The Glimmer Twins were right: If you can't always get what you want, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. Take Ayre's K-1 preamplifier, for instance. I'd been trying to get Ayre to send me their $3750 V-3 power amplifier since the moment I started writing for <I>Stereophile</I>; after approximately a year and a half, I finally got a phone call from then Marketing Director Bruce Van Allen.
With 25 years of experience in sound recording, audio retailing, and loudspeaker design and manufacturing, Ken Kreisel has insightful things to say about just about any audio-related subject. The president of Miller & Kreisel Sound Corp. (M&K), Kreisel pioneered the satellite/subwoofer speaker concept that laid the groundwork for the home theaters of today. M&K's most recent offering—the S-150THX surround speaker system—is reviewed in this issue (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/137/">archived article</A>).
In the summer of 1996, <I>SGHT</I> editor Lawrence Ullman made me an offer I couldn't refuse: "Wes," he asked, "how would you like to review M&K's new THX speaker package?"
There has been much argument in audiophile circles about whether an LP or a CD is a more faithful representation of a master tape. Although we recorded Robert Silverman's thrilling performance of the Liszt B-Minor Piano Sonata for <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//features/131/">CD release</A>, we also had in mind to issue an LP. As the source for both would be the same, the question we can answer is: Will an LP cut straight from a 20-bit master tape via a Class A 20-bit DAC sound closer than a CD noise-shaped to 16 bits from the same 20-bit original?
<B>MILES DAVIS QUINTET: <I>The Great Prestige Recordings</I></B><BR> Includes: <I>The New Miles Davis Quintet</I>, <I>Cookin'</I>, <I>Relaxin'</I>, <I>Workin'</I>, <I>Steamin'</I><BR> Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.<BR> Analogue Productions APJ 035 (5 LPs). 1996. Bob Weinstock, original prod.; Rudy Van Gelder, original eng.; Chad Kassem, reissue prod.; Stan Ricker, mastering eng. AAA. TT: 3:11:09<BR> Music <B>*****</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>
My name is Wes and I enjoy listening to music on headphones.
<B>THEATER OF VOICES: <I>The Age of Cathedrals</I></B><BR> Paul Elliott, Alan Bennet; Theater of Voices: Neal Rogers, Mark Daniel, Hugh Davies, Tom Hart, Boyd Jarrell; Paul Hillier, dir.<BR> Harmonia Mundi France HMC 907157 (CD only). Robina G. Young, prod.; Craig Silvey, eng. AAD? 1996. TT: 77:18<BR> Performance <B>******</B><BR> Sonics <B>*****</B>
<B><I>The justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men.</I>—Glenn Gould</B>