980’s. Back then the big speaker

ruled, and a small speaker was out of the

ordinary. Of course the addition of other

models made the line extremely accept-

able to the mainstream market.

UHF: The Mani-2 was the speaker we all

thought would be called the Model Two. Tell

us how you thought about going beyond the

Model One.

Bruzzese: Actually the Mani-2 was

brought out almost at the same time

as the Rokk and the Tott. Those two

were excellent in their own way, but the

Mani-2 was supposed to be the flagship

“monitor” speaker. Back then monitors

had certain limitations, and the Mani-2

was totally different. No one else had

tried a vented box with a double woofer

inside. I wanted something that would

coalesce correctly and would have an

extremely low noise floor, with holo-

graphic imaging, keeping that same

emotional context and pace that I was

always interested in.

UHF: Though it’s not obvious from the

outside, the design of the Mani-2 is radically

different.

Bruzzese: Yes. There’s no written

theory on that type of speaker, very

few parameters you could follow. Being

largely self-taught in the engineering

of speakers, I delved into things that

had never been approached before, to

produce the ultimate monitor. And it

has survived the test of time. I think

Rendezvous

The Totem Man

52 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Rendezvous

that, with the right equipment, the

Mani-2 remains today one of the most

formidable and most communicative

speakers available.

UHF: Inside the Mani-2, the two woofers

are facing each other?

Bruzzese: No, they’re back-to-back.

They're connected in reverse phase,

so that they move together as a piston.

That piston action produces bass that

is extremely clean and tight. Also, any

resonances within the cabinet can’t come

back through the woofer, because the

twin woofers act as a buffer.

UHF: What does the Mani-2’s impedance

curve look like?

Bruzzese: The impedance curve is not

that bad. Sure, it will dip to 4 ohms, or

perhaps 3.8 ohms, but it doesn’t rise, as

some speakers do, to 120 ohms or so. So

some people run them with as little as

40 or 50 watts. It works, as long as the

amplifier is stable, has a nice current

flow, and is musical.

UHF: What kind of amplifier does the

Mani-2 like best?

(Actually, we’re rather counting on

your being eager to read more. Of course

the entire interview with Vince is avail-

able in both the print issue and the full

electronic edition.)

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 53

Feedback

Rendezvous

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54 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

55 THE AUDIOPHILE STORE

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

The unique WBT phono plugs have a collar which you turn so

that the plug tightens around and into the jack! The cable would

tear before the plug would come out.

The Topline series (heaviest construction, 5-layered gold

plating), includes the 0108 (above), which uses reliable crimping

technology, not soldering. Slip a gold-plated sleeve over the

bared wire, and crimp it on with the special WBT crimping tool.

The crimped end is held in the plug with a Torx screw. Buy the

tool at the same time as the connectors, and we’ll buy it back at

the price you paid when you’re through.

ORDER: WBT-0403 crimping tool (refundable), $125.

The sleeves are shown here, actual size.

ORDER: WBT-0108, kit 4 Topline crimp plugs, $190

ORDER: WBT-0101, kit 4 Topline solder plugs, $190

The 0144 Midline version has “only” three layers of gold plating,

smaller and lighter, with the same locking action.

ORDER: WBT-0144, kit 4 Topline solder plugs, $90

NEW! The high-tech minimum metal “nextgen” phono plugs.

Easy to solder, with locking collar. Silver version available.

ORDER: WBT-0110, kit 4 nextgen copper plugs, $170

ORDER: WBT-0110Au, kit 4 nextgen silver plugs, $280

WBT makes banana plugs for speaker cables, all of which lock

tightly into any post. All use crimping technology.

ORDER: WBT-0644 Kit 4 Topline straight bananas, $90

ORDER: WBT-0645 Kit 4 angled bananas, $110

ORDER: WBT-0600 Kit 4 Topline bananas, $180

ALSO AVAILABLE: a full line of quality binding posts, phono

jacks, etc. Plus a spade lug that connectors under pressure.

WBT-0431 0.75mm sleeve $0.50

WBT-0432 1mm sleeve $0.50

WBT-0433 1.5mm sleeve $0.50

WBT-0434 2.5mm sleeve $0.50

WBT-0435 4mm sleeve $0.60

WBT-0436 6mm sleeve $0.70

WBT-0437 10mm sleeve $0.85

WBT-0438 15mm sleeve $0.95

TWO CABLES INTO ONE JACK

Need to feed two preamps into two

amps? This solid Y-adapter (two

jacks into one phono plug) is gold

over brass, with Teflon dielectric.

ORDER: FYA, one pair Y adapters, $20

ATLAS NAVIGATOR

An oxygen-free

continuous cast (OCC)

cable: each strand is

made from a single

crystal. Two separate

internal conductors,

plus double shielding (what some people referred to as “semi-

balanced,” though we prefer “pseudo-balanced”). The double

shielding is copper mylar plus close-lapped 99.997% pure OCC

copper multi-stranded screen providing 100% RFI protection.

The premium “All-Cu” version (shown here) uses solid copper

connectors that are also continuous cast. The copper is then silver-

plated and double-shielded.We use two in our reference systems.

Special-order lengths from the factory.

ORDER: AN-1 pair, 1m, $265, AN-2 pair, 2m, $330

ORDER: ANA-1 All-Cu, 1m, $405, ANA-2 All-Cu, 2m, $470

CONNECTOR TREATMENT

ProGold cleans

connections

and promotes

conductivity as well.

Small wipes for

cleaning accessible contacts, or a squirt bottle for connections you

can’t reach. We use both regularly.

ORDER: PGW box ProGold wipes, $35

ORDER: PGS, can ProGold fluid (now called DeoxIT), $35

ORDER: PGB, both when ordered at the same time, $56

PRISMAL DUAL INTERCONNECT

This Swiss-made cable is back The connectors are especially good,

with Teflon dielectric. 174 strands of oxygen-free copper, with

braided shield. Toss out your “free” interconnects!

ORDER: PD-1, 1 meter pair Prisma Dual Interconnect, $39.95

ORDER: PD-05, 0.5 meter pair Dual Interconnect, $29.95

INTERCONNECTS WBT CONNECTORS

ATLAS COMPASS DIGITAL

Excellent performance at an affordable price. Single crystal pure

copper. The 1.5m version sounds way better than a 1m.

ORDER: ACD-1.5 digital cable, 1m, $120

SHEFFIELD SPEAKER CABLE

Here’s a value that amazed us, from Sheffield (the record

company). It’s a solid core wire so hard it can be used in a good

binding post with no connector (but we’ll install the connector of

your choice if you prefer).

ORDER: SC10 Sheffield 3m pair, $150

ORDER: SC25 Sheffield 7.5m pair, $250

Two pairs ordered at the same time: 20% off

SPEAKER CABLES

DIGITAL CABLES

ATLAS VOYAGER

A cable with superior performance at an

economical price. Oxygen-free copper,

continuously cast, double-shielded with conductive

PVC plus close lapped 99.9997% pure OCC copper

multi-stranded screen, for 100% coverage against

RFI. Direct gold-plated, non compressing, double-

screened, self cleaning RCA plugs. Also available

with the All-Cu connectors like those of the

Navigator (above).

ORDER: AV-1, Voyager 1m pair, $235, AV-2, 2m pair, $285

ORDER: AVA-1, All-Cu 1m pair, $375, AVA-2 2m pair, $420

ATLAS EQUATOR

We figured it was perhaps the

best $150 interconnect cable

you could buy. Only it costs

just $90. And yes, that’s in

Canadian funds. Other lengths

on order.

ORDER: AE-1, 1 m pair Atlas Equator, $90

ORDER: AE-2, 2 m pair Atlas Equator, $123

ATLAS ICHOR SPEAKER CABLE

Continuous-cast single-crystal cable, ready for biwiring. It costs

just $235 per meter of double cable (a 2 m pair has 4 meters of

wire). We suggest adding the Eichmann Bayonet bananas, $57.95

per set of 4, or WBT connectors (at right).

ATLAS QUESTOR

This could be the world’s lowest-cost

interconnect made from single-crystal copper.

It has the same connectors as the Equator

(below), and we thought it sounded like a much

more expensive cable.

ORDER: AQ-1, 1 m pair Atlas Questor, $135

ACTINOTE MB INTERCONNECT

These Belgian

cables use

WBT locking

connectors, and

they are a virtual

match for our

own reference

cables.

ORDER: AMB-1, 1 meter pair Actinote MB, $750

ACTINOTE LB SPEAKER CABLE

We bought a pair for our Alpha system! WBT locking bananas.

ORDER: ALB-3, Actinote 3m pair, $1690

ORDER: ALB-5, Actinote 5m pair, $2360

ATLAS ASCENT SPEAKER CABLE

We had been searching

for a good quality but

affordable speaker

cable, and we found one. This is a single-crystal pure copper cable,

fully shielded. The price per meter of wire is $48 (a 3m pair has

6m of cable). Plus connectors. We recommend Eichmann Bayonet

Bananas, $57.95/set, two sets needed.

ATLAS OPUS DIGITAL

We dumped our reference cable for this one!

ORDER: AOD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $360

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 56

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

REGA FONO

We can’t

get over

how good it

is…and how

affordable.

The Rega

Fono is a

superb way

to add vinyl to your system. MM version and high sensitivity MC

version for cartridges with low output. While stocks last.

ORDER: RF-MM Phono preamp, $395

ORDER: RF-MC high sensitivity phono preamp, $565

LEHMANN BLACK CUBE

The SE version,

complete with its PWX

premium upgraded

power supply, even

more affordable.

Switchable for MM/

MC, with selectable

loads.

ORDER: PBC Black

Cube SE, $875

LP RECORD CLEANER

Concentrated cleaner for LP vacuum cleaning machines.

Much safer than some formulas we’ve seen! Half litre, mix with

demineralized or distilled water to make 4 litres.

ORDER: LPC, $19.95

LP SLEEVES

Keep your records clean and

scratch free. Replace dirty,

torn or missing inner sleeves

with soft-plastic-in-paper Nitty

Gritty sleeves.

ORDER: PDI, package of 30

sleeves, $30

J. A. MICHELL BANANAS

Michell was a

machinist, and

his connectors

are made to

work right. Cheap knockoffs don’t. No tools needed. Put the wire

into the hole, tighten the back button, and the wire is clamped

securely. A hole in the button lets you plug one banana into the

other. You can also slide a spade lug behind the button and use it

as an adapter. Gold-plated, 24K.

ORDER: GBO kit 4 gold bananas, $30

ANALOG PRODUCTS

TURNTABLE BELT TREATMENT

What this is not

is a sticky goo for

belts on their last

legs. Rubber Renue

removes oxidation

from rubber belts,

giving them a new

lease on life. But what astonished us is what it does to even a brand

new belt. Wipe down your belt every 3 months, and make analog

sound better than ever.

ORDER: RRU-100 drive belt treatment, $14.95

MORE ANALOG…

ZEROSTAT ANTISTATIC PISTOL

A classic

adjunct to

the brush is

the Zerostat

anti-static

gun. Squeeze

the trigger

and release: it

ionizes the air,

which becomes

conductive and drains off the static charge. By the way, it works

for a lot more than LP’s. No batteries needed.

ORDER: Z-1 Zerostat antistatic pistol, $94..95

EXSTATIC RECORD BRUSH

the Goldring

Super eXstatic. It

includes a hard

velvet pad to get

into the grooves,

plus two sets of

carbon fibre tufts. We’ve worn one out already, because we use it

every time!

ORDER: GSX record brush, $36

J. A. MICHELL RECORD CLAMP

Clamp your LP to the

turntable platter.

We use the J. A.

Michell clamp,

machined from

nearly weightless

aluminum. Drop

it on, press down,

tighten the knob.

ORDER: MRC Michell

record clamp, $75

EICHMANN BAYONET BANANAS

The Eichmann Bayonet

Banana uses a minimum

of metal, and tellurium

copper at that, but clicks

tightly into any binding

post with spring action.

For soldering or crimping,

or both.

ORDER: EBB kit 4

bayonet bananas, $57.95

MICHELL BINDING POSTS

Michell’s Big Mother posts (at left) are machined to stay tight.

They are used on top speakers, such as ProAc. Gold or rhodium

plated. Want to upgrade the binding posts on your amplifier? The

Michell MAO (at right)is what you need.

ORDER: Big Mother, 4 gold posts for speakers $55

ORDER: Big Mother-R, 4 rhodium posts for speakers $69

ORDER: MAO, 4 binding posts for amplifiers $40

POSTMAN

WRENCH

Think you can tighten

your speaker and amp

binding posts with

your fingers? Try the

Dynaclear Postman

wrench (for 1/2” or 7/16” hexagonal posts) and find that yours

weren’t tight after all. Our advice: retighten every three months.

ORDER: Dynaclear Postman, $13

CONNECTORS

TITAN STYLUS LUBRICANT

Amazing, but true: dabbing

a bit of this stuff on your

stylus every 2 or 3 LPs makes

it glide through the groove

instead of scraping. Fine artist’s brush not included, but readily

available in many stores.

ORDER: TSO-1 Titan stylus oil, $39.95

EICHMANN BULLET PLUGS

The first phono plug to maintain the

impedance of the cable itself, by using

metal only as an extension of the

wire. Hollow tube centre pin and tiny

spring contact for ground. Two easily

accessible contacts for soldering,

two-screw strain relief. Gold over pure

copper. Got silver cable? Get the unique Silver Bullets!

ORDER: EBP kit 4 Bullet Plugs, $54.95

ORDER: EBPA kit 4 Silver Bullets, $139.95

GOLDRING

PHONO

Basic MM phono,

amazingly good, and

especially not shrill.

Besides, it’s very affordable.

ORDER: PA-100, $225

ELECTRONIC STYLUS GAUGE

When we got our

sample of this

new gauge, we

discovered that

our (discontinued)

plastic pressure

gauge had been

lying to us. Glad

we checked!

ORDER: ALM, electronic stylus gauge, $185

EICHMANN CABLE PODS

Minimum metal, gold over tellurium

copper. Unique clamp system: the back

button turns but the clamp doesn’t.

Solder to it, or plug an Eichmann

banana into it, even from inside!

