Ideally, through the medium of a synergistically balanced set of high-resolution components, we seek to re-create an acoustic event with a palpable sense of realism—as in timbre, dynamics, room cues, and dimensionality. Have I ever experienced a system commensurate with the experience of sitting 12th-row-center at Carnegie Hall for Boulez conducting Stravinsky? Close, but...
Dynaudio's $2399/pair Contour 1.3 Mk.II follows on from the Mk.I, which grabbed Russ Novak's enthusiastic attention in November 1996 (Vol.19 No.11). Because a full description was included in the original review, I will only touch briefly on the differences between the original version and the sample reviewed this month. A Special Edition of the Contour 1.3 is also available for $3499/pair. Sam Tellig's comments on the sound of this loudspeaker appeared in the December 1999 <I>Stereophile</I> and are included at the end of this review.
This week's <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/soapbox.shtml">Soapbox</A> has Martin Bruczkowski pondering how much power is being wasted by audiophiles who leave large systems on 24/7. What are <I>your</I> power habits?
Real businesses are moving into territory explored by the upstarts. On August 2, <A HREF="http://www.umusic.com/">Universal Music Group</A>, the world's largest record label, announced that it will begin offering, on a trial basis, digital downloads of recordings from its massive catalog. The experiment is scheduled to begin this week, with an initial offering of about 60 songs from artists in several genres, including operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, jazz guitarist George Benson, and pop band Blink 182.
The consumer-electronics industry is riding the wave of a still-booming economy, according to most mid-year reports. Although the generally rosy picture is marred by a few glitches, both equipment makers and retailers say that sales continue to soar.
Longtime audiophiles no doubt remember Hafler for their early amp and preamp kits, which offered excellent value for the money. The company soon dropped the kits, but continued production with a complete line of popular amps and preamps throughout the '80s and early '90s, only to hit hard times as the audio recession kicked in.
In his review of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//amplificationreviews/253/">Sharp SM-SX100 digital integrated amplifier</A>, Michael Fremer asks: "why would a sharp mind offer a $15,000 integrated <I>digital</I> amplifier to a reviewer who has been characterized in the audio press as the 'self-proclaimed Analog Messiah' and a 'hyper-Luddite'?" Would Fremer actually cotton to a digitized vinyl recording? Read Fremer's report for the startling conclusion.
The good news keeps coming. According to the lastest figures from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), the month of May echoed <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/10773/">previous months</A>' continuous increase in audio product sales, with monthly revenues up 11% and year-to-date revenues up 12%, to $3.1 billion.
We all have to start somewhere. What would <I>you</I> recommend to someone assembling a first audio system, and how much would it cost?