Denon RCD-CX1 SACD/CD receiver: $1500
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The ATC SCM 11 is a fully-ready-for-prime-time loudspeaker with excellent resolution and dynamics, etc., but, even more important, the ability to create musical involvement. I intended to listen to just one track's worth of Gregorian chant from Consortium Vocale Oslo's Exaudium Eum (SACD, 2L 2L43SACD), and ended up listening to the whole thing. What more can I say? What I can't say is whether the SCM 11 will be the ideal speaker for you. But between it and Aerial's 5B, you have two super-high-value choices in the $2000/pair region.
The SC-CX303 is a great little speaker. I respected the PSB Imagine B, which I wrote about in February, but I just loved the Denon. I'll be very interested in seeing a comparison of the speakers' measurements. My guess is that the Denon will measure a bit fuller and warmer in the midrange, perhaps even the inverse of the "smile EQ" effect. The SC-CX303 had more of an attractive richness of sound than actual deep bass.
Such things matter more to some than to others, but I think a pair of SC-CX303s look, if not quite like a million bucks, then at least more like $2000 than $1200. There's…
Sidebar: Contacts
ATC Loudspeaker Technology Ltd., Gypsy Lane, Aston Down, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 8HR, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1285-760561. Fax: (44) (0)1285-760683. Web: www.atc.gb.net. US distributor: Flat Earth Audio, 98 Main Street, Seymour, CT 06483. Tel: (888) 653-5454, (203) 888-3759. Fax: (203) 888-3769. Web: www.flatearthaudio.com.
Denon Electronics, Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2041. Tel: (201) 762-6500. Fax: (201) 762-6670. Web: www.usa.denon.com.
She responds as expected to the only sound: hysterical voices!—Brian Eno
It certainly ought to be simple: Put together a music system using the finest components; acclimate yourself to its sound using only the finest recordings; replace one component in the system with something new; listen to the changes; and write about the experience in 10,000 words or more.
That's how it used be done, when audio's alternative press was green in judgment. I remember, in particular, a few seasons' worth of surveys in which kings were crowned and duds dismissed with great grandeur and…
Regardless, I wasn't surprised that the audible distinctions were small: Common sense, which used to grow wild around these parts, would lead one to believe that replacing 5% or 10% of all the cabling in a domestic audio system shouldn't be that noticeable.
In a roundabout sort of way, that point of view is echoed by another cable maker, the New England–based Nordost Corporation. Earlier this year, Roy Gregory—who joined Nordost after departing The Abso!ute Sound and Hi-Fi+, the latter of which he founded some years ago—got in touch to say that he and Nordost founder Joe Reynolds had…
Those cables were all quite affordable by contemporary high-end audio standards. By comparison, the Nordost cables that Gregory and Reynolds left in my system were somewhat more expensive, if not quite at the top of their line: Tyr loudspeaker cable ($4999/2m pair, terminated with low-mass bananas), Tyr shielded interconnect pairs ($1899/1m pair, terminated with WBT locking plugs), and Vishnu AC cords ($549/m, terminated with Wattgate gold-plated plugs). Not meaning to be facetious, it seemed that I could swap my own cables back in without risking too much of a disturbance in the Force, and…
Sidebar: Contacts
Nordost Corporation, 200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, MA 01721. Tel : (800) 836-27501, (508) 881-1116. Fax: (508) 881-6444. Web: www.nordost.com.
Quantum Resonant Technology, 1507 Seventh Street #270, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Web: www.quantumqrt.com.
Teo Audio, 2551 Highway 2 E., Kingston, Ontario K7L 4V1, Canada. Web: www.teoaudio.com. US distributor: Brian Kurtz, 1813 Medio Calle, Austin, TX 78733. Tel: (512) 377-2834. Fax: (512) 233-5399. E-mail: sales@teoaudio.com.
Vertex AQ. Tel: (44) (0)1597-825993. Web: www.vertexaq.com.
Step 1: Find something that works. Step 2: Use it. Step 3: Repeat as necessary, then retire.
That doesn't work everywhere—the arts are inhospitable—but for those with less lofty goals, it's nice to have a formula, especially a good one. The people behind the PrimaLuna line of audio electronics probably know that as well as anyone. A few years ago they combined a unique amplifier design with a similarly distinctive business model to create the ProLogue One, a product known for both value and reliability: the former by combining Chinese assembly with European (in this case, Dutch) quality…
Notwithstanding unrectified current on all tube heaters, the Sevens never hummed—another testament to their excellent layout and construction. There were no unwanted noises of any sort, in fact, except for a soft and apparently harmless click that I heard when using the remote control to switch between triode and ultralinear modes (which, incidentally, is the handset's only function). The only problem I experienced was when the handset became taciturn, seemingly overnight, and would no longer work from distances of greater than a foot. I attempted a battery change, but became listless…
I was very impressed with the Essence's reproduction of the great Clifford Curzon recording of Brahms' Piano Concerto 1, with George Szell and the London Symphony Orchestra (LP, Decca/Speakers Corner SXL 6023). From the very first notes, all of the sonic attributes one might hope for from such a product were in place, including powerful, surprisingly well-extended bass, very good string color and texture, and—again—a big, spacious soundfield. Yet the Essence's musical attributes were equally obvious and compelling, including an almost uniquely clear exposition of the timing between the…