ORDER: ECP, set of four posts, $54.95

IF WE DON’T LIKE IT

YOU WON’T SEE IT HERE

57 THE AUDIOPHILE STORE

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

SUPER ANTENNA

Unlike a whip, a dipole is bidirectional, so you can orient it. Ours

has no switch to muck

things up, and with a

1.8m low-loss 75 ohm

cable and gold-plated

push-on F connector, it

has low internal loss. Its

broadband design covers

the channels 2-69 TV

bands as well as FM.

ORDER: FM-S Super

Antenna, MkII, $55

MORE POWER TO YOU

A simple improvement: better access to electrical power. Change

your 77-cent duplex outlets for these Hubbell 8200 hospital

grade outlets. Insert a plug and it just snaps in. A tighter internal

connection as well. Possibly the cheapest improvement you can

make to your system.

ORDER: AC-DA Hubbell duplex outlet, $23.95

ORDER: AC-DB (more than one outlet), $21.95

ORDER: AC-D20 20A duplex, red color, $28.95

GUTWIRE POWER CABLES

Multiple shielding, including an external electrostatic shield

connected to a clip… you may get get best performance with or

without. Basic Clef and the G Clef are used by UHF. Now in an

upgraded version, with performance “squared.” Length is 1.7 m,

longer cords on order.

Basic Clef2 has 165 discrete conductors, 95% shielding by 2 shields.

ORDER: GBC-5 Basic Clef Square, 1.7m, $285

G Clef2 has 195 conductors, with 3 shields providing 98% shielding.

G Clef 2can be ordered with a 20A IEC plug (for amplifiers requiring

this special plug)..

ORDER: GGC G Clef, Square 1.7m, $385

No budget for the cable you’d like? Make your own!

Double-shielded, to avoid picking up or transmitting noise. GutWire

16, assembled or as a kit. (If you are not comfortable around

electricity, we suggest the assembled one.) Both versions include the

Hubbell hospital grade plug and a Schurter 15 A IEC 320 connector.

The GutWire 12 gauge (kit only, not shown) is a double-shielded 12

gauge power cable with Hubbell hospital grade plug and Wattgate

IEC.

ORDER: GW16-1.5K, GutWire 16 gauge power cable kit, $93.95

ORDER: GW16-1.5 GutWire 16 cable, assembled, $133.95

ORDER: GW12-1.5K GutWire 12 gauge kit, $195

Amazingly good at a much lower price are these two cord plugs

from Eagle. No hospital rating, but a rather good mechanical

connection. Male and female versions.

ORDER: AC-P1 Eagle male cord plug, $5.95

ORDER: AC-PF Eagle female cord plug, $5.95

Making your own power cords for your equipment? You’ll need

the hard-to-get IEC 320 connector to fit the gear. We have two

sizes.

ORDER: AC-P3 10 ampere IEC 320 plug, $9.95

ORDER: AC-P4 15 ampere Schurter IEC 320 plug, $18.95

STINGRAY POWER BAR

Most of these things

knock the voltage to

your equipment way

down, and they generate

more noise than a

kindergarten class.

The Gutwire Stingray

doesn’t. Superior 12 gauge double-shielded cable, Hubbell

hospital grade connectors at both ends. Indispensable!

ORDER: GSR-2 Stingray Squared power bar, $285

IMPROVED CD WITH FINYL

This is the most famous of all the treatments for

Compact Discs. The maker of Finyl claims it reduces

surface reflections and provides a higher contrast

image for the laser cell of your player. Use it just

once. We get a lot of repeat orders on it. One kit can

treat over 200 discs. Or order the refill.

ORDER: F-1 Finyl kit, $40.00

ORDER: F-1R Finyl refill, $35.00

CLEAN YOUR PLAYER

After as little as three

months, your new

player will have more

trouble reading your

CD’s. Why? Dust on

the lens. We’re happy

to have found the

new Milty CD lens

cleaner. Unlike some

commonly-available

discs, the Milty is non-

abrasive, so we use it and rest easy. Wet or dry.

ORDER: 2021 Milty CD lens cleaner, $35

ENACOM LINE FILTER

Far less expensive, but astonishingly effective, we wouldn’t run our

system with less than the Enacom filter. It actually shorts out the

hash on the power line. (For 110-120 V only).

ORDER: EAC Enacom line filter, $105

CLEANER POWER

SILVER SOLDER

This is a lovely solder, from the

company that makes Enacom

line filters (which we also like).

Wakø-Tech solder contains 4%

silver, no lead.

ORDER: SR-4N, 100 g solder

roll, $59.95

INSTANT CIRCUIT CHECKER

Plug it into an AC outlet, and the three lights can

indicate a missing ground, wrong polarity, switched

wires — five problems in all, some of which can be

fatal. None of them is good for feeding your music

or home theatre system. The first thing we did after

getting ours was phone the electrician.

ORDER: ACA-1, Instant Circuit Checker, $21

BETTER DIGITAL

HOSPITAL GRADE CONNECTION

When we put a quality

AC plug on our kettle,

boiling time dropped by

90 seconds! The best AC

plug we have ever seen is

the Hubbell 8215 hospital

grade plug. It connects to wires under high pressure, and it

should last forever.

ORDER: AC-P2 Hubbell cord plug, $25.95

IEC ON YOUR DVD PLAYER

Why do big name DVD

players come with those

tiny plugs for their cords. A

good shielded power cable

will do wonders! Take $18

off if you order it at the

same time as a G Clef or

Basic Clef cable, or $8 off if you order one with any of our other

AC cables.

ORDER: DVD-A, GutWire adapter, $39

MAXCON2 POWER FILTER

Looks great, and does a wonderful job. Made from milled aircraft-

grade aluminum, with Furutech and Hubbell connectors. Parallel

filtering, so it can be used even with very large power amplifiers.

List $1299, but…

ORDER: GMC, MaxCon2 power line filter, $995

Needs IEC power cord: order one at the same time for 20% off!

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 58

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

TENDERFEET

Machined cones are wonderful

things to put under speakers or

other audio equipment. They

anchor it mechanically and

decouple it acoustically at the

same time. Tenderfeet come in

various versions: tall (as shown)

or flattened, in either anodized

silver or black. Tall Tenderfeet

have threaded holes for a machine screw, or for the optional

hanger bolt, which lets you screw it into wood. If you have a

fragile hardwood floor, add the optional Tendercup (shown

above) to protect it.

ORDER: TFG, tall silver Tenderfoot, $15

ORDER: TFGN, tall black Tenderfoot, $16.50

ORDER: TFP, flat silver Tenderfoot, $10

ORDER: TCP, silver Tendercup, $10

ORDER: THB, hanger bolt for Tenderfeet, each $0.80

Do you prefer spikes for your speakers. Target spikes and sockets

mount in wood. Available with or without tools.

ORDER: S4W kit, 8 spikes, sockets and tools, $39

ORDER: S4WS kit, 8 spikes and sockets, $30

AN ON-THE-WALL IDEA

Need to fasten a speaker

securely to the wall? Nothing

beats the Smarter Speaker

Support for ease of installation

or for sheer strength. And

it holds the speaker off the

wall, so it can be used even

with rear-ported speakers.

Easily adjustable with two

hands, not three, tested to an

incredible 23 kg! Glass-filled

polycarbonate is unbreakable.

Screws and anchors included,

available in two colors.

ORDER: SSPS, pair of black speaker supports, $29.95

ORDER: SSPS-W, pair of white speaker supports, $29.95

AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS, RECOMMENDED BY UHF STAFF

THE SUPERSPIKE

This is unique: a sealed unit containing a spike and a cup to

receive it. It won’t scratch even hardwood floors. For speakers

or equipment stands, on bare floors only. Four sizes of threaded

shanks are available.

ORDER: SSKQ, 4 Superspikes, 1/4” shank, $75

ORDER: SSKT, 4 Superspikes, 5/16” shank, $75

ORDER: SSKS, 4 Superspikes, 6 mm shank, $75

ORDER: SSKH, 4 Superspikes, 8 mm shank, $75

WHAT SIZE SUPERSPIKE?

A good ruler will let you figure it out. The stated size is the outer

diameter of the threaded shank. Then count the threads:

1/4” shank: 20 threads/inch

5/16” shank: 18 threads/inch

M6 (6mm) shank: 10 threads/cm

M8 (8mm) shank: 8 threads/cm

We have also have a Superspike foot

(at right) that replaces those useless

feet on CD players, amps, etc., using

the same screws to fasten them. And

there’s a stick-on version (not shown)

for other components.

ORDER: SSKF, 4 Superspike replacement feet, $80

ORDER: SSKA, 3 stick-on Superspike feet, $50

SUPPORT SYSTEMS

AUDIO-TAK

It’s blue, and it’s a sort of modelling

clay that never dries. Anchor

speakers to stands, cones to speakers,

and damp out vibration. Leaflet with

suggested uses.

ORDER: AT-2, Audio-Tak pack, $10

FOUNDATION STANDS

Absolutely the

best speaker

stand known to

us. They’re filled

with a proprietary

material that

deadens the stand

completely. Matte

black, with spikes

adjustable from the

top. Height 61 cm

(24”).

ORDER: FFA, one

pair Foundation

stands, $1125

SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTS

IN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG

www,uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

REFERENCE RECORDINGS

Beachcomber (LP) 

A change of pace for Fennell and the Dallas Wind Ensemble.Includes

Tico Tico, A Chorus line, and a version of 76 Trombones you’ll

remember for a long time. The sound is glorious.

Holst (LP) 

From the composer of The Planets, 3 suites for wind band, plus the

Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo. Fine power playing by the Dallas

Wind Symphony.

Trittico (LP/HDCD) 

A large helping of famous wind band leader Frederick Fennell doing

powerhouse music by Grieg, Albeniz, Nelhybel, etc. Complex and

energetic. LP version is double.

Fennell Favorites (LP)

The Dallas Wind Symphony: Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev and more.

Fireworks on this rare Reference LP.

The Oxnard Sessions, vol. 1 (LP) 

Pianist Michael Garson, of Serendipity fame, takes on familiar stan-

dards, backed by five fine musicians. Inventive and beautiful.

Serendipity (LP) 

The original Micharl Garson recording, in which he gets upstaged by

saxophonist Gary Herbig! Exceptional!

Dick Hyman - Fats Waller (LP)

Analog version of this famous recording, cut to CD during the perfor-

mance. Keith Johnson simultaneously recorded the performance on

his own hand-built analog recorder.

Blazing Redheads (LP)

Not all redheads, this all-female salsa-flavored big band adds a lot of

red pepper to its music.

Felix Hell (HDCD)

The young organ prodigy turns in mature versions of organ music of

Liszt, Vierne, Rheinberger and Guilmant. Huge bottom end!

American Requiem (HDCD)

Richard Danielpour's awesome Requiem mass is all about war, and

about the hope for peace too, with a dedication tied to 9/11.

PLUS THESE HDCD RECORDINGS:

Pomp&Pipes (HDCD) 

Requiem (HDCD) 

From the Age of Swing (HDCD) 

Swing is Here (HDCD) 

Copland Symphony No. 3 (HDCD) 

Medinah Sessions, two CDs for one (HDCD)

Ports of Call (HDCD)

Tutti (HDCD)

Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (HDCD) 

Ein Heldenleben (HDCD) 

SHEFFIELD

Say It With Music (CD) 

Margie Gibson sings Irving Berlin in what may be one the greatest

jazz vocal recordings of all time. And Sheffield put her there in your

living room!

Growing Up in Hollywood Town (XRCD) 

FIM's XRCD version of the original Amanda McBroom direct-cut

release. Great to see it back!

Drum/Track Record (XRCD2) 

Crème de la crème (CD)

OPUS 3

Showcase 2005 (SACD)

The latest Opus 3 sampler, with Eric Bibb, Mattias Wager, the Erik

Westberg Vocal Ensemble and lots more, in glorious SACD.

Peder af Ugglas (SACD/LP)

Ugglas plays a number of different guitars, and borrows from jazz,

Blues, and (yes!) country. Includes piano, organ, trombone, bowed

saw, and more.

Organ Treasures (SACD) 

All those showpieces for big organ you remember hearing through

huge systems…only with all of the power and the clarity of Super

Audio. 4.1 channels, plus 2-channel CD.

59 THE AUDIOPHILE STORE

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

Just Like Love (SACD/LP) 

The newest from Eric Bibb, less oriented to Gospel and more to Blues.

Bibb’s group, Needed Time, is not here, but he’s surrounded by half a

dozen fine musicians. A nice recording. Hybrid disc, with a CD layer

and a Super Audio high definition layer.

Comes Love (HDCD) 

Another disc by the terrific Swedish Jazz Kings, led by saxophonist

Tomas Ornberg, proving again Sweden understands jazz. The sound

is luminous, sometimes dazzling.

It’s Right Here For You (HDCD) 

Is there, anywhere, a better swing band than The Swedish Jazz Kings

(formerly Tömas Ormberg’s Blue Five)? Closer to Kansas City than to

Stockholm, they are captivating.

Test CD 4 (SACD)

A sampler of Opus 3 performers, clearer than you’ve ever heard them

before. Hybrid disc.

Test CD 5 (HDCD) 

Another of Opus 3’s wonderful samplers, including blues, jazz, and

classical music. A number of fine artists, captured with the usual pure

Blumlein stereo setup. A treat.

Showcase (SACD/LP) 

Available as a hybrid SACD/CD disc, or a gorgeously-cut LP, with

selections from Opus 3 releases.

Good Stuff (DOUBLE 45 LP/HDCD/SACD) 

As soothing as a summer breeze, this disc features singer Eric Bibb

(son of Leon), singing and playing guitar along with his group. Subtle

weaving of instrumentation, vivid sound.

Spirit and the Blues (DOUBLE 45 LP/CD/SACD) 

Like his father, the legendary Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb understands the

blues. He and the other musicians, all playing strictly acoustic instru-

ments, have done a fine recording, and Opus 3 has made it sound

exceptional.

Tiny Island (HDCD/SACD)

If you like Eric Bibb and his group Good Stuff as much as we do, pick

this one up.

