LATEST ADDITIONS

A few issues back, in my review of the Mark Levinson No.26 and No.20 (May 1988, Vol.11 No.5), I mused on the fact that the preamplifier, being the heart of a system, had a more significant effect on sound quality in the long term than, say, the loudspeakers. It was worth spending more on a preamplifier, therefore, than on loudspeakers. Needless to say, this viewpoint was regarded by many readers as dangerously heretical. I decided, therefore, to investigate the sonic possibilities of budget-priced preamps in this issue, even the most expensive being less than one-tenth the price of the Mark Levinson.

Some audio products deliver truly superb sound of a kind that really makes all the frustrations of building a high-end system worthwhile; they also require exceptional attention and care. The Counterpoint SA-4 is a case in point. With the right speakers, it competes for the title of "Most Transparent Amplifier Available at Any Price." On the other hand, this amplifier steadily loses output power as speaker impedance drops; it must be carefully matched to the right speaker. Then, and only then, can it produce one of the finest musical experiences available.

The super cool Rudy Dupuy of Dupuy Acoustique (in Congers, NY) says he used to make loudspeakers, but then he realized that the time-delayed and out-of-phase reflections from the wall behind the speakers always sabotaged any hope of loudspeaker coherence. So he stopped making speakers and developed the tunable Phase Restoration Acoustical Panel (PRAP).

On the morning of November 9th, 2018, Stereophile's caffeinated crew of Jim Austin, Sasha Matson, Herb Reichert, and myself arrived at the New York Audio Show with the intention to invade each exhibitor's room as an opinion-bearing, glad-handing tribe. ("Hello—we've come from Stereophile to put fear into your heart and a quick step to your cueing finger. Now play me some Nils Lofgren!")

Saturday, November 17, all day, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Court, #101, San Diego, CA 92111) is holding an open house to introduce what they call Dan D'Agostino's masterpiece, the Relentless Monoblock, to the Southern California public. The Relentless power amplifiers will be used to power YG Acoustics' Sonja XV loudspeakers, which are also making their debut in Southern California. The Sonja XV is an extreme, four-tower version of the Sonja. It incorporates everything YG knows about speaker design and was created to celebrate YG's 15th anniversary.

Joan Baez In Concert, Part 2
Joan Baez, vocals, guitar
Vanguard VTC-1679 (tape), VSD-2123 (LP). Maynard Solomon, prod., Reice Hamel, eng. TT: 48:00.

Well, we finally got ourselves equipped to review 4-track open-reel tapes, via a slightly modified Ampex F-44. All the tapes we have auditioned had noticeably higher hiss than the average stereo disc, but this was not loud enough to be distracting except when the tapes were reproduced at very high levels. Even then, we found the smooth, even hiss to be less objectionable than the ticks and pops from some discs played at the same level.

The last time I covered the New York Audio Show it was not, frankly, a great experience. The show was really small. It seemed like everyone was playing Diana Krall or some pop-classical piece from an audiophile label. Nobody, it seemed, dared to play interesting music.