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2015 Records to Die For Page 7

MARKUS SAUER

Vincent Segal: T-Bone Guarnerius
Vincent Segal, electric & acoustic cello; Magic Malik, flute, vocals; Glenn Ferris, trombone; Gilles Coronado, Seb Martel, guitar; Piers Faccini, guitar, vocals; Vic Mona, mandolin; Pascal Palisco, accordion; Mama Chandja, vocals
Label Bleu LBLC 6646 (CD). 2003. Pierre Walfisz, prod.; Philippe Teissier Du Cros, eng. ADD? TT: 66:06

Hot on the heels of my selection for R2D4 2014 of Chamber Music, his collaboration with Ballaké Sissoko, let me introduce you to another Vincent Segal album. T-Bone Guarnerius…

darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier Mk.2 Measurements

darTZeel NHB-18NS Mk.2 Measurements, from February 2022 (Vol.45 No.2):

After Michael Fremer reviewed the darTZeel NHB-18NS full-function preamplifier in the June 2006 issue of Stereophile, he bought the review sample. He subsequently replaced it with the NHB-18NS Mk.2, which he wrote about in June 2017. It has been his reference preamplifier ever since.

Although I performed a complete set of measurements on the original NHB-18NS, I never did so on the Mk.2. As darTZeel had sent a new sample of the Mk.2 along with the NHB-108 Model Two power amplifier that Jason Victor Serinus will…

R2D4 2022: Death-Defying Tunes Page 6

Kalman Rubinson

Ferdinand Ries: Chamber Music: Octet Op.128, Sextet Op.142, String Trio Woo 70.2
Franz Ensemble with Jonathan Wegloop, horn; Emily Hoile, harp
MDG Scene MDG 903 2136-6 (SACD). 2019. Werner Dabringhaus, Reimund Grimm, prods.; Werner Dabringhaus, Tonmeister.

Ferdinand Ries was Beethoven's student and the pianist at the premiere of his Third piano concerto (although they later parted ways). Ries's music is skillful, and it clearly shows Beethoven's influence, even if it falls short of his genius. He does however offer a stylish charm,…

Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia V loudspeaker Page 2

Readers familiar with the Alexia Series 2 will note several differences in size and shape. The width of the woofer enclosure—hence of the speaker itself—was increased by about ¼", depth by 1¼". The internal volume of the woofer enclosure is about 9% larger, that of the midrange enclosure 6.4% larger. Daryl says this allows for "a little more low-frequency extension and alacrity in the bass and a bit more midrange bloom." Not visible from the outside are more elaborate diffusers used inside the midrange enclosure. Sensitivity is claimed to have increased by 1dB, from 89 to 90, and crossover…

Capturing it Live with Peter McGrath

Ever since I encountered Wilson Audio Specialties' Peter McGrath (above) playing his own digital recordings at audio shows, hanging out in the Wilson Audio room has proven the consistent highlight of my show coverage experience. Where else could I have heard, on systems featuring, as well as Wilson speakers, superb components that frequently included gear from dCS, Spiral Groove, Lyra, VTL, Audio Research, Transparent, and Nordost, live, unreleased hi-rez recordings from the likes of pianists Benjamin Grosvenor, violinist James Ehnes, Anonymous 4, Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI, the New World…

Do We Need A High-End Audio Industry Association?

As I was scanning the comments under Jason Victor Serinus's insightful piece, "What If They Gave a CES and Nobody Came?", Bill Leebens's words caught my eye (footnote 1). "[ . . . ] several subsequent attempts to form industry associations have come and gone. I was involved in them all, and even I can't remember all their names!" wrote the industry veteran of 40 years (and counting).

Being the (relatively) new audiophile on the block with high hopes to entice the masses, the concept of forming a trade body to promote high-end audio was immediately appealing to me. Dying to know more, I…

ENIGMAcoustics Sopranino electrostatic supertweeter

For Jason Victor Serinus, one of the highlights of the 2013 T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, California, was the public debut of the Sopranino—a horn-loaded, self-polarized, electrostatic supertweeter from EnigmAcoustics. In his report, Jason wrote about the sound of a pair of Sopraninos used atop Magico V3 speakers: "only folks with severe hearing loss would have missed how the sound opened up when the Sopranino was switched in." Well, as you can read later, I don't have hearing loss, and I did also hear an improvement with the Sopranino. So when I visited the Californian company's dem room…

T.H.E Show 2014: Bringing it All Home

There I was, making my way room-to-room toward the end of the show when suddenly Jeffrey Catalano of New York City's "2 channel with attitude" High Water Sound appears.

"Aren't you coming to my room on the 10th floor?" asks a man who clearly has been hounding the hallways, asking everyone he knows if they've seen Jason Victor Serinus.

"OMG," says I. "I've already covered all the rooms I had time to cover on the 10th floor. Yours must have been so full that I gave up and skipped it."

Well, you know what happened next. Jeffrey's reputation for luring man and beast to his…

Margules Audio U280-SC Black power amplifier Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I measured one of the the Margules U280-SC Blacks (S/N B-50003950517) using my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). With two modes of output stage—Triode and Ultralinear—three choices of output-transformer tap, and the option of having its two channels strapped for mono operation, the Margules U280-SC is actually 14 different amplifiers in one enclosure. Although Jason Victor Serinus exclusively used the amplifiers as a pair of monoblocks, I performed a complete set of measurements for all 14 mono and stereo modes…

2013 Records To Die For Page 6

ROBERT J. REINA

Horacee Arnold: Tales of the Exonerated Flea
Horacee Arnold, drums; Art Webb, flute; Sonny Fortune, saxophone; John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, guitar; Jan Hammer, keyboards; David Friedman, vibes; Clint Houston, Rick Laird, George Mraz, bass; Dom Um Romao, percussion
Columbia KC 32869 (LP; 2 CD reissues also available). 1974. Horacee Arnold, prod.; Buddy Graham, Frank Laico, Stan Tonkel, engs. AAA. TT: 44:43

I was a jazz-rock fanatic in the 1970s; for me, the genre was the gateway to study other forms of jazz. Today, much of what I listened to…