20th Anniversary Celebration Disc (HDCD) 

A great sampler from Opus 3. Includes some exceptional fine pieces,

jazz, folk and classical. The sound pickup is as good as it gets, and the

HDCD transfer is luminous.

Levande (LP/CD) 

The full recording from which “Tiden Bara Går” on Test Record No.1

is taken. Believe it or not, this great song isn’t even the best on the

album! A fine singer, doing folklike material…and who cares about

understanding the words?

Concertos for Double Bass (CD/SACD) 

This album of modern and 19th Century music is a favorite for its

deep, sensuous sound. And the music is worth discovering. It is sensu-

ous and lyrical, a delight in every way.

Across the Bridge of Hope (SACD)

An astonishing choral recording by the Erik Westberg Ensemble,

famous for its Musica Sacra choral recording.

Tomas Ornberg’s Blue Five (CD)

Musica Sacra (HDCD/SACD) 

Test Record No.4 (LP) 

Clarinet Concertos (LP/CD)

PROPRIUS

Antiphone Blues (CD) 

This famous disc offers an unusual mix: sax and organ! The disc

includes Ellington, Negro spirituals, and some folk music. Electrify-

ing performance, and the recording quality is unequalled.

Antiphone Blues (SACD/HDCD) 

This is the Super Audio version, with a Red Book layer that is HDCD-

encoded. The best of both worlds!

Now the Green Blade Riseth (CD/SACD) 

Religious music done in a new way: organ, chorus and modern

orchestra. Stunning music, arranged and performed by masters, and

the emotional effect is joyous. The sound is clear, and the sheer depth

is unequalled on CD. The new SACD version is the very best SACD we

have yet heard!

Jazz at the Pawnshop (LP/CD/SACD-HDCD) 

A double album of live jazz, with nearly perfect sound. It has been

famous among audiophiles for years. Also available as double SACD/

HDCD gold disc on FIM label, or single CD.

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (CD/SACD) 

From the original master tape, another LP of jazz from this Swedish

“British” pub, with its lifelike 3-D sound. Now a classic in its own

right.

Good Vibes (CD)

The third volume of Jazz at the Pawnshop. And just as good!

Cantate Domino (CD/SACD) 

This choral record has become a classic of audiophile records. The

title selection is stunningly beautiful. The second half is Christmas

music, and includes the most stunning version of O Holy Night we’ve

ever heard.

Bergsten & Nordahl Play Lars Gullin (CD)

Piano and sax performance of the bebop music of the late Swedish

composer Lars Gullin.

Sketches of Standard (CD)

ANALEKTA

Graupner: Vocal & Instr. Music vol.1 (CD)

Geneviève Soly and Les idées heureuses play music from a lost genius

whose reputation once outshon Bach’s.

Graupner: Partitas, vol.1 (CD)

Geneviève Soly plays some of Christoph Graupner’s incredibly rich

harpsichord music

Graupner: Vocal & Instr. Music vol.2 (CD)

Graupner: Partitas vol.3 (CD)

Graupner: Partitas vol.4 (CD)

Graupner: Partitas vol.5 (CD)

Graupner: Christmas in Darmstadt (CD)

SPECIAL PRICE ON ALL 8 CDs (see last page)

Violonchello Español (CD) 

I Musici de Montréal comes to Analekta, with a stunning album of

Spanish and Spanish-like pieces for cello and orchestra: Glazunov, de

Falla, Albéniz, Granados, and more.

Vivace (CD) 

Classical or rock? Claude Lamothe plays two cellos at the same time

in an amazing recording of modern compositions.

Pauline Viardot-Garcia (CD) 

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian steps into the role of 19th Century

singer and composer Pauline Viardot so convincingly that listening

to her is like going back in time. One of the best classical recordings

of all time!

Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonatas (CD)

Anton Kuerti tackles the two impressive sonatas.

Brahms Lieder (CD)

Canadian mezzo-contralto reveals what she truly is: one of the truly

great voices.

Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 6 (CD)

Tafelmusik steps outside its usual repertoire of Baroque on period

instruments. Under the baton of Bruno Weil, this fine orchestra

turns in a gorgeous rendition of two of Beethoven’s most memorable

symphonies. Natural sound, too.

Mozart: Auernhammer Sonatas (CD)

A double CD of sonatas for violin and piano. It’s Mozart, of course, but

it is also gorgeously played.

Bach Sonatas for violin & harpsichord, vol.1 (CD)

Two Analekta superstars come together: violinist James Ehnes and

harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour. Irresistible

Bach Suites, Airs & Dances (CD)

Keyboard music from J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, arranged for concert

accordion by Canadian virtuoso Joseph Petric. Incredibly gor-

geous…it just had to be done!

Mendelssohn: Cello & Piano (CD)

The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute

and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more.

Fine listening.

Romantic Pieces (CD) 

How does James Ehnes manage to get such a sweet sound from his

Stradivarius? Czech pieces from Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek.

The playing is as glorious as the tone, and the sound is sumptuous.

Bonus: Analekta’s 10th sampler is included.

Once Upon a Time… (Video DVD)

Violinist Angèle Dubeau et her La Pietà string group with a spec-

tacular video of music inspired by the Underworld…with the devil

himself in attendence. Includes other videos plus two CD’s worth of

uncompressed music. Superb!

Cantabile (CD)

The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute

and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more.

Fine listening.

Nota del Sol (CD) 

The Labrie twins are back, with a delightful recording of flute and

guitar music by Piazzola, Pujol and Machado. Joyous works, wonder-

fully played and recorded

Fantasia (CD)

A third, gorgeous, recording by the twins, on flute and guitar.

Fritz Kreisler (CD)

Possibly the best recording of Kreisler’s delightful violin music: James

Ehnes and his Strad bring a new magic to this fine disc.

French Showpieces (CD) 

Awesome violinist James Ehnes, with the Quebec City Symph. takes on

Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Chausson, Massenet, and more. A recording to

die for, awesome both artistically and sonically!

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 60

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

Best of the Red Army Chorus (CD) 

The 1989 LP is finally on CD: Dark Eyes, the Volga Boat Song, Moscow

Nights, and even the old Soviet anthem. By far the best-sounding disc

of this legendary ensemble.

A los ancestros (CD)

Cuban-born Carolos Placeres, with songs incorporating Cuban

rhythm with influences of Africa and lots of other places. Six musi-

cians in all, and all acoustic.

Bach: Coffee Cantata (CD)

The celebrated Tafelmusik ensemble does two secular cantatas

(inluding Peasant Cantata). Fine singers, lifelike sound!

Mozart: Soprano Arias (CD)

Soprano Lyne Fortin, with the Orchestre Métropolitain, totally at ease

with all three soprano roles from The Marriage of Figaro (including a

duet with herself!).

Handel (CD) 

Superb soprano Karina Gauvin is joined by the Toronto chamber

ensemble Tafelmusik in a series of glowing excerpts from Handel’s

“Alcina” and “Agrippina.” The sound is smooth and lifelike, with an

acute sense of place.

Little Notebook of Anna Magdalana Bach (CD) 

More than 30 delightful pieces, most by Bach himself. Soprano Karina

Gauvin’s magnificent voice is mated to Luc Beauséjour’s excellent

harpsichord work. The sound is deep, detailed and warm, truly of

audiophile quality.

Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano (CD) 

In this disc by wonderful soprano Karina Gauvin, she tackles the

gorgeous but very difficult vocal music of Vivaldi: two motets and a

psalm. It is a moving interpretation, on this jewel of a recording.

Vivaldi: Per Archi (CD)

Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins (CD)

Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Concertos (CD

Opera for Two (CD)

Villa-Lobos (CD)

AUDIOQUEST

Mississipi Magic (CD/SACD)

The legendary Blues, Gospel, rock and world beat singer and musi-

cian Terry Evans, in an energetic recording we loved.

Come to Find (CD) 

The first disc by bluesman Doug McLeod is every bit as impressive

as the second, and no blues fan should resist it. Over-the-top guitar

work, great rhythm, all-acoustic backup. Great sound, too.

You Can’t Take My Blues (CD) 

Singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod and his colleagues present one of

the most satisfying blues records ever made, with touching words and

devilish rhythms. Mostly acoustic instruments.

Unmarked Road (SACD)

The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod

is every bit as good as the first. These songs have powerful rhythm,

and can make you smile and cry at the same time.

Whose Truth, Whose Lies (SACD) 

The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod

is t as good as the first. These songs have powerful rhythm, and can

make you smile and cry at the same time.

Bluesquest sampler (CD)

SILENCE

Tres Americas (CD)

A gold audiophile disc of lively Latin fusion music. Irka Mateo and

Tadeo de Marco sing and play, drawing their influence from Africa as

well as their native Brazil. Clear, close-in sound.

Djembé Tigui (CD)

This gold disc features the voice and percussion of African artist

Sekou Camara, captured by the famous Soundfield microphone.

Camara died just before the disc was released. We’ve just received new

stock of this recording, which we have sold worldwide.

Styles (CD)

Is this ever a surprising disc! Violinist Marc Bélanger worked up these

string études for his music students, but they actually deserve to be

put out on a gold audiophile disc! The more strings he adds, the better

it gets.

Fable (CD)

Easygoing modern jazz by Rémi Bolduc and his quartet, on this gold

disc. Some exceptional guitar and bass solos.

Musique Guy St-Onge (CD)

One-man band St-Onge plays dozens of instruments — scores for

fourteen films which never existed outside of his imagination. Fun

pretext, clever, attractive music that makes you wish you could see

the films!

HI-RES MUSIC (FOR DVD PLAYERS)

Brazilian Soul (24/96 DVD)

Guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd, plus percussion and

bass, in an intimate yet explosive recording of samba and bossa nova

music. Great!

Jazz/Concord (24/96 DVD)

We’re in 1972, and you have tickets to hear Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Ray

Brown and Jake Hanna at the Concord Jazz Festival. You won’t ever

forget it. Now you can there, with this astonishing high resolution disc

that goes in your DVD.

Rhythm Willie (24/96DVD) 

Guitarists Herb Ellis and Freddie Green, With bassist Ray Brown and

others. This is an uncompressed 24 bit 96 kHz disc that can be played

on any video DVD player. Awesome!

Trio (24/96 DVD) 

Pianist Monty Alexander with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. “Makes CD

sound seem as if it’s coming through a drinking straw.” Playable on

any DVD player, uncompressed.

Seven Come Eleven (24/96 DVD)

Herb Ellis and Ray Brown again, but this time with guitarist Joe

Pass (he and Ellis alternate playing lead and rhythm), and a third

guitarist, Jake Hanna. This is a live recording from the 1974 Concord

Jazz Festival.

Soular Energy (24-96 DVD/ 24-192 DVD-Audio) 

Perhaps the world’s greatest bassist, the late Ray Brown, playing with

pianist Gene Harris, whom Brown called one of the greats. The proof

is right on this 24/96 recording, made from the analog master. Side 2

has a 24/192 DVD-A version.

KLAVIER

Poetics (CD) 

A superb wind band recording which includes a breathtaking

concerto for percussion.

Ghosts (CD) 

This haunting(!) wind band recording features a suite of music that

could be the soundtrack to a film that will keep you awake nights. A

recording of astonishing dynamics and depth

Caprice (CD) 

Formerly titled Harp Spectacular. Can harp be spectacular? Believe

it! This famous Klavier recording features Susann McDonald play-

ing Fauré, Glinka and Liszt, is a powerhouse! Engineered by Keith

Johnson, a great transfer by Bruce Leek.

Sonatas for Flute and Harp

These same great artists with sonatas by Krumpholz and Damase, as

well as Spohr and Glinka. Oh yes, and a spectacular solo harp version

of Ibert’s hilarious Entr’acte .

Norman Dello Joio (CD) 

This contemporary composer delights in the tactile sound of the wind

band, and the Keystone Wind Ensemble does his music justice. So

does the sound, of astonishing quality!

Carmina Burana (CD)

The celebrated Carl Orff oratorio sends chills down your spine, thanks

to the huge orchestra, gigantic choir, and of course the clarity and

depth of the Klavier sound.

Obseción (CD)

The Trio Amadé plays Piazzola, Berstein, Copland, and Emilion

Cólon…who is the trio cellist. The Colón and Piazzola is definitely

worth the price of admission. Lifelike sound.

Misbehavin’ (CD)

The superb Denver Brass does Gershwin (Cuban Overture, Porgy and

Bess), plus On the Town, Sweet Georgia Brown, and of course Ain’t

Misbehavin’. Great sound.

Hemispheres (CD)

The North Texas Wind Symphony with new music by contemporary

composers who know how to thrill. Some of the best wind band sound

available.

Illuminations (CD)

Absolutely great chamber musicians take on music by Villa-Lobos,

Malcolm Arnold, and some composers you may not know but you’ll

wish you did. Sublime sound, nothing less.

Mozart Serenade and Divertimenti (CD)

Lowell Graham (of Center Stage fame, Wilson Audio) conducts a

glowing version of these pieces, including the famous “Grand Partita.”

The engineering, by Bruce Leek, is absolutely first-rate.

Kickin’ the Clouds Away (CD)

Gershwin died more than 60 years ago, but you can hear him playing

piano in glowing stereo. Nineteen of his pieces are on this fine CD,

including a solo piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS MUSIC

Film Spectacular II (XRCD)

The orchestra of Stanley Black plays some of the greatest film music

of bygone years. From the original Decca Phase 4 tape.

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD)

Igor and David Oistrakh with the Moscow Philharmonic, in a glorious

1963 recording, from the original master tape

Artistry oi Linda Rosenthal (HDCD) 

The great violinist Rosenthal plays favorites: Hora Staccato, Perpe-

tuum Mobile, Debussy’s Beau Soir, etc.

Suite Española (XRCD) 

The Albéniz suite, gorgeously orchestrated by Rafael Frühbeck de

61 THE AUDIOPHILE STORE

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

Burgos, who conducts the New Philharmonia. Beautifully remastered

from the original 1963 tape.

Audiophile Reference IV (SACD) 

A stunning sampler, with recognizable audiophile selections you have

never heard sound this good!

Café Blue (HDCD/CD) 

A gold HDCD version of iconoclast jazz singer Patricia Barber’s 1994

classic, an audiophile underground favorite. Or get the original CD,

at lower cost.

