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Recording of October 2010: <I>Grinderman 2</I>

Grinderman: Grinderman 2
Anti- 87125 (CD). 2010. Grinderman, Nick Launay, prods; Launay, eng. AAD. TT: 41:19
Performance ****½
Sonics ****

Oh, how the menacing have have mellowed. At 52, songwriter, playwright, fashionista, rehabbed junkie, and all-around scary-lookin' dude Nick Cave is submitting to mundane record-business drudgery. like a full day of interviews with Grinderman drummer Jim Sclavunos, in support of their new album, Grinderman 2.

An hour later than scheduled, as I'm being escorted into Cave's inner sanctum at the Soho House, in New York's still weirdly…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player

When it comes to ripping CDs and downloading music, I've been sitting on the sidelines feeling more than a bit of envy. Stereophile's reviews of various media servers have whetted my appetite, but not so much as to overcome my timidity about getting into a new realm of technology in which I would be a beginner all over again. Still, I've sneaked a few peeks.

First, I tried the Meridian Sooloos system and loved it. But at that time the Sooloos didn't play nicely with sources other than ripped CDs. I then borrowed a Sonos WiFi Music System, which worked well enough for streaming…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player Page 2

Day after day, I continued to be impressed with the sound quality of the system as it played these HD downloads, finding them as satisfying as any two-channel discs. I even ripped a few CDs, to compare the sound of the original disc as played by the Oppo BDP-83SE via HDMI into the 861, with the streamed file from the Squeezebox Touch via S/PDIF into the 861. The treble from the disc was a bit smoother, but even that difference disappeared when I turned off the Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor's upsampling and apodizing filter. Now it was Even Steven, but this comparison did tell me that…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player Page 3

Our Connecticut house is of wood-frame construction and far from any major source of RF and EMI contamination, so it was no surprise that our long-resident Belkin F5D8233-4 wireless router did just fine. In Manhattan, however, we live in a steel-and-concrete building, and in a soup of electrical signals so rich it pains me to think about it. Here it was necessary to upgrade to Belkin's latest wireless router, the Play Max N+N300, which provided clear, glitch-free play of HD files via the Touch in almost all situations. In more remote rooms of our apartment, Internet and CD-resolution…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Music player with WiFi & Ethernet inputs, 4.3" color touchscreen. Outputs: stereo analog (RCA), digital coaxial (RCA), TosLink, headphone on 3.5mm stereo jack. Music formats supported: MP3, FLAC, WMA standard & Lossless (by internal conversion), WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, HD-AAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey's Audio (by internal conversion). Internet radio support for MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC/HE-AACv2, WMA. USB & SD card ports for picture and music files. Maximum audio resolution: 24-bit/96kHz. Remote control included. System…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Manhattan System
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics DX-5, Oppo BDP-83SE universal players.
Desktop System: Meridian F80.
Preamplification: Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processor & 861 Reference v4 digital surround controller, Parasound Halo P7 multichannel analog preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: McIntosh MC303 (three-channel), Bel Canto Design REF1000 Mk.II (monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: B&W 802D.
Cables: HDMI: van den Hul Flat 180, AudioQuest Vodka. USB: AudioQuest Carbon. Interconnect: AudioQuest Cheetah/DBS balanced. Speaker: AudioQuest…

Logitech Squeezebox Touch network music player Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

To measure Logitech's Squeezebox Touch, I used Stereophile's loaner Audio Precision SYS2722 system. (See www.ap.com and "As We See It" in the January 2008 issue.) For some tests I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Jitter Analyzer. I used audio files fed to the Touch both over my WiFi network from my iTunes library and on a solid-state USB drive plugged into the Squeezebox. (For the latter condition, a version of the Squeezebox Server program runs on the Touch itself). The WiFi performance was a lot more robust than my old…

Gradient SW-57 subwoofer

There are two kinds of audiophiles: those who own original Quad ESL speakers and those who don't (footnote 1). This review is for the former, although the latter may find it of some interest. The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer attempts to do for the original Quad (footnote 2) what Gradient's SW-63 (footnote 3) does for the Quad ESL-63: supply the bottom octave while relieving the ESLs of the strain of reproducing low bass.

The Gradient SW-57 subwoofer utilizes two 8" woofers in a free-air enclosure. This technique attempts to mimic the dipole radiation pattern of the original Quad ESL. The SW-…

Electron Kinetics Eagle 2 power amplifier JGH & Sam Again

J. Gordon Holt commented again on the Eagle 2A in December 1985 (Vol.8 No.7):

The only solid-state amplifier I've encountered that competes with the Conrad-Johnson Premier Five's middle range is the Electron Kinetics Eagle 2, which has better bass, but not as suavely musical a high end as the Five. (On the other hand, it's a bit less than one sixth the price.)

One of the best arrangements I came up with while working with the Fives involved using them to drive the upper-range electrostatic panels of the MartinLogan Monoliths, while biamping the low end with the Eagle 2 and a…

Electron Kinetics Eagle 2 power amplifier Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Solid-state, stereo power amplifier. Rated power: 120Wpc into 8 ohms. Power bandwidth: DC-200 kHz. Peak output current: 50A. S/N Ratio: >100dB (no reference level given). Input impedance: 100k ohms.
Price: $895 (1985); no longer available (2009).
Manufacturer: Electron Kinetics, Inc., Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403 (1985). Company no longer in existence (2009).