Atkinson: If you look at the measurements of speakers in Stereophile, so many two-ways will have a big crossover notch for a standing listener. Barton: Absolutely! You know, you've just got to sit down, listen, then stand up. It's one of the greatest subjective speaker tests you can do. If the speaker sounds very similar in both cases, either the gods were in favor or the engineer was conscious of that. And that people's ears dominate the room from the seated position to the standing position, not from the seated position to the floor.
Atkinson: I was somewhat surprised to see…
Atkinson: The Stratus Gold i is a stereo loudspeaker, yet as with every other speaker company, home theater is obviously having an impact on your product mix. Do you see surround systems ultimately replacing two-channel stereo? And if so, do you have to design speakers somewhat differently? Barton: Well, you have to create an SKU that offers a wider variety of applications now because of home theater. I don't think the stereo business is growing, but I don't think it's diminishing. But PSB's growth, as is the case with all speaker companies, is driven by home theater right now. And…
From the days of Les Paul's chum Mary Ford, through Amanda McBroom and Jennifer Warnes, right up to Patricia Barber, audiophiles have been fascinated, and sometimes obsessed, with female vocals. I nominate to membership in that select sorority another Patricia, in this case O'Callaghan, whose third CD has just been released worldwide by her new label, Teldec. O'Callaghan, a handsome young Ontario native, has a voice that is strong, clear, and agile, combining a silvery-sweet upper range with a lower register just made for sly innuendo. Although her primary genre is cabaret, she's not…
Teldec has organized the electrons for O'Callaghan to have a website of her own, which includes soundfiles of some tracks from Real Emotional Girl—certainly enough to let you figure out whether it might be your cup of tea. There's also tour information. My intuition tells me that Patricia O'Callaghan's live shows are likely to be memorable. As I Was Saying...
If you did a hasty cover check to see which magazine you were reading, here's a brief explanation.
I have been a music and audio journalist on and off for 18 years, ever since the first issue of Digital Audio magazine (…
The audiophile in the plaid shirt and gray Dockers had his hand up. Moderator Jonathan Scull handed him the roving microphone, and the Stereophile writers on the podium at HI-FI '99's Sunday afternoon "Ask the Editors" session shifted in their chairs. "This one's for John Atkinson," came the windup. The other writers relaxed; I started to sweat. Then the pitch: "How come Stereophile issues are so small these days?" And as you can see from the letters in this issue discussing the 124-page July Stereophile, it is indeed true that the magazine's covers are closer together this year. But so…
At a series of strategic planning meetings that took place in Santa Fe at the end of June, Petersen VP Jackie Augustine, who's in charge of the company's High Technology Group (of which Stereophile is part (footnote 2)), decided to increase the amount of editorial content in Stereophile when necessary, starting with our August issue. Under the guidance of our new senior editor, Jonathan Scull (again, see this issue's "Letters"), the magazine's team of reviewers will be pursuing a more proactive strategy with respect to the components we choose to review. And the year 2000 will see further…
MOZART: Piano Concertos 21 & 24, K.467 & K.491
Eugene Istomin, piano; Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Reference Recordings RR-68CD (CD only). Adam Stern, J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., prods.; Keith O. Johnson, eng. DDD. TT: 59:34 Although Istomin's approach to these towering works may not please all tastes, they leave no doubt that he is a thoughtful and probing musician. Less controversial of the two readings is this superb K.491. Whereas some performers opt for conveying either the music's Sturm und Drang intensity or its otherworldly, eerie gloom exclusively,…
New experiences are some of the most pleasurable parts of being an audio reviewer. Despite being involved with the High End for longer than I care to think about, I had never had the experience of owning, living with, or reviewing a pair of electrostatic speakers, be they full-range or hybrid. I'd heard various Quads plenty of times at shows and in the homes of audio buddies, but in my own listening cave? Never.
Last May, I suspected that my lifelong electrostatic drought had come to an end when I heard the Innersound Kaya Reference system ($20,000/pair) at Home Entertainment 2004 East,…
The fine distinctions among players in string sections—the sense of many working together nearly perfectly as one—when playing John Barbirolli and the Sinfonia of London's classic performance of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (CD, EMI 5 67264 2) were uncannily present. Logically, the less mass that has to be accelerated, the more rapidly it can be accelerated, and the Ultra Stat is about as close to having no mass as any driver can be. More intimate music, such as Bill Evans' bittersweet, endlessly inventive reharmonizations of "Suicide Is Painless," from You Must…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, biamplified hybrid loudspeaker with crossover-amplifier for bass drivers. Electrostatic Panel: 13" by 45". Momentary power-handling capacity: 1000W. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 2 ohms at 20kHz. Woofer: 10" paper-cone unit in transmission-line enclosure. Momentary power capacity: 600W. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier-crossover: Crossover: 350Hz, 24dB/octave. Maximum output power: 600Wpc into 4 ohms (24.8dBW). Input impedance: 47k ohms. Output impedance: 0.1 ohm. Distortion: ±0.05% at rated output. Frequency response (without crossover…