MISCELLANEOUS

Classica d’Oro

All of the classical world’s most important heritage, on 50 audiophile-

quality gold CDs, at under $4 per CD. Fine artists from Germany,

Austria, the UK, Eastern Europe. See the list on our Web site, and

listen to excerpts on line.

Blues for the Saxophone Club (HDCD)

Swing jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro, with guest artists, including

saxophonist Ernie Watts. The HDCD sound is explosive!

Only Trust Your Heart (HDCD)

Intimate sax variations by Greg Fishman, wonderfully accompanied

by the excellent pianist Jeremy Monteiro.

Vinyl Essentials (LP)

A test LP to do this hasn’t been available for years. Use it to check

cartridge/arm resonance, tracking ability, crosstalk, and more.

Neil Diamond: Serenade (CD)

Just eight songs on this European CBS disc, but what songs! I’ve Been

This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, Reggae Strut, The Gift of Song,

and more. Glowing sound too.

Harry Belafonte (CD)

We haven’t heard Belafonte sound like this except on analog. The 16

songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell, Midnight Special,

Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Brown Skin Girl, etc.

Sources (CD) 

A wonderful recording by Bïa (pronounced Bee-yah). She’s Brazilian,

lives in France, recorded this terrific album (in 5 languages!) in

Montreal. Just her warm voice and guitar, plus a handful of other fine

musicians. Sound to match.

La mémoire du vent (CD)

The original recording by Bïa, in French, Portuguese and English. If

you love her second one, don’t hesitate.

Carmin (CD) 

The third by Bïa. Different this time, with more money for production,

but it has been spent wisely. Superb songs, gloriously sung in Portu-

guese, French and the ancient Aymara language.

Coeur vagabond (CD)

Bïa sings French songs in Portuguese, Brazilian songs in French. A

delight, as usual from this astonishing singer

Audiophile (CD) 

The CD release of Secret of the Andes, the Nautilus disc we wouldn’t

review a speaker without. Pianist Victor Feldman and a whole set of

jazz greats. Second LP, Soft Shoulder, also included

Nightclub (CD) 

Patricia Barber, doing nightclub standards rather than her own

songs. But can she do them!

Modern Cool (CD)

The previous release from Patricia Barber, including songs she does

live on the Companion live disc (see below).

Companion (CD) 

Patricia Barber at a bargain price: a 45 minute live concert from

Chicago. Great music, amazingly lifelike sound.

Payment by VISA or MasterCard, cheque or money order (in Canada). All merchandise is guaranteed unless explicitly sold “as

is.” Certain items (the Super Antenna, the EAC line filter, and most standard-length cables) may be returned within 21 days

less shipping cost. Other items may be subject to a restocking charge. Defective recordings will be exchanged for new copies.

HERE’S HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR SHIPPING COST:

IN CANADA: up to $30, 7%, up to $60, 5%, above $60 not counting taxes, free. In Canada shipping costs are taxable.

TO THE USA: up to $30, 10%, up to $60 7%, above $60, 5%.

TO OTHER COUNTRIES: up to $30, 18%. Up to $60, 15%. Above $60, 10%. Magazines, books and taxes are not counted

toward the total.

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Beachcomber RR-62 35.00

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Brazilian Soul (DVD) HRM2009 29.95

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Conc. for Double Bass (SACD) CD8522 29.95

Good Stuff (SACD) CD19623 29.95

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Showcase 2005 (SACD) CD22050 29.95

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Spirit & the Blues (SACD) CD19411 29.95

Tchaikovsky: Symph. #6 (SACD) 5186 107 29.95

Test CD 4 (SACD) CD19420 29.95

Tiny Island (SACD) CD19824 29.95

Trio (Audio DVD) HRM2008 29.95

Unmarked Road (SACD) AQ1046SACD 29.95

Whose Truth, Whose Lies? AQ1054SACD 29.95

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20th Anniversary Celebration CD19692 24.95

A Los Ancestros AN 2 9807 21.00

Alleluía AN 2 8810 21.00

Antiphone Blues 7744CD 24.95

Artistry of Linda Rosenthal FIM022VD 27.95

Audiophile jvcxr-0016-2 58.00

Bach: Coffee Cantata FL 2 3136 21.00

Bach Sonatas, violin & harpsi. AN 2 9829 21.00

Bach Suites, Airs & Dances FL 2 3133 21.00

Best of Chesky & Test, vol.3 JD111 24.95

Best of the Red Army Chorus AN 2 8800 21.00

Beethoven: Hammerklavier FL 2 3187 21.00

Beethoven Symph. 5 & 6 AN 2 9891 21.00

Bergsten & Nordahl PRCD2001 24.95

Blues for the Saxophone Club 26-1084-78-2 24.95

Bluesquest AQCD1052 24.95

Bossa Nova JD129 24.95

Brahms Lieder AN 2 9906 21.00

Café Blue 21810 24.95

Café Blue (HDCD gold) CD 010 55.00

Cantabile AN 2 9810 21.00

Cantate Domino 7762CD 24.95

Caprice K11133 24.00

Carmin ADCD10163 21.00

Carmina Burana K 11136 24.00

Clarinet Concertos OPCD8801 24.95

Classica d’Oro (50 CDs) GCM-50 199.95

Come to Find AQCD1027 24.95

Come Love CD19703 24.95

Companion 22963 21.00

Coeur vagabond ADCD 21.00

Concertos for Double Bass OPCD8502 24.95

Crème de la crème CD-CRM 21.00

Djembé Tigui SLC9605-2 22.00

Drum/Track Record LIM XR 005 45.00

Fable SLC9603-2 22.00

Fantasia AN 2 9819 23.00

Felix Hell RR-101CD 22.00

Flm Spectacular II XR24 070 45.00

French Showpieces FL 2 3151 21.00

Fritz Kreisler FL 2 3159 21.00

Ghosts K11150 24.00

Gitans Y225035 24.95

Good Stuff CD19603 24.95

Good Vibes PRCD9058 24.95

Graupner: Instr.& Vocal,, v1 FL 2 3162 21.00

Graupner: Partitas v.1 FL 2 3109 21.00

Graupner: Instr. & Vocal, v2 FL 2 3180 21.00

Graupner: Partitas v.2 FL 2 3164 21.00

Graupner: Partitas v.3 FL 2 3181 21.00

Graupner: Partitas v.4 AN 2 9116 21.00

Graupner: Partitas v.5 AN 2 9118 21.00

Graupner: Christmas in… AN 2 9115 21.00

Graupner Discovery: all 8 CDs GDP-8 157.00

Growing up in Hollywood Town LIM XR 001 45.00

Handel FL 2 3137 21.00

Harry Belafonte 295-037 17.95

Hemispheres K11137 25.95

Illuminations K11135 25.95

Infernal Violins AN 2 8718 21.00

It’s Right Here For You CD19404 24.95

Jazz at the Pawnshop PRCD-7778 24.95

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 PRCD9044 24.95

Jazz/Vol.1 JD37 24.95

Keep on Movin’ AQCD1031 24.95

Kickin’ the Clouds Away K77031 24.00

Kodo - Hearbeat Drummers 12222-2 24.95

La mémoire du vent ADCD10144 21.00

Levande OPCD7917 24.95

Leyrac chante Nelligan AN 2 8815 21.00

Liszt-Laplante FL 2 3030 21.00

Little Notebook of Anna M. Bach FL 2 3064 21.00

Masters of Flute & Harp KCD11019 24.00

Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Conc. FL 2 3098 21.00

Mendelssohn: Cello & Piano FL 2 3166 21.00

Misbehavin’ K77034 24.00

Modern Cool 741-2 24.95

Mozart: Auernhammer Sonatas AN 2 9823-4 27.50

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante XR24 069 43.00

Mozart: Soprano Arias FL 2 3131 21.00

Musica Sacra CD19506 24.95

Musique Guy St-Onge SLC9700-2 22.00

Musiques d’Europe centrale 88001 24.95

Neil Diamond: Serenade 465012-2 17.95

Nightclub 27290 24.95

Non-Stop to Brazil JD29 24.95

Norman Dello Joio K11138 24.00

Nota del Sol AN 2 9817 21.00

Now the Green Blade Riseth PRCD9093 24.95

Obseción K11134 25.95

Only Trust Your Heart 170702-03-2 24.95

Opera for Two FL 2 3076 21.00

Pauline Viardot-Garcia AN 2 9903 21.00

Poetics K11153 24.00

Rio After Dark JD28 24.95

Romantic Pieces FL 2 3191 21.00

Romanzas V4818 24.95

Sans Domicile Fixe 19012-2 24.95

Say It With Music CD-36 24.95

Sketches of Standard PRCD 9036 24.95

Sources ADCD10132 21.00

Spirit and the Blues CD19401 24.95

Styles SLC9604-2 22.00

Suite Española XR24 068 45.00

Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins FL 2 3085 21.00

Test CD 5 CD20000 24.95

The Hot Club of San Francisco CCD-1006 24.95

Tomas Ornberg’s Blue Five OPCD8003 24.95

Tres Americas SLC9602-2 22.00

Ultimate Demonstration Disc UD95 22.00

Villa-Lobos FL 2 3051 21.00

Violonchelo Español AN 2 9897 21.00

Vivace AN 2 9808 21.00

Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano FL 2 3099 21.00

Vivaldi: Per Archi FL 2 3128 21.00

You Can’t Take My Blues AQCD1041 24.95

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We are in Peterborough, in

the Province of Ontario,

Canada. This evening

there is a benefit concert

for the victims of severe flooding, and the

local hockey arena has been turned into a

concert hall.

The mood is feverish, for tonight marks

the return of a hero. For the first time since

his grave illness, save for a brief appearance

in Orillia, Gordon Lightfoot will sing for his

fans. He is accompanied by his best friend,

his acoustic guitar. An ovation greets him as

he steps onto the stage.

Then all is quiet. In the audience are

staff members of the McMaster University

Medical Centre. One of those members is

Dr. Michael Marcaccio, who operated on

Lightfoot several times over a 13-week period

in the Fall of 2002.

Thinner now, with a voice no less

pleasant for its weariness, Lightfoot seems

surprisingly at ease. He sings five of his hits,

including the legendary If You Could Read

My Mind and his most recent, Inspiration

Lady.

Emotion can be read on the faces of the

audience members. He is back, finally, this

native son.

The vagabond poet

A prolific composer and lyricist, an

unparalleled performer, a guitarist, an

environmentalist, the poet of love and

tragedy, a pioneer of Canadian music,

the darling of Canadians for decades…

such is my subject. How many frontiers

has he crossed, guitar slung over his

shoulder, how many halls has he occu-

pied, how many dreams has he launched?

How many has he helped, motivated or

even saved, among the lonely, the love-

lorn, the discouraged, or those down on

their luck, with a few simple words, with

an enchanting melody?

It is a mark of the love so many have

for him that their hearts skipped a beat

when came the agonizing news of his

hospitalization, for surgery from which

he might not awaken. It was in 2002.

His fans could and can be found

everywhere, in all walks of life, in all age

groups, for our romantic troubadour is

back on the road. He travels his beloved

land that is bounded by three seas. And

he is every bit as welcome in Europe, in

Australia, in the United States, where

he takes his songs and wins over the

crowds.

Hints of things to come

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot is born

on November 1938 in Orillia, Ontario.

The small port town near the pictur-

esque junction of lakes Simcoe and

Couchiching, not far from Georgian

Bay, is known for its pleasant countryside

and its wide open spaces.

Gordon Meredith Sr., his father, is a

descendant of the Lightfoots of Scotland

and Ireland, and his mother Jessica traces

her roots back to the first white settlers

in Orillia, which had until then been

entirely a Native area.

Gordon is still a young boy when

his parents split up. His gift of a fine

soprano voice opens the doors of St.

Paul’s United Church choir, with which

he sings I’m a Little Teapot at the age of

five. The choir conductor, Ray Williams,

is mightily impressed and endeavors to

teach him to put expression into his

songs. His mother, whose love of music

he seems to have inherited, encourages

him, naturally, to become a singer. It is

the right choice. When he is 10, accom-

panied at the piano by his sister Beverly,

he makes his first recording. His parents

are his biggest fans. His mother clears

the way for him to sing at such halls as

the Kiwanis, and his father is always

ready to drive him where he needs to go

for a rehearsal or a concert.

In 1950 he takes classical piano and

singing lessons, still with Ray Williams,

and his performance of Bless This House at

an amateur contest at the Orillia Opera

Station earns him second prize. It is only

the beginning, for the following year he

records a 78 of The Lord’s Prayer.

The next two years are a turning

point for the young Gordon. At a com-

petition of singers younger than 13 at

the Toronto Kiwanis annual festival,

he comes first. He wins again a year

later, this time in the category of sing-

ers whose voices have not yet changed.

The prize includes the chance to sing

by Reine Lessard

Gordon Lightfoot,

and how he changed

a whole corner of

music

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 63

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his winning performance at Toronto’s

fabled Massey Hall.

Inaugurated in 1894 and renovated

several times since, Massey Hall is

already celebrated for the artistic events

held there. Our young artist will make

singing there a habit. In the meantime,

to his piano courses he adds guitar les-

sons and becomes a self-taught drummer

as well. Despite his youth he is often

invited to sing on the radio, and in

oratorios and operettas.

In 1955 he writes his very first song.

He is then all of 17.

After high school he goes to Los

Angeles to study jazz orchestration

at the Westlake College of Modern

Music. Back in Canada, from 1958

to 1961, he becomes a member of the

Swinging Eight, who often perform on

CBC’s Country Hoedown. That leads to

numerous guest spots. He also becomes

a member of the Gino Silvi Singers, the

house chorale of CBC-TV’s Juliette. He

forms a duo with Terry Whelan, the

Two Tones, and in 1962 records two

live albums. The same year he sings at

the Mariposa Folk Festival, founded in

his home town of Orillia, which brings

together Canadian and international

folk-oriented artists. Over the years

the festival will go through successive

changes in name and orientation, but it

will survive, and Gordon Lightfoot will

sing there often, alongside such artists

as Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez.

