Sidebar: Recordings In The Round
DVORÁK: Cello Concerto; Piano Trio 4, "Dumky"
Jean-Guihen Queyras, cello; Isabelle Faust, violin; Alexander Melnikov, piano; Jiri Belohlavek, Prague Philharmonic
Harmonia Mundi HMC 801867 (SACD)
I can't recommend this one highly enough. Not only are these the best-sounding recordings of the Cello Concerto and the "Dumky" trio available today, they're becoming my favorite performances of these popular works. Too many recordings of the concerto emphasize the work's dramatic sweep almost to the point of vehemence; this one, thanks equally to…
"The public will put up with anything except boredom."—Giuseppe Verdi
Knowing my fondness for good music in general and the songwriter's craft in specific, a friend sent me a link to a recent article in one of Canada's most widely read newspapers, the National Post (COREX) In it, writing from Saskatoon, a fellow by the name of Wayne Eyre bemoans the depths to which songwriting has sunk, mostly by invoking the Canadian pop group Nickelback and comparing their work with that of the late Johnny Mercer.
Before I carry on, let me acknowledge that some of you already know where I'm…
No sense commenting on the quality of the wordplay: Some people will consider it witty and well-crafted (most of those will probably be urban males over a certain age who use the expression bon mot without irony) and others will not. But I can't ignore the matter of timelessness—or, in this case, the glaring shortage of same. That's why I asked my intelligent, worldly, non-homeschooled daughter if she knew who Lassie was. She said it's an Irish word for girl—and spent the next minute or so saying things like "Top o' the mornin' to ye, lassie, will ye fancy a wee pint?" in her funniest fake…
When I reviewed JBL's S38 loudspeaker for the June 2001 issue of Stereophile (Vol.24 No.6), I was impressed with the performance of this large, inexpensive ($599/pair) bookshelf speaker. When I received a press announcement at the end of 2005 announcing JBL's new affordable speakers, the Studio L series, which incorporates innovations developed for JBL's recording-studio monitors, I began a discussion with JBL's public-relations firm. They promised many significant design innovations and sonic improvements over the S series.
The Studio L series includes three bookshelf models (…
The L880 was a great rock speaker, and not just because it could blast and slam with great abandon—which it could—but also because its reproductions of the timbres of electric and electronic instruments were as convincing as I've heard from an affordable speaker. On Mighty Sam McClain's Give It Up to Love (CD, JVC JVCXR 0012-2), I was fixating on Bruce Katz's stunning Hammond B-3 tonewheel sound, following each growly dynamic nuance executed by his hands, feet, and by manipulation of the drawbars.
If you want to crank this baby, it will party. I make it a point never to listen to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, five-driver, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: ¾" (19mm) Mylar supertweeter in Bi-Radial horn; 1" (25mm) pure-titanium dome in EOS waveguide; 4" (100mm) PolyPlas-cone midrange unit with rubber surround, HeatScape motor structure; two 6" (150mm) PolyPlas-cone woofers with rubber surrounds, HeatScape motor structures. Crossover frequencies: 700Hz, 5kHz, 20kHz. Frequency response: 30Hz–40kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 91dB (2.83V/m). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Maximum recommended amplification: 200W. Power handling: 100W…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia RPM tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood & Aurum Beta S cartridges.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss, Creek CD53 Mk.II CD players; Pioneer DV-333 DVD player.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audio Valve Eklipse line stage.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research VT100 Mk.II.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek 5350SE.
Loudspeakers: Amphion Helium2, Monitor Silver RS6, Nola…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
My estimate of the JBL Studio L880's voltage sensitivity was 90.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specified 91dB. This places it in the small group of speakers with sensitivities significantly greater than the average. Its impedance, however, drops to 3.82 ohms at 170Hz (fig.1), which, in combination with a moderately high electrical phase angle of –51° at 84Hz, where the magnitude is a still-quite-low 5.1 ohms, means that an amplifier or receiver rated at 4 ohms will work best with this speaker.
Fig.1 JBL Studio L880,…
John Atkinson on the Recording
"This will fix it!" Kimber Kable's Ray Kimber placed some acoustic baffles around the table on which sat my Apple TiBook. We were recording Robert Silverman performing one of Beethoven's masterworks for piano, the Diabelli Variations, Op.120, and I had been bothered by a faint whistle underlying the music. It turned out to be the sound of my laptop's fan, an unforeseen drawback of my decision to dispense with tape and record straight to hard drive for the August 2004 sessions. We had already had a problem with a slight slapback echo from the balcony of the…
The setup used by Ray Kimber and engineer Graemme Brown for the possible SACD release was considerably more complex. As well as the four Neumann mikes, they also used two front-facing DPAs, just in case we changed our minds post-session. All six mikes were amplified by the Millennia preamp, which fed a multichannel EMM Labs DSD converter. The digital data from this Ed Meitner–designed unit were stored on a Genex GX9000 hard-disk recorder, with safety copies made simultaneously on three Tascam DS-D98HR digital DSD recorders. Cables were, of course, all Kimber, including Ray's impressive…
