Some say the first step in getting good sound is picking the right room for the system. Others find ways for a system to work in almost any environment. Which has a greater effect in the sound: the speakers or the room? Why?
How much amplifier power do you need? Most audiophiles figure a maximum of a few hundred watts per channel—beyond that, you're wasting your money or showing off. Others think that anything more than a few watts will mess up an amplifier's musical coherence or "purity," so they stop there and find uncommonly sensitive speakers, usually compression horns with cone woofers.
"Onkyo Returns to its Stereo Roots to Debut New Digital Amplifier Technology." This heading of the press release for Onkyo's A-9555 digital integrated amplifier was surely intended to warm the cockles of the two-channel audiophile's heart. Some of us remember the Onkyo Grand Integra amplifiers of the 1980s, which were considered competitive with the big Krells and Mark Levinsons of the day. To refresh my memory, I looked through my <I>Stereophile</I> archives and found the December 1985 issue (Vol.8 No.8), which included Larry Greenhill's review of the Grand Integra M-510, a 300Wpc power amplifier covered in lacquered persimmon wood, weighing 139 lbs, and costing $4200 (about $8000 in 2007 dollars). Larry was most impressed with the M-510, describing it as "a very powerful amplifier with outstanding sonics across the board—power with delicacy."
<B>J.S. BACH: <I>The Goldberg Variations</I>, BWV 988</B><BR>
Glenn Gould, piano (1955); Yamaha Disklavier Pro piano, "Re-Performance" by Zenph Studios
Sony Classical 8697-03350-2 (SACD/CD). 2007. Howard H. Scott, prod. (1955 mono sessions); Steven Epstein, prod. (2007 stereo, multichannel, and binaural sessions); Peter Cook, Richard King, eng. (2007); Dennis Patterson, asst. eng. (2007); Marc Wienert, piano voicer (worked with Gould); Ron Giesbrecht, calibration. Zenph project team: Mikhail Krishtal, Anatoly Larkin, Peter J. Schwaller, John Q. Walker. DDD. TT: 77:02. <BR>
Performance *****<BR>
Sonics ****
When I saw Linn's <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/cedia2007/090809klimax/">Klimax DS</A> at CEDIA, I was impressed by the company's claim that it sounded "better than a CD12," the marque's (now discontinued) <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/86/">flagship CD player</A> for many years. Quite a claim, I thought, but I wasn't able to make it to a nearby hotel and actually <I>hear</I> the DS in action.
Pure Pleasure Records is a British audiophile-label that—like the stateside Analogue Productions, Classic Records, and Cisco Recordings—reissues blue-chip jazz albums on pristine virgin vinyl. Pure Pleasure’s focus is the catalogue of Candid Records, an adventurous label that lasted only from 1960-61, with critic Nat Hentoff in charge of A&R. In the past few years, PPR has released such essential works of modern jazz as <I>The Newport Rebels</I>, <I>Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus</I>, and Max Roach’s <I>We Insist!</I> But its latest reissue, trumpeter Booker Little’s <I>Out Front</I>, is a revelation. Little was 23 when he recorded this, his fourth and final album as a leader; he died of uremia just six months later—a huge loss for the music.
Thomas P. Colangelo, designer of some of the best regarded solid-state components of the last three decades, died in a single-car collision on September 5.
Bagheera thinks the space between the preamp and the upper shelf is exactly cat-sized.
Huckleberry thinks I don't have sufficient respect for nap time.