The summer of 1963 finds Lightfoot

in England, where he hosts the Country

and Western Show on TV.

His career is rolling now.

A phenomenal ascension

One evening, in one of the coffee

houses that are everywhere in the 60’s,

Lightfoot is noticed by a talent scout

who is charmed by his fine baritone

voice and his expressiveness, and offers

to let him be heard on disc. He records

half a dozen songs, two of them his own

compositions: The Long River and Betty

Mae’s a Good Time Gal. It is about at the

same time that this handsome young

man with the imposing presence begins

to sing his own songs and accompany

himself on the guitar. He is seen more

and more often at folk music events in

Ontario, Quebec and the eastern USA,

and of course at the Mariposa Festival.

Ian Tyson and his then wife Sylvia,

a Canadian folk duo internationally

popular under the name Ian and Sylvia,

are the first to record Lightfoot’s songs,

including Early Morning Rain and For

Lovin’ Me, which become hits. It’s

enough for New York agent Albert

Grossman to sign him to a recording

contract at United Artists.

Grossman will play a particularly

significant role in the development of

Lightfoot’s career, for he is also Bob

Dylan’s agent, and he encourages him to

move, like Dylan, to the pop-rock genre.

His music will still, however, contain

elements of folk and country, and he will

be at ease moving from one to another.

Early Morning Rain has a wider inter-

national career too, becoming a hit for

French chansonnier Joe Dassin under the

title Dans la brume du matin.

The year 1965 is a major one for

Lightfoot. He sings at the Newport

Folk Festival in Rhode Island and in

New York City, and Marty Robbins will

sing his Ribbon of Darkness, a song about

a man pained by the loss of the woman

he loves.

Ribbon of darkness over me

Since my true love walked out the door

Tears I never had before

In Canada, Spin Spin is a major suc-

cess, and I’m Not Saying will be his first

chart hit. That song is popularized in the

US by country star Leroy Van Dyke.

Continuing his phenomenal rise,

he reaches new audiences thanks to his

songs being picked up by such estab-

lished stars as Harry Belafonte, Anne

Murray and Nana Mouskouri. Famed

US country singer George Hamilton IV

brings out an LP of his songs, Lightfoot

Country. Richie Havens and The Kings-

ton Trio sing Lightfoot too.

In 1966, with the release of his self-

titled album, Lightfoot becomes one of

the first Canadian singers to know glory

in his own country without having to

move to the United States. The album

will make him even better known as a

songwriter, and his songs are picked up

by Petula Clark, Stompin’ Tom Con-

nors, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis,

64 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand.

And oh yes…by Bob Dylan, who

holds Lightfoot in the highest esteem.

A historical interlude

For some Lightfoot is a painter, using

his guitar for a brush. He says as much

in one song:

If you want to know my secret

Don’t come runnin’ after me

For I am just a painter

Passing through in history

The song On Yonge Street, chronicles

the ambience of Toronto’s main street.

He has something of the historian

as well. In 1967 the CBC commissions

him to write a major work marking the

centennial of Canadian Confederation.

In the 1860’s British Columbia, then an

independent colony, had agreed to join

Canada on condition that it be linked

to the new country by a railroad run-

ning from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A.

Macdonald, promised such a railroad for

1881. It would be delayed by a scandal

that toppled his government (shades

of our own day!), and it was only on

November 7, 1885 that the Canadian

Pacific Railway’s last spike was driven, in

Craigellachie, BC, before a large crowd

(the event is immortalized in a famous

picture).

Lightfoot, with his talent for story-

telling, creates the poetic and touching

Canadian Railroad Trilogy.

There was a time in this fair land

When the railroad did not run

When the wild majestic mountains

Stood alone against the sun

Long before the white man

And long before the wheel

When the green dark forest

Was too silent to be real

This epic work becomes a major hit,

and is included on the album The Way I

Feel. It will go through several versions,

though the most interesting is certainly

his own, with the orchestra of Ron

Collier.

That same Centennial year brings

with it a buzz of activities, and it is fertile

in success for Canada’s most popular

writer-composer. He undertakes a cross-

Canada tour as well as appearances in

New York and Los Angeles.

In 1969 he leaves United Artists for

Reprise, then the property of Frank

Sinatra, and sets up his own production

house, Early Morning Productions.

With the help of friends and his sister

Beverly, he publishes nearly all his songs

himself.

In 1970 he brings out a new album,

Sit Down Young Stranger, on which one

song, If You Could Read My Mind, makes

a splash. The album will later be re-

released with that as the title song. And

in 2002 the Festival of Charlottetown, on

Prince Edward Island, will inaugurate a

cabaret show titled If You Could Read My

Mind: the Music of Gordon Lightfoot.

In 1976 another event spotlights

Lightfoot’s storytelling talent. In Cana-

dian waters in Lake Superior, a lake

that has been known to take itself for

an ocean, a large cargo ship is broken in

two by 7.5 metre waves and 125 km/h

winds, going to the bottom with 29 men.

In a few verses, Lightfoot chronicles

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

It will reach second place on the US

Billboard chart. For many, the tragedy

of the ship is the song, a sort of musical

documentary.

Over the next three decades, Light-

foot’s calendar will be well filled. By 1980

he is giving some 50 concerts a year. In

1981 a concert tour takes him to Europe,

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 65

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major American concert halls (Carnegie

Hall and the Lincoln Center), across

Canada, and to the various summer festi-

vals. He is by now a virtuoso guitarist on

both the six and twelve string guitar. His

record collection grows to prodigious

proportions, and many of these record-

ings score phenomenal successes.

A few favorites come to mind, songs

that became hits and remain young.

There’s Summertime Dream, at once

poetic and, yes, dreamy. There’s Sun-

down, a 1974 song about infidelity, which

hits top spot on US pop charts. There’s

Did She Mention My Name from 1968.

And there’s Don Quixote, for the hero

who symbolizes a search for absolutes,

for whom our troubadour has an admira-

tion bordering on affection.

To add to his heavy calendar, Gordon

Lightfoot is also a humanist, who

answers present to solicitations for

numerous social or environmental

causes. An example: his famous song on

the Detroit race riots of 1967.

It had begun before dawn on the 23rd

of July, a confrontation between Blacks

and whites that turned into a full-scale

riot, ending only five days later, and

leaving a heavy toll. There were numer-

ous dead, many wounded, thousands

arrested, and more than 2000 buildings

burned down. The infamous uprising

resulted in a Lightfoot song, which can

be found on the album Did She Mention

My Name?

Black day in July

And the soul of motor city

is bared across the land

As the book of law and order

is taken in the hands

Of the sons of the fathers

who were carried to this land

Black day in July

In the streets of motor city

is a deadly silent sound

And the body of a dead youth

lies stretched upon the ground

Upon the filthy pavement

No reason can be found

The song Black Day in July is released

in April of 1968…not long after the

assassination of Matin Luther King.

Black day in July

In the mansion of the governor

There’s nothing that is known for sure

The telephone is ringing

And the pendulum is swinging

And they wonder how it happened

And they really know the reason

And it wasn’t just the temperature

And it wasn’t just the season

In Top 40 stations across the US

there is a wind of panic, and the song is

quickly boycotted, lest it stir up passions

that are already overheated. As you can

imagine, Lightfoot flies into a fury. “A

lot of them don’t want to upset their

listeners,” he says on the CBC. “It’s the

housewife in the morning, let’s give her

something that’ll make her happy, why

give her something that’ll make her

think?”

A romantic?

How do you categorize an artist like

this? Is he country? Folk? Pop, pop-

rock? Why pigeonhole him at all? Is he

not beyond all styles?

What is certain is that he ceaselessly

searches for the perfect song. He will

take hours, days, months to perfect a

song. He cares for his musicians, making

their work easier by giving them scores

as faultless as he can make them.

Let us not mince words, then, Gordon

Lightfoot is a romantic. He harnesses

his poetic prose to exorcise his hyper-

sensitivity to suffering, that of others or

his own, and his very vulnerability is a

source of pain. It is, on the other hand,

his sensitivity that allows him to respond

to all solicitations, to react to joy and

beauty in all its forms. Stories of love,

barely disguised personal experiences,

anecdotes…each text provides, inside a

meaningful melody, a story or a mood.

The aura about him is due in large

part, I believe, to his genius for sharing

with his audiences his emotions, his

propensity for dreaming, his love of love

itself, his intimate connection with the

elements of nature. Water, for example,

plays a major role in his songs, as do the

forest and the wind…a waterfall deep in

the forest, the gurgling of the water…

Now if only you could see

The closin’ of the day

If only you could be

Where the dawn breaks away

By the white cascade

Oh down in the glade

Where the long river flows

By my window

He dreams of leaving…the whistle of

a passing train, the roar of a jet tearing

the fabric of the sky. This song is one of

his most famous:

In the early mornin’ rain

With a dollar in my hand

And an achin’ in my heart

And my pockets full of sand

I’m a long way from home

And I miss my loved one so

In the early mornin’ rain

With no place to go

Out on runway number nine

66 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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Big 707 set to go

But I’m stuck here in the grass

Where the cold wind blows

A disaster, a homeless man looking

for human warmth, a woman he runs

across in his travels… we follow daily

life through his eyes. Like many a trou-

badour who has trod the roads of here

and everywhere, he has met the many

faces of love, which can sometimes be

oppressive.

That’s what you get for lovin’ me

Everything you had is gone,

As you can see

I ain’t the kind to hang around

With any new love that I’ve found

‘Cause movin’ is my stock in trade

I’m movin’ on

I won’t think of you when I’m gone.

Th i s s o n g, ab out love a nd

disappointment:

How long, said she,

can a moment like this

Belong to someone

What’s wrong, what is right,

when to live or to die

We must almost be born

So if you should ask me

what secrets I hide

I’m only your lover,

don’t make me decide

Or this one, about a man whose lover,

at dawn, returns to her other life:

Softly she comes in the night,

Down the darkened hall

I hear her footsteps on my stair

And she is in my arms once more

Then softly she goes…in the dawn

Or this song of longing:

If I could only have you near

To breathe a sigh or two

I would be happy

just to hold the hands I love

Upon this winter night with you

In 1972 Lightfoot is diagnosed with

Bell’s Palsy: paralysis of his left arm and

face, tingling in his leg, chest pains,

dizziness. In short it’s serious, and he

has no option but to rest for a time. The

following year he and his wife Brita, with

whom he has two children, Fred and

Ingrid, agree to divorce. The split will

make headlines.

The time has come to gather his

thoughts. The nomadic life that is in his

nature is tough on a couple, and he will

live single for nearly two decades. Then

love knocks on his door once more. A

pretty green-eyed blonde, Elizabeth

Moon, becomes his second wife in 1989.

His wanderings will always bring him

back to her.

Like many other artists, he faced the

twin demons of alcohol and gambling.

An early song presaged later events:

Well I got my mail late last night

A letter from a girl

who found the time to write

To her lonesome boy

somewheres in the night

She sent me a railroad ticket too

To take me to her lovin’ arms…

I went in town for one last round

And I gambled my ticket away

And the big steel rail won’t carry me

Home to the one I love

And then there’s this song, in which

the bottle plays a leading role:

I’m on my second cup of coffee

And I still can’t face the dawn.

The radio is playin’ a soft country song

And if I don’t stop this trembling hand

From reaching for the phone,

I’ll be reaching for the bottle, Lord,

Before this day is done

In 1982 he emerges victorious from

a long battle against his dependence.

That unhappy experience could be the

reason that, as far as I know, he has

never allowed his music to be used in a

commercial. “I don’t want the beer com-

mercial to be my epitaph,” he supposedly

once said.

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What about the Lightfoot style? He

has been called a crooner, and I leave it

to you to judge. What I hear is a superb

baritone voice, only moderately powerful

but always impressive, and sometimes

troubling. When he sings, he seems to

sing for you alone.

The artist honored

Gordon Lightfoot came onto the

record scene well before there were

regulations forcing radio stations to

play Canadian music (see Canadian

Music’s Long Trek above). It took them

years to finally get around to promoting

Canadian music, including Lightfoot’s. I

think I can venture to say that he helped

them out too.

The smattering of songs I have

quoted in this article give only a hint of

his inexhaustible fountain of inspiration

and his talent for turning inspiration

into song. That talent explains his rise

to the summits of artistic fame.

From 1965 through 1978, Lightfoot

receives 17 Juno Awards: best folk singer,

best singer, best composer, folk record-

ing of the year. He enters the Juno Hall

of Fame in 1986. He is nominated five

times for Grammy Awards: for Did She

Mention My Name?, If You Could Read

My Mind and The Wreck of the Edmund

Fitzgerald. He is made a member of the

Order of Canada in 1988, and a Com-

panion of the Order of Canada 15 years

later.

On October 2, 1997, at the opera

house in his home town, and before his

reconstituted family and his mother,

the principal auditorium of the opera

house is renamed the Gordon Lightfoot

Auditorium.

Lightfoot loves to tour. In 2001 he

sings at the House of Blues in Las Vegas,

as well as the MGM Grand, the Desert

Inn, and the Orleans.

All seems well when in September

2002, at a concert in Orillia, he is struck

down by an abdominal hemorrhage

and he is rushed to hospital. Follow-

ing surgery he is in a coma that lasts

several weeks. His loved ones, and

indeed all Canadians, follow his medical

bulletins.

Fortunately he survives and recov-

ers, and he spends little time thinking

about this brush with death. As soon as

he leaves hospital in October 2003, he

takes guitar in hand and begins vocal

exercises. With a new album, Harmony,

and an appearance on Canadian Idol, he

goes back on the road.

With his usual wry humor, he titles

it The Better Late Than Never Tour.

An unexpected gift

Before closing this glorious chapter

in Canadian artistic life, let me empha-

size that the Gordon Lightfoot of which

I have spoken is in no way diminished

or weakened by illness. He is a model

for us all. Realizing how lucky he has

been, he trains seriously and regularly.

He is, thus, a mature man, full of

health, perfectly recovered against all

expectations, who has lost none of his

charisma. Indeed — and I’ve saved this

for the last — after a US tour that took

him across the country he will, next Fall,

begin a cross-Canada tour.

