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Dave Douglas, <I>Be Still</I>

Dave Douglas' Be Still (on the trumpeter's own Greenleaf Music label) is his most sheer-gorgeous album since the 1998 Charms of the Night Sky and one of the best-sounding new recordings that I've heard by anybody in quite a while. And it's available on LP as well as CD (more about which, later).

It marks a new (perhaps one-time) direction for Douglas, sporting a new (I hope longer-lasting) quintet, with the added novelty (I'm pretty sure it's a first in his 20 years as a leader) of a vocalist, the folklorist Aoife O'Donovan, who sings with a strong, breezy freshness.

It's an album…

Video: Hauschka’s “Radar”

Stephen Price, Editor at Stash Media (“the world’s largest library of animation, VFX, and motion design”), directed me to this video for Hauschka’s “Radar,” the lead track from the excellent Salon des Amateurs.

Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann) plays prepared piano and composes staggered, looping dance rhythms; TwoFace (Patrick Williams) dances. The video, shot at Spiegelsaal in Clärchens Ballhaus, Berlin, was directed by Jeff Desom, with cinematography by Jean-Louis Schuller and choreography by Nadia Espiritu and Paddy Williams.

Salon des Amateurs is available from Fat Cat…

Swans and Odds and Ