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Recording of February 2010: <I>Orchestrion</I>

Pat Metheny Orchestrion
Pat Metheny, guitars, orchestrion programming.
Nonesuch 516668-2/-1 (CD/LP). 2010. Pat Metheny, prod.; eng. AAD? TT: 52:06
Performance ****
Sonics ****

As silly as it sounds now, there was a time not so long ago when musicians were certain that the drum machine was the big bad wolf. Musicians everywhere wrung their hands at how it was the beginning of the end of live music; how hordes of unemployed drummers would soon be wandering the streets; how it was only a matter of time until acoustic instruments in general were on the way out, to be replaced…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker

Almost every assumption you might make about Vienna Acoustics' Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker by looking at it would be wrong. It is not a stand-mounted two-way loudspeaker. It's a three-way, with a coincident tweeter-midrange. And that ain't no stand—it's an integral part of the speaker. It does not have a conventional cabinet—there are two separate enclosures, complete with micrometer control of both vertical and horizontal axes. And those sure aren't plain-vanilla drive-units—they're about as unique as they come.

When I say you, of course, I mean I. When I first saw The Kiss ($16…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker Page 2

Although The Kiss is (sort of) a stand-mounted speaker, dainty it ain't. Almost 2' deep, it occupies about the same footprint as many floorstanders. Also, despite a higher-than-average specified sensitivity of 89dB, it wants a bit of welly from accompanying amplifiers.

My only other setup-related thought is that the asymmetrical stands may not anchor The Kiss as well as a less stylish solution might. Even with meticulous leveling, mine rocked a bit, until I placed 25-lb York barbell plates on their bases—inelegant but effective.

Kill then, and bliss me / But first come kiss me…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker Page 3

However, Zappa also leavened all his studio tinkering with substantial sections of essentially unaltered live recordings. "Little House" includes some of the most extended such passages, and, as The Kisses reminded me, is an awfully good example of how excellent the Mothers could sound on the right night in a good hall. But back to those drums: they really knocked me out through the Vienna Acoustics. They were alive and in the hall, with loads of air and crunch.

I'm pretty sure, based on the lack of fancy drum flourishes, that it's Jimmy Carl Black bashing the skins, and I have to…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker with integral stand. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) enter-vented silk-dome tweeter coincident with 7" (180mm) proprietary Flat-Spider-Cone midrange; 9" (230mm) proprietary Spider-Cone woofer. Frequency range: 36Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 50–180W.
Dimensions: Loudspeaker: 21.3" (540mm) H by 10.75" (273mm) W by 21.3" (540mm) D. Weight: 95 lbs (43kg). Stand: 29" (730mm) H (including spikes) by 10.75" (273mm) W by 21" (530mm) D. Weight: 50 lbs (23kg) each.…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; Apple 1.33GHz iBook (2GB RAM) with 250GB LaCie external hard drive & 3TB Infrant Technologies NAS drive; Ayre QB-9, Bel Canto e.One DAC3 D/A converters; Bel Canto USB Link 24/96 USB-S/PDIF converter.
Preamplifiers: Aesthetix Calypso, Ayre K-1xe.
Power Amplifiers: Aesthetix Atlas, Balanced Audio Technologies VK-55SE, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five, Klipsch Palladium P-39F, Thiel CS3.7.
Cables: USB: USB: EntreQ Discover. Interconnects: Shunyata Research…

Vienna Acoustics Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Other than the in-room and nearfield measurements, for which I used an Earthworks QTC-40, the quasi-anechoic measurements of Vienna Acoustics' Klimt The Kiss were all performed using DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. The Kiss's voltage sensitivity is specified as 89.0dB/2.83V/m; my estimate of this was significantly lower, at 86.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. This was not unexpected, as the speaker didn't play appreciably louder (at the same drive level) as the Denon SC-CX303, which has a measured sensitivity of 85.6dB (and which I write about…

Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player

Playback Designs was founded less than three years ago. However, with the release in 2008 of its MPS-5 Music Playback System—a slim, full-featured SACD/CD player and DAC that costs $15,000 and is built in the US—the company has since established itself as a significant player in high-performance digital audio.

It's probably a prejudice, but in audio, we tend to associate individual design achievement with analog equipment (phono cartridges, loudspeakers), and anonymous group effort with digital gear. How many enthusiasts of SACD are familiar with Playback Designs' Andreas Koch…

Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player Page 2

The upper one of the MPS-5's two well-lit, generously sized front-panel screens displays the sample-rate and input status; the lower displays the disc track and time information. However, neither displays the track text information that is included on SACDs. The backlit remote control of milled aluminum is equally ergonomic. From it you can select among the various inputs, eject a disc, mute the output, invert absolute phase, dim the displays, switch between a hybrid disc's SACD and CD layers (after first pressing Stop), switch from two- to multichannel output, change the transport's time-…

Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player Page 3

Between the departure of the dCS and the arrival of the Playback Designs, I paired the Sooloos with the DAC section of the Musical Fidelity DM25 CD player. Not surprisingly, given the Scarlatti's stellar sound, this was a big disappointment. The sound was warmed-over, smooth, and somewhat distant: inoffensive, but bland and uninvolving.

The MPS-5 doesn't let you choose the upsampling rate: You're locked into double DSD. Would that produce an even more lush, less detailed sound than the dCS at DSD resolution? That was what I expected, and, right out of the box, that was generally how the…