He will start in Vancouver in Octo-

ber. From there he will go to Montreal’s

Place des Arts, Toronto’s Massey Hall

(his favorite!), Edmonton, Calgary,

Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder

Bay and Ottawa.

He will, I predict, have a great time,

for he has never concealed the fact he

prefers to share his music in person with

his fans rather than being locked away in

a recording studio. “The pure pleasure

of playing live never wears off, even after

40 years in the business,” he says.

Canadian Music’s

Long Trek

If we sometimes deplore that the Canadian sound is too rarely heard on our own

airwaves, we might console ourselves by recalling that back in the 60’s there was

no real Canadian recording industry at all. English-Canadian songs were virtually

absent from the AM stations that were then dominant, and recording companies

did little to promote them. Artists who had recording ambitions had to go to the

US.

The Toronto Telegram actually ran an article with the title Canada Has a Booming

Record Industry (but only because it’s 95% American). Said the article under the pro-

vocative headline, “We have so many good records available to us from the States

that there’s really not much point in doing a great deal of recording up here.”

The knights of the Canadian labels finally reacted. Canadian musicians must

have a place on the artistic scene without exiling themselves. Courageous and deter-

mined, laughing off the insults, the hurdles, the disappointments, the setbacks, these

brave pioneers create the Canadian Talent Library. It was a non profit organization,

which would create recordings by Canadian composers and musicians. However

the CTL has no impact on the radio landscape. Station owners and programmers

heap ridicule on the enterprise.

However there is a worrisome rumor on the horizon. A new regulatory body,

the CRTC, might be thinking about imposing a quota of Canadian content on

the reluctant broadcasters. Frightened by this unthinkable possibility, the more

powerful station owners league together to inflate “cancon” and head off the menace.

They fill their airtime with Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, and of course Gordon

Lightfoot.

The new chairman of the CRTC, Pierre Juneau, saw through the scheme. He

told the owners that, since there is so much cancon on the airwaves already, they

can’t possibly object to a quota…of 30%.

Subsequently, many Canadians thought they recalled that Mitchell, Murray and

Lightfoot had become popular because of the regulations. Not so. All three were

famous not only in Canada but in the US and elsewhere before “cancon” rules were

ever dreamed of.

The regulations did have their effect, however, and the choice of recordings

played on Canadian radio stations changed dramatically…and forever.

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Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonatas

Anton Kuerti

Analekta FL 2 3187

Lessard: Hammerklavier is the German

term for pianoforte — it was originally

called the “hammer keyboard.” The

expression dates from a time of growing

German resistance to the increasing

Italian hegemony in music. “Pianoforte”

is of course an Italian term. Beethoven,

with his usual impetuosity, was hardly

the last to leap into the movement. And

I have to say that the term “hammer

keyboard” seems to suit perfectly the

vigorous style of this work.

This precious album includes the

Sonata No. 28 in A Major, op.101, followed

by the powerful Sonata No. 29 in B Flat,

op.106, each with four movements. I use

the word “precious” advisedly, for that’s

what it is. Not only is the composer

sublime (and what remains to be said

about that?), but the pianist is entirely

worthy of him.

During the nearly hour an a quarter

these two works last, Kuerti, something

of a Beethoven specialist, gives us a

demonstration of his flawless technique,

buttressed in this case by equally flawless

sound. You have to hear him navigate

with remarkable ease through sforzando

passages and other segments that are

lyrical and fraught with poetry and emo-

tion. The performance serves to justify,

if justification is needed, his reputation

of unsurpassed playing which for many

years has won over music lovers, and

particularly Beethoven lovers. This is

Kuerti the way I like him. I heartily

recommend this CD.

The booklet, happily complete,

makes it possibly unnecessary for me to

add anything more on these sonatas by

this greatest of composers of the early

Romantic period.

Millennium Crossings

Lisa Weiss/ CurtCacioppo

Capstone CPS-8734

Lessard: The piano works on this

recording are all by contemporary

American composers, and indeed all

but the first were composed since 1985.

There are a number of fascinating ele-

ments here, both by the composers and

by their virtuosity on the piano. And

speaking of the piano itself, it is a Bösen-

dorfer Imperial Concert Grand.

The Bösendorfer name is linked to

Vienna, that musical centre of the 19th

Century, and to Franz Liszt, whose

energetic technique and dazzling playing

always ended up wrecking the pianos he

played. The massacre ended the day he

got his hands on a Bösendorfer. Not only

could it resist his excesses of enthusiasm,

but he was won over by its incomparable

tonal beauty, and he made it his own.

From that day, the house of Bösendorfer,

already famous, gained even more in

celebrity.

The Imperial Concert Grand’s key-

board includes one more octave than

other pianos, situated at the bottom

end, going down to CCCC, capable of

producing a tone of 16 Hz! Even when

those extra notes aren’t played, they

vibrate in sympathy with the other notes,

giving the piano its unique sound.

Klavierstück, the first piece on the

disc, from 1976, and the Sonata trasfigu-

rata of 1986, are from Curt Cacioppo.

This musician has had considerable

contact with American Indians and

is an activist for Native rights, and it

happens that here and there he uses

elements inspired by Native culture.

Initially intrigued by the originality of

his inspiration, I was charmed within a

few measures by the music’s architec-

ture, by the juxtaposition of sounds, by

the firm and energetic touch, and by the

clarity of the playing. The pianist in this

case is Lisa Weiss, herself a composer,

who also plays Marino Baratello’s 1991

Klavierstück.

Ingrid Arauco’s Triptych is a collec-

tion of three short pieces, played this

time by Curt Cacioppo: the Freely, quasi

improvisando, followed by an Intermezzo

of less than 50 seconds, and a final Allegro

with wit and verve, which manages to be

both tender and agitated.

Cacioppo also plays two magnificent

pieces by Joseph Hudson, the Fantasy-

Refrain II and a Piece for the Swans.

What I take away from this music

and the musicians who play it is the

conciseness, the clarity of the sound that

often comes in clusters or in arpeggios,

sometimes in trills, and the polished

dynamic and timbral effects.

As for the sound, it is up to the

standards of the most demanding

audiophiles.

Felix Hell

Felix Hell

Reference Recordings RR-101CD

Rejskind: It’s so great to have Reference

Recordings back! Keith Johnson won’t

be setting up his microphones again

until summer, but I had heard none

of his last productions before Dorian

“bought” the company (without actually

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by Reine Lessard

and Gerard Rejskind

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paying for it, a detail that subsequently

took on a certain importance). The

reason I hadn’t heard them: Dorian had

reinvented public relations, apparently

using North Korea as a model, and when

was the last time you received a CD from

Pyongyang?

But with the back catalog in distri-

bution once again we opened up some

samples, and we were glad we did. These

recordings are done with the usual

Professor Johnson flair, and they are

encoded in HDCD, the high definition

process he helped develop.

Felix Hell is billed as an “organ sensa-

tion,” and he is all of that. This young

German-born prodigy moved to the US

at the age of 14…to study at Juilliard! He

was 17 when he recorded this collection

in Lincoln, Nebraska. By then he had

given some 250 concerts worldwide,

which makes one wonder when he gets

time for studies.

On the other hand, perhaps he knows

all he needs to know for the moment, at

least if I go by the music on this album,

all from the 19th Century. It opens with

Felix Alexandre Guilmant’s Sonata No. 1

in D Minor, which bears the subtitle

Symphonie. This is not truly an organ

symphony, however, and much of it is

more introspective than the powerhouse

organ works that have long been used as

hi-fi showpieces. Only in the third and

final movement does Hell open up with

the organ’s considerable muscle. He is,

however, very much at ease with the

complex softer passages, a reflection of

a maturity beyond his years.

Joseph Rheinberger, represented here

by his Abendfriede (“evening peace”) was

also a child prodigy, who entered the

Munich Royal Conservatory when he

was 11. No fireworks here, as the name

suggests. The finale of the Symphony

No. 1 of Louis Vierne, long the organist

of Notre-Dame de Paris, has lots more

fire, and I have heard it many times,

though it has always left me cool.

It was when Felix Hell gets into Liszt

that I really perked up. The Prelude and

Fugue on B-A-C-H is perhaps Liszt’s

most forward-looking music, all but

leaving behind the tone-based composi-

tions that had always dominated Western

music. The title is a pun on the name of

Johann Sebastian Bach (note that this is a

prelude and fugue), but is also a reference

to the German names of the notes B-flat,

A, C and B. There is no key signature

stated, because Liszt used as much as he

could of the black and white notes of the

keyboard. The overall tone and structure

are closer to the 20th Century than to the

18th. A number of organists play it with

great flamboyance because…well, this

is Liszt, after all. It benefits from more

respect for its structure, which is why I

prefer it played by Fernando Germani

than by E. Power Biggs, say (I’ve been

lucky enough to hear both live). Hell is

closer to Germani, and he never either

reaches for an easy effect or gets lost in

the complexity of the music.

The CD ends with a longer Liszt

piece, the Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad Nos

ad Salutarem Undam, inspired by Mey-

erbeer’s opera Le prophète. This is rather

austere music, as you might suppose from

the fact that the opera was about John of

Leyden, a 16th Century religious fanatic.

However there are some dense variations

on one of Meyerbeer’s themes, which

is what drew Liszt to this (now) almost

forgotten opera in the first place.

Keith O. Johnson has placed his

microphones some distance from the

organ in order to capture not only the

sound of the pipes but also of the rever-

berant interior or the First-Plymouth

Congregational Church. Despite the

distance the focus is excellent, and as the

music progresses you get a good mental

picture of the place. Recording levels are

fairly low, with plenty of room for the

pleins jeux passages.

The organ is a large one, and Felix

Hell and the composers he plays take full

advantage of the larger pipes. I found

myself wondering what would be left of

this music on a system without extreme

bass response. On the Omega system it

is awesome to listen to.

Argento: Casa Guidi

Von Stade & Minnesota Orch.

Reference Recordings RR-100CD

Lessard: The title of the album, which

is also that of the first work on it, refers

to the residence of celebrated poets

Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning,

who exiled themselves to Florence fol-

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 71

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lowing their secret marriage. Elizabeth’s

letters to her sister inspired composer

Dominick Argento to write these five

songs for the wonderful mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade: Casa Guidi, the

Italian Cook and the English Maid, Robert

Browning, The Death of Mr. Barrett, and

Domesticity.

Fans of “Fricka” will find her again

with joy. She has lost none of the

immense talent that propelled her to the

summit of her art, where she has shone

since her beginnings, playing all of the

roles most sought after in the opera

world.

That is followed by a Capriccio for

Clarinet and Orchestra, subtitled Ros-

sini in Paris, brilliantly performed by

virtuoso clarinetist Burt Hara. It is in

point of fact a concerto, a title Argento

has eschewed by respect for “the” clari-

net concerto, the one by Mozart. The

movements have the curious titles of

Une réjouissance, Une caresse à ma femme

and Un petit train du plaisir. Each refers

to a composition by Rossini, but they

are mere pretexts for development of

a “Rossiniesque” ambience of comical

verve, fantasy and humor, with a certain

touch of romanticism.

The final work, commissioned by the

Minnesota Orchestra for its 75th season

(in 1977), is titled In Praise of Music: Seven

Songs for Orchestra. Each song is inspired

by a character, either real or mythical,

who awaken in universal fashion feelings

inherent in human nature.: David for the

healer, Apollo for the god, Pan for the

Satyr, Orpheus for the sorrower, Israel

for the angel, Cecilia for the saint, and

Mozart for the child.

We should not be surprised by the

extraordinary performance by Eiji Oue

and the Minnesota, whoch have accus-

tomed us to excellence.

The sonic quality of this HDCD

recording, like those of the Reference

Recording that follows, is beyond

reproach. We can, I think, speak of the

Johnson sound.

American Requiem

Danielpour & Pacific Symph. Orch.

RR-97CD RR-97CD

Lessard: The dedication reads, “to the

memory of those who died in the wake

of the tragic events of September 11,

2001, and in tribute to the American

Soldier — past, present and future.”

To mark the end of his posting as

composer in residence with the orchestra

in Orange County, California, Richard

Danielpour received a commission for a

major work for choir and large orchestra.

The theme was to be peace, but also

man’s relationship with war.

Danielpour admits that, before

embarking on this project, he had not

the slightest experience of war, and so he

booked meetings with veterans of three

wars. Listening to them, writing down

their experiences, thoughts and feel-

ings long after the end of the conflicts

in which they had fought, enabled him

to get at least a hint of the incurable

traces left by the tragedy of war. So

impressed was he by the experience that

the urgency grew in him to translate into

music these deep experiences.

On the fateful morning of what

would become known as 9/11, Daniel-

pour was preparing to edit the proofs

of the orchestral score of his American

Requiem, but realized that it included

neither preface nor dedication. He was

on the phone to his publisher in New

York, when she told him with horror

that before her eyes a plane had just

struck a tower of the World Trade

Center. He knew instantly that he had

his dedication.

One is generally eager to find ante-

cedents in the works of a composer:

in this passage he is clearly influenced by

Bach, or one can recognize the style of

Mozart. It is possible, indeed certain,

that because of Danielpour’s use of two

languages — English and Latin — pur-

ists will think first of Brahms’ German

Requiem or Britten’s War Requiem. One

might equally be tempted to make

comparisons with the Requiem of Verdi,

recalling his use of a multitude of instru-

ments and the importance given to the

human voice. Too easy. It would be even

more facile to talk of plagiarism.

For my part I believe that, notwith-

standing any similarities, deliberate or

otherwise, this religious opus is both

magnificent and eloquent. I consider it

a gift to have been asked to review it.

Danielpour has written this for a

72 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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large orchestra and a choir of 150 voices,

as well as three hand-picked soloists,

tenor Hugh Smith, mezzo soprano

Stephanie Blythe, and baritone Mark

Oswald. They are accompanied by the

entire family of strings and woodwinds,

brass and percussion of all sorts, includ-

ing drums of different sizes, bells,

carillons and cymbals. They produce an

imposing mass of sound.

