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I tried to precondition the Creek Destiny by running it at one-third its specified power into 8 ohms for one hour with both channels driven. However, it shut itself off after 20 minutes, and the area of the top panel over its internal heatsinks was very hot. Pressing the Standby button brought the amplifier back into operation.

Looking first at the Destiny's preamplifier section, in passive mode the maximum voltage gain, measured at the preamp-out jacks, was 0dB, as expected. Also as expected, the input impedance varied according to the setting of the…

When I reviewed the Destiny integrated amplifier in January 2007, Creek Audio had not yet released that model's plug-in moving-magnet and moving-coil phono-stage boards, now available for $500 each. I've since received the MM board and have put it through my usual battery of tests. As you'd expect from the price, these plug-in boards are more elaborate and complex than those available with other Creek products.

The MM board uses a split-rail (±15V) power supply with twice the usual number of pins, to allow for separate…

After a recent stroll through a book about the graves of rock stars (see "Aural Robert," January 2006), I did a little web research and found out that rock stars die at an average age of 36.9. (For the rest of us, the average is 75.8.) Of the top 300 or so best-known dead rock musicians, 18 have been murdered, 3 electrocuted, and 5…

T-Bone Blues is a rare exception to the rule that artists' rerecordings of their own hits don't measure up to the originals. First released in 1959, it reprises such 1940s classics as "Mean Old World," "T-Bone Shuffle," and the inevitable "Call It Stormy Monday." Blunting the raw edge and dropping the swing feel of his earlier recordings, Walker finds a mellower groove, with longer guitar solos and better…

The East Village Opera Company features rock arrangements of such well-known arias as "Un Bel Di," "La Donna e Mobile," and "Nessun Dorma." Sounds like a candidate for the most embarrassing crossover recording…

Holed up in Sammy Davis, Jr.'s, Hollywood Hills pool house, the Canadian-American aggregate known as The Band produced and recorded one of the great albums of the 1960s—one that somehow managed to capture the feel of Civil War America with the authority of a Matthew Brady daguerreotype. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up On Cripple Creek" may be better known, but the album's quiet masterpieces are "…

This 2004 release is a perfect example of familiarity breeding ennui, if not quite contempt: it was ignored. As in every other one of Keb' Mo's albums, the sound is delicious: rich, rolling, natural, with the kind of authentic twang that sends chills up and down spines. But this time, instead of reverential blues updates, the fiftysomething singer covered the great peace'n'love songs of the hippie era. Opening with…

I tried to ignore the hype surrounding Sufjan Stevens' ambitious plan to record a tribute album for each of our 50 states. It sounded like some sort of hyperintellectual hipster gimmick. And really: How would he ever make it to 50? I would not make the commitment. Michigan came and went. Illinois arrived and I shrugged my shoulders.

When my stubbornness finally collapsed beneath the recommendation of a music-loving friend, I…

This group of fastidious German electronic composers influenced the development of hip-hop, house, and other electronic dance forms. They have now released this two-CD document of highlights from their 2005 world tour. Their best material of the last 30 years has been rearranged and remixed to take advantage of the state of the art of digital synthesis and sound manipulation, and the maturity and subtlety of these…

For my money, no contemporary songwriter has made a more solid series of CDs over the past decade than Steve Earle. With its jaw-dropping arc of Beatlesesque folk-rock-hard-country-Celtic treasures, Transcendental Blues is the best of the best, transcending genre and expectations. Earle has become more overtly political since 9/11 and the Iraq War, but this is still his most elegant collection of masterfully tuneful and heart-…