Despite such an abundance — I

nearly wrote overabundance — of timbres,

the composer never allows his music to

become pompous, and there resides his

genius. He pours it on, yet maintains

a just balance. For me it is remarkable,

at once intense and painful, gratifying

to the ear, and poignant for the emo-

tions it awakens. The composer’s use of

dynamics is part of its appeal, but so is his

choice of the English texts, drawn from

the works of celebrated American poets

who have trained a bitter eye on war.

Three quotations from Notes on the

poetic text which you’ll find in the CD

booklet: “When you hear the poetic texts

in An American Requiem, it is our belief

that each word of the nine poems has risen

from a great depth and carries the phosphor

trail of other works.”

And: “An American Requiem opens

with Walt Whitman, our democratic and

roving eye, which sees a ‘new-made double

grave.’” And further on: “This strange,

almost unbelievable, image conjured around

1863…floats up to us as a turbulent ghost

image that might have been written the

night of September 11th by a poet who lives

in Battery Park City.”

For too long the requiem has offered

privileged access only to the erudite, able

to understand dead languages. Thanks

to Brahms, who dared to add the ver-

nacular to the all-Latin Catholic liturgy,

and to those who followed his daring

innovation, a wider public can follow the

text and comprehend it. Requiems have

ceased to be opaque.

As for the music itself, it is of great

beauty, with a use of dynamics cal-

culated to touch our noblest, deepest

sentiments. The Dies Irae opens

with the light use of per-

cussion, which sets up the

choppy rhythm which fol-

lows, with brass, drums

and the sforzando choir. All

the instruments are used to

punctuate most effectively

this magnificent aria.

The Latin verses touch

the spiritual dimension of

the relationship of humans

to the Supreme Being:

confusion, fear, resistance,

anger, sadness, but hope as

well. With few exceptions

these verses are sung by

the choir. The English

texts are sung by the solo-

ists, either individually

or together, and address at once the

understanding and the emotions.

Here is the tenor, in the Dies Irae:

Down a new made double grave.

Now nearer blow the bugles

and the drums strike more convulsive

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And the daylight o’er the pavement

quite has faded,

And the strong [death-march]

enwraps me.

The moon gives you light

And the bugles and drums

give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers,

My heart gives you love.

That text is from renown poet Walt

Whitman. Now listen to the baritone in

the Lacrimosa — Pie Jesu, with another

Whitman text:

Vigil strange I kept

on the field one night;

When you my son and my comrade

dropt at my side that day…

Long there and then in vigil I stood,

dimly around me

the battlefield spreading,

Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there

in the fragrant silent night,

Passing sweet hours,

immortal and mystic hours

with you dearest comrade

Not a tear, not a word,

Vigil of silence, love and death,

Vigil for you my son and my soldier

Don’t miss the Sanctus, with wildly

ringing bells, rolling drums, strings,

and the tenor singing the glory of

the Almighty in alternation with the

choir. The Hosanna is extraordinary,

with voices, percussion and brass, a

veritable song of praise, followed by the

Benedictus.

The Agnus Dei, Lay this Body Down,

sung by the mezzo soprano, is emi-

nently touching. The text is by Michael

Harper.

Can’t you see

What love and heartache’s done to me

I’m not the same as I used to be

This is my last affair

Two other illustrious poets are

featured, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and

an American poet identified in the text

as H.D. (Hilda Doolittle). A touching

anonymous Negro Spiritual is sung by

the baritone.

The final Lux Æterna is sung at

ppp volume by the choir. It is a gentle

conclusion, peaceful, in which the fear

of the Final Judgement is resolved in an

act of faith and hope on the part of souls

awaiting their Maker.

This, then, is a 21st Century Requiem

that will put you through an entire range

of emotions, and orient your reflection

toward the passage from temporal to

eternal life, at least as presented by the

Christian church. First performed in

November 2001, this Requiem can be

classed among the great ones: Mozart,

Berlioz, Verdi, brahms, Dvorak, and

Fauré, and closer to our own day those

of British composers Benjamin Brit-

ten, John Rutter…and Andrew Lloyd

Webber, whose Pie Jesu haunts the first-

time listener long after it ends.

At the summit of his art at the age

of 50, Richard Danielpour is one of the

cream of contemporary composers, and

his celebrity did not begin with this

work. He has penned other music that

has been much played and recorded,

and has known major success: operas,

concertos, symphonies, ballets, chamber

music, and other genres.

The CD booklet is generous with

details on the composer as well as on the

orchestra, the choir and their respective

conductors, Carl St. Clair and John

Alexander. If this music is new to you,

that is more than useful.

Suite Española

Frühbeck de Burgos/New

Philharmonia

FIM XR24 068

Rejskind: This recording is from late

1967, the golden age of Decca (known in

North America as London for reasons of

trade mark conflict). It had not yet been

swallowed up by the Polygram/Philips

empire, in which it would become

merely a brand name. And it was busy

making new recordings of the classical

repertoire in the then distinctive ffrr

(Full Frequency Range Recording) style.

The stereo LP was a mere decade old,

and not all the treasury of music had yet

been redone.

At the same time Decca had not yet

begun playing it safe, recording familiar

warhorses that could be counted on to

sell in large numbers. This recording is

an unusual one, and one I suspect few

companies would tackle today. A shame,

because it is exceptional.

Isaac Albéniz is one of Spain’s most

recognized composers of the end of the

19th Century and the early 20th. If his

music reflected far more influences than

those of his native Catalonia, it can be

explained in large part by the fact that

he ran away from home at the age of

13 and toured Costa Rica, the United

States, England, Germany, Belgium and

Hungary. Of course by the time he got

to Belgium he was no longer a runaway

teenager, and in fact he was able to get a

bursary from no less a personality than

the King of Spain to study at the Brus-

sels Conservatory. He later studied with

Vincent d’Indy, Paul Dukas, and…oh

yes, Franz Liszt. You would expect his

music to be thoroughly cosmopolitan.

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On the other hand, he was able to

hear the folk music idiom of his native

land through fresh ears. Indeed “native

land” in this case doesn’t mean what

one might assume. To other Europe-

ans “Spanish music” meant the music

of Andalusia. If a number of French

composers borrowed from it (Bizet is an

example, as are Chabrier and Ravel), it

was because the Andalusians were much

influenced by the French, and so they

found its forms familiar.

Albéniz is best known for piano

music, drawing on the folk themes

of different parts of Spain, but with a

pan-European flavor. It has often been

orchestrated, and this suite, by Spanish

conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos,

evokes the different regions of Spain.

For anyone who thinks Spanish music

is just flamenco or the dances found

in Carmen, the Española suite is an ear

opener. Seven of the sections (I’ll get to

the eighth shortly) are named for regions

of Spain, with appropriate melodies or

rhythms. For Castille there is a Seguidil-

las, for Austurias a Leyenda, for Aragon a

Fantasia, for Cadiz a Cancion, for Seville

a Sevillanas, for Granada a Serenata, and

for Cataluna a Corranda. The Cancion

and Corranda will probably sound less

Spanish to those who know the country

through travel documentaries, but

for that reason they may be the most

instructive.

Oh yes, the eighth section of the

suite.

There, Albéniz did not draw on

Spanish music at all. It is titled Cuba. I

suppose that it was, in 1967, politically

dangerous even for a Spanish conductor

working in Britain, at least if he had any

intention of ever touring in the United

States, The pretext for dropping Cuba

was that, alone among the movements

of the suite, it was inspired by music

from outside Spain. Instead of simply

dropping it, which would have made for a

very short LP, Frühbeck de Burgos sub-

stituted a piece called Cordoba, extracted

from the Cantos de España, op. 232. It is

an odd choice, because it seems totally

out of temper with the rest of the suite,

at least as much as the original Cuba

(which I have not heard) would surely

have been.

The orchestration is entirely success-

ful. The original jacket notes (shrunk

down from LP size to textured paper in

the CD) outline the changes Frühbeck

de Burgos made to the original piano

score to make it seem appropriate for

orchestra. This FIM re-release, made

by JVC in the xrcd process, sounds very

good, with a natural spread of sound

that was characteristic of Decca’s ffrr

recordings.

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 75

Feedback

Software

Poetics

Corporon/North Texas Wind Symph.

Klavier K11153

Rejskind: This is one of a long-running

series of wind recordings on Klavier by

this first-rate orchestra. I think the title

may have been chosen at random, but

what it contains is worthy of anyone’s

attention for both musical and sonic

reasons.

The first reason to get it, I think, is

Joseph Schwanter’s Percussion Concerto.

Now the percussionist in a symphony

orchestra is not the one groupies mob

at the stage door. Garrison Kiellor once

said that the triangle is an instrument

for a saint (he said the same thing about

the harp, for a different reason). The

percussionist is important, but only once

in a while. Perhaps that’s why, in 1995,

Schwanter was commissioned to write

an extended solo piece for the principal

percussionist of the New York Philhar-

monic, Christopher Lamb. And what a

piece it is!

Schwanter says he has long been

fascinated by the timbral aspects of

music and been attracted to the richly

varied sonic resources of percussion.

What he composed is nothing less than

a masterpiece, drawing on an astonish-

ingly diverse panoply of instruments.

They are here played by Christopher

Deane, backed up by the band’s regular

percussionists to say nothing of the rest

of the orchestra.

Listen for yourself. He marshals

three tom-toms, timbaletas, bongos,

a marimba (the only amplified instru-

ment in the work), a xylophone which is

sometimes struck and sometimes bowed,

and a varied set of drums of all shapes

and sizes, including a bass drum you’ll

feel as much as hear. But Schwanter has

done more than make noise, for that

would be all too easy. He juxtaposes

dense and sophisticated melodies for

brass and woodwinds with contrapuntal

percussion effects. The result, across

three movements that occupy more than

a half hour, is impressive, sometimes

disturbing, often viscerally beautiful.

The playing is wonderful too, and

that goes both for Deane and the large

ensemble, conducted masterfully by

Eugene Migliaro Corporon. The engi-

neering, by Bruce Leek, is as good as it

gets.

But wait a minute, there’s more!

Steven Bryant’s Stampede has a sort

of rodeo atmosphere to it, reminiscent

of the music of Aaron Copland. Michael

Gandolfi’s Vientos y Tangos (“wind and

tangos”) is not always rhythmic, but

much of it is. Gandolfi has used famed

concert tango composer Astor Piazzola

as a model, and I liked the piece very

much.

I’m less enthusiastic about Franco

Cesarini’s Poema Alpestre, whose length

exceeds its breadth, but even without

him this recording is chock full of good-

ness. The first time you’ll play it for the

sound, but I predict you’ll come back for

the music.

Film Spectacular II

Black & London Festival Orch.

FIM XR24 070

Rejskind: My first impression, if you’ll

pardon the pun, is that nobody does

music like this anymore. They sure used

to. Films had lush ballads as scores, and

there were countless orchestras that

would bring out collections of these

hummable tunes. Percy Faith was one,

Billy Vaughn was another, and Stanley

Black was yet another.

This one, from 1963, is special for

being part of London/Decca’s “Phase 4”

series. Of course Phase 4 did not feature

four channels, and the reason for the

name is a mystery. Decca (the British

company, not the American one of the

same name) was known for its realistic

ffrr recordings, intended to sound the

way an orchestra might from the eighth

row of a good hall. Phase 4 was Decca’s

attempt to live down that reputation.

The technique was totally opposite:

use a lot of microphones, each one very

close to an instrument, and dial in lots of

stereo separation. Crank up the volume

on the pressing, to overcome rumble,

hum, whatever. The results were spec-

tacular, though not perhaps truly hi-fi.

It had been many years since I had

listened to a Phase 4 recording, and

of course I had not had the advantage

of listening with gear like the Omega

reference system. Notwithstanding the

very close-in sound, these recordings

really did sound good. The dynamics are

overwhelming, probably difficult to get

onto modern digital (First Impressions

Music has used xrcd to do the job). And

Stanley Black, here conducting the Royal

Festival Orchestra, was a really talented

bandleader.

This CD is a reminder that writ-

ers of film music back then were not

too shabby, and it did my heart good

to hear them again. Here’s Lawrence

of Arabia, Gone With the Wind, The

Magnificent Seven, a suite from My Fair

Lady, and even the haunting score from

Hitchcock’s Spellbound. I hasn’t heard

any of them in a while.

I also couldn’t help noticing that,

despite my impressions of the old LPs,

they are not truly recorded in ping pong

stereo. When there is a clash of percus-

sion or brass, you can hear it travel all

the way to the other wall and back again.

The original engineer, Arthur Lilley,

knew what he was doing.

No, nobody does music like this

anymore, but a modern engineer, or

musician for that matter, could learn a

lot by listening to this CD.

76 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Is hi-fi — or consumer electronics

in general — getting tougher to survive

in? Change has claimed another victim,

a major Canadian distributor.

The company is Korbon trading,

which was already five years old when

UHF was created in 1982. Ken Simpson

had worked at the company importing

Sharp when he set up his own company,

which he named after his daughters,

Kory and Bonnie. The company had

an ad in our very first issue, for Canton

speakers. Not many of the advertisers in

that same issue are still around.

In recent years Korbon was Canadian

distributor for a number of high end

brands, including Conrad-Johnson,

Quad, Wharfedale, and Rockford

Fosgate.

Most of Korbon’s stronger competi-

tors are also US distributors, and that

may be the key to their strength. How-

ever the Korbon announcement refers

to a number of corporate and personal

challenges. That could mean that…well,

Ken Simpson has been at this for a long

time.

Not that he is leaving electronics

entirely. Korbon says that warranty work

on Korbon products will be carried out

by a firm called KSSM. That stands for

“Ken Simpson Sales and Marketing.”

Gossip&News

All equipment reviews are done on at least

one of UHF’s reference systems, selected as

working tools. They are changed infre-

quently, and only after long consideration.

The Alpha system

Our original reference is in a room

with extraordinary acoustics, designed as a

recording studio. It allows 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

Additional CD player: CEC TL-51X

belt-driven transport, Counterpoint

DA-10A converter with HDCD card.

Digital cable: Atlas Opus 1.5m

Digital portable: Apple iPod 60 Gb

Turntable: Audiomeca J-1

Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5

Pickup: Goldring Excel

Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5

Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305

Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon

W-5LE)

Loudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar

OBX-R

Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1,

Atlas Voyager All-Cu

Loudspeaker cables: Actinote LB/

Eclipse 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: Linn LP12/Lingo II

Tone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCS

Pickup: Goldring Excel

Phono preamp: Audiomat Phono-1.5

Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305

Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon

W-8

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, Wire-

world Polaris for the twin subwoofers.

Power cords: GutWire, Aurora

AC filters: GutWire MaxCon

Squared, Foundation Research LC-1

Acoustics: Gershman Acoustic Art

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: GutWire MaxCon

Squared

All three systems have dedicated power

lines, with Hubbell hospital grade outlets.

Extensions and power bars are equipped

with hospital-grade connectors.

The UHF Reference Systems

Goodbye Korbon

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 77

Feedback

Gossip&News

Gossip&News

You have to be intrigued by the ad:

“Home stereo. Reinvented.” We like the

way home stereo has been moving just

fine, thanks very much, but does Apple

Computer (whose on-line ad this is)

actually have a better idea?

It doesn’t look that way. The iPod

Hi-Fi’s name is what’s been reinvented.

What is it? It’s a powered speaker with an

iPod slot, not the sort of ground-break-

ing innovation you might expect Steve

Jobs to launch. Is it better than the little

powered speakers from Bose or Harman

Kardon? Tough acts to follow, we’re sure

you’ll agree!

Actually the device was the star of

Steve’s launch party only because this

was the dullest Apple launch since the

days of the Macintosh Performas (the

other products launched were an iPod

leather case costing a hundred bucks,

and a new version of the Mac mini with

an Intel processor but no video card).

The reviews we’ve seen praise the

iPod Hi-Fi for “powerful bass.” We

hope that doesn’t mean boominess, but

considering the unit can be powered

optionally by D cells, we have no illu-

sions it can reach realistic concert levels.

They downgrade it for weak treble and

the absence of an FM tuner or a wireless

receiver. And for not being cool.

As for us we don’t go around bashing

boomboxes for not being high end high

fidelity, and besides this thing costs

only US$299. But the expression “hi-fi”

has been grossly abused for years, and

the iPod Hi-Fi’s slogan looks like a

snide attack on those who want quality

products.

But without the people willing to

seek out quality, no one would remember

Apple. Promoting mediocrity, Steve, is

what really isn’t cool.

It seems like forever (but it isn’t) that

the high end exhibits of the Consumer

Electronics Show in Vegas have been

held at the Alexis Park, an increasingly

shabby “villa” (or motel, to be more

exact).

Oh, it wasn’t as shabby as the Sahara

bilevel complex which preceded it, whose

electrical system was so horrible CES

had to rent giant generators and run

cables into the window of every exhibit

room. To some exhibitors, the use of

these two awful venues was evidence

CES didn’t care about high end.

So next year high end moves upscale,

to the Venetian, right on the Strip. The

Venetian includes a replica of the Grand

Canal and even the Plaza San Marco

(shown at right), with all the trimmings

except the pigeons.

The Venetian has more large salons

that we can count (compared to maybe

two or three at Alexis), and at its back

end, down the corridor, is the Sands

Convention Centre, which CES is

already using. It also has hundreds,

perhaps thousands, of rooms in its hotel

towers. What they’re like we don’t know,

but our bet is that this will be a consider-

able improvement.

But there’s a secondary advantage for

CES.

For many years, disgruntled audio

companies have snubbed CES and

attended an alternative show, which for

some years has been known as The Home

Entertainment Show (T.H.E.Show, get

it?). It had set up shop at a hotel called the

St. Tropez. By an amazing coincidence,

the St. Tropez was next door to Alexis,

with a walking time of…oh, maybe 45

seconds. But with CES on The Strip,

the St. Trop might as well be on the

Moon.

There’s speculation, of course. The

Strip is upscale territory, but the Impe-

rial Palace is about eight minutes from

the Venetian, and is just shabby enough

to be cheap.

We shall see.

“Cool” Gets Warmer

Goodbye Alexis, Hello Venice

78 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

Feedback

Gossip&NewsGossip&News

Almarro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Applause Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Artech Electronics . . . . . . . . . . 9, 13

ASW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2

Atlas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Audiomat . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3

Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 3

Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 55-62

Audio Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Audioville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Audiyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Bel Canto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

BIS Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Diamond Groove . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Eichmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Europroducts International . . . 15, 17

Everest Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Fine Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Furutech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

The Gramophone . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Hi Fi Fo Fum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Hifisupply.ca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Justice Audio . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4

Just May Audio. . . . . . . . . . Cover 2

MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Marchand Electronics . . . . . . . . 12

Michell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3

Planet of Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Roksan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 4

Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Signature Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

SR Acoustique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Solid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Soundstage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Terra Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Totem Acoustic . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 43

UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,51

Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

WBT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2

“DRM” of course stands for “Dig-

ital Rights Management,” technology

to limit what consumers can do with

music, movies and other material they’ve

bought. In the United States DRM is

backed by tough laws. In Canada and

Europe, on the other hand, copying for

private use is legal. So far.

CRIA (the Canadian Recording

Industry Association), the Canadian

counterpart to RIAA, the US lobbyist

for Big Media, would like to see a US-

style DRM law, and is even offering to

(ahem!) help write it. A tough DRM law

was in fact introduced last year, but there

was an election and a change of govern-

ment, and the Conservatives are not as

hot on the issue as the Liberals were.

But now the plot thickens.

Some of Canada’s major recording

artists are denouncing CRIA, because

they say its policies are intended to favor

major recording labels, not the creators

of music. There are some A-list names

on the list, such as Avril Lavigne, Sarah

McLachlan and The Barenaked Ladies.

Says the CMCC, “We are the people

who actually create Canadian music.

Without us, there would be no music

for copyright laws to protect.” The

new association opposes legislation that

would mostly enable Big Media to sue

the very fans who love the music, as hap-

pens regularly in the US, and as CRIA

itself has tried (unsuccessfully) to do in

Canada.

Amusingly enough, the CMCC,

probably deliberately, has patterned its

name after the Canadian Value of Music

Coalition. That was a CRIA program to

convince music downloaders that they

were hurting the very musicians they

love. The CMCC reply: “Suing our fans

is destructive and hypocritical, digital

locks are risky and counterproductive,

and cultural policy should support actual

Canadian artists.”

Did we mention that CRIA supports

big record labels? Many Canadian art-

ists are signed to smaller labels, such as

Anthem, Aquarius and True North. Six

Canadian labels, including those three,

have pulled out of CRIA. Their letter

to CRIA says that, “We do not feel that

we can remain members given CRIA’s

decision to advocate solely on behalf of

the four major foreign multi-national

labels.”

There is another record company

group in Canada, the Canadian Inde-

pendent Record Production Associa-

tion (CIRPA). And that association has

picked up six more labels.

As for the Member of Parliament who

had piloted the failed DRM bill through

the last parliament, he was personally

defeated in the January election.

That’s the plural of erratum, as you

probably know even if you flunked Latin,

and it means “mistakes.”

You’d think errors in a magazine

would hide somewhere in the fine print,

where it is hard to see. In fact some of

them pass unseen because they are too

big. There was a major typo on the cover

of UHF No. 59. And you know the worst

part? we actually paid our prepress house

a bonus to do a last moment correction

on a last-moment mistake, and then we

didn’t see the even bigger one! Not until

it was too late at least.

But back to issue No. 75.

Did you see the review of the CEC

5400 integrated amplifier? Only there is

no 5400 amplifier. It was the CEC 5300,

as we would have known if we had looked

more closely at the front panel.

We hear the distributor got anxious

calls from dealers who wanted to know

when they would be getting the first

shipments of the “5400” amps. But at

least we were consistent. We called it

the 5400 every single time.

And another major error was right

on the cover. Again.

You did see it, didn’t you?

Cleaning up your CD player

The Milty cleaning disc (shown on the previous page) has a series of fine

brushes to clean the lens of your CD or DVD player, without danger of dam-

age. We use ours once a month. See the insert for The Audiophile Store, which

begins on page 55.

ADVERTISERS

DRM in

Canada

Errata

Goodbye Alexis, Hello Venice

ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 79

Is music important to all humans?

I would say so, and it explains why

the first humans began to make

music even before they discovered

fire, or weapons with which to kill other

humans. We know, because we’ve found

remains of their instruments.

We also know that music is not lis-

tened to the same way by everyone. For a

substantial portion of the world popula-

tion, music has a deep importance, and

is listened to with a certain intensity and

concentration. That would be the case

of audiophiles, of course. For others,

it is the superficial aspects of music

that are important. I suppose that may

explain the success of “Rhythm” FM

stations…stations, as one wag has it, “for

people who can’t listen to music without

moving their hips.”

But earlier this year I came across a

clue to the mystery: why doesn’t every-

one get involved with music the same

way, and (by extension) why not all music

reproduction systems are “involving.”

When I’m on an airplane I don’t

buy the headphones and listen to the

airline’s canned music channels. But

when I was on my way to Vegas in

January, I brought along the magazine’s

iPod, chock full of albums encoded in

lossless compression. I also brought

along a pair of headphones with noise

cancellation: a little microphone picks

up ambient rumble and reproduces it in

reverse phase to cancel it out at the ear.

On the first aircraft, a Boeing 737, that

worked well. But after changing planes at

Detroit I found myself near the tail of a

767, and the headphones could no longer

do more than make a minor dent in the

noise level. The result was a disturbing

discovery. Everyone was singing out of

tune!

No, not really out of tune, but I could

no longer tell whether they were in tune.

I tried some recordings by singers whose

pitch I knew to be particularly accurate:

soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian doing the

songs of Pauline Viardot (on Analekta),

or Margie Gibson singing Irving Berlin

(on Sheffield). For all I could tell they

might be way off the right note. What

was going on here? Is this what it’s like

to have a tin ear?

Now I need to be careful here,

because “tin ear” is one of those epithets

you don’t toss off at anyone bigger than

you. It’s a value judgement and it will be

taken as such. I have a good ear for pitch,

and as an audiophile you almost certainly

do too. With the subterranean rumbling

of the 767, however, I was no longer sure

of the pitch I was hearing, and that made

music way less interesting.

I wound up looking for other music

and finally settled on the latest Coldplay

album, on which the dominant element

is — you guessed it — rhythm. And even

that wasn’t so hot.

This curious experience got me

thinking about a question that audio-

philes like to talk about: the ability of a

music system to deliver accurate pitch.

As nearly as I can recall, Linn was the

first company to talk about this, advising

listeners to try to repeat a melody in their

heads. The easier that was, the better the

system.

Now that piece of advice made critics

of the high end movement snicker, espe-

cially in the years since digital became

the common home music source. Now

that wow and flutter and other speed

variations are a thing of the past, how

can the pitch of the music be wrong?

It can’t actually be wrong, but it can

certainly be ambiguous. That was what I

experienced on the plane, and also what

I experience when I listen to a system

that doesn’t seem interesting. Maybe the

music is on pitch and maybe it’s not, but

you have to make an effort to tell one

way or the other.

And that realization brought me back

to a phenomenon I came across many

years ago: Shepard’s tones.

First demonstrated in 1964 (though

possibly it had precursors) by R. N.

Shepard, the tones are a series of notes

going up the scale, seemingly forever.

How is it done? Shepard used a computer

to manipulate the harmonic content of

the notes in an interesting way, so as to

make the exact pitch ambiguous. The

result is that you always know what

note you are hearing, but you lose track

of what octave it belongs in. You can

hear them at www.uhfmag.com/Tech/

Shepard.html.

Once the plane had landed I was

relieved to find that my sense of pitch

had recovered just fine, and the music

packed into my iPod was enjoyable once

again.

The fundamental building blocks of

music, which give music both its mean-

ing and its emotional impact, are melody,

harmony and rhythm. Muck them up, or

even make them ambiguous, and you’ve

just got less music. Either you need to

make an excessive effort to get involved

in what you’re hearing, or you can’t make

it out at all.

This wasn’t new to me, to be sure. I’ve

long used the word “musicality” to refer

to a system’s ability to communicate

music’s powerful message. You have too,

possibly. What the experience on the

plane gave me was a clue as to why some

systems with great specs can’t do it. It’s

not that they get the music wrong, it’s

that you can’t be sure if they get it right

or wrong.

STATE OF THE ART:

THE BOOK

Get the 258-page book

containing the State of the Art

columns from the rst 60 issues

of UHF, with all-new introductions.

See page 4.

State of the Art

by Gerard Rejskind

80 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

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The legendary Van den Hul ampliers and preamps

The international versionof an acclaimed tube headphone amplier. And more.

www.audiophileboutique.com

audiophileboutique.com

a division of Broadcast Canada

Box 65085, Place Longueuil, Longueuil, QC, Canada J4K 5J4

(450) 651-5720

contact@audiophileboutique.com

The new Roksan M Series-1

Justice Audio

111 Zenway Blvd., Unit 9

WOODBRIDGE, ON L4H 3H9

Tel. : (905) 265-8675 • Fax : (905) 265-8595

www.justiceaudio.com

sales@justiceaudio.com

SEE AND HEAR THEM AT

THESE ROKSAN DEALERS

ACROSS CANADA

Spinners Sound

Kamloops, BC (250) 372-5248

Signature Audio

Vancouver, BC (604) 873-6682

Creekside Audio

Kelowna, BC (250) 878-6252

Audio Room

Calgary, AB (403) 228-1103

Loyalty Sound

Calgary, AB (403) 244-8843

Everest Audio

Regina, SK (306) 536-3884

Advance Electronics

Winnipeg, MB (204) 786-6541

Audio Excellence

Richmond Hill, ON (905)

881-7109

Audio Excellence

Toronto, ON (416) 413-0002

Applause Audio

Toronto, ON (416)465-7649

Oakville Audio

Oakville, ON (905) 338-6609

Arcadia Audio

Brampton, ON (416) 994-5571

Audio Two

Windsor, ON (519) 979-7101

Distinctive Audio

Ottawa, ON (613) 722-6902

Layton Audio

Montreal, QC (514) 866-1578

Audioville

Montreal, QC (514) 861-8050

Atelier Electro-Acoustique

Trois-Rivieres, QC

(819) 373-7628

Brooklyn Audio

Dartmouth, NS (902) 463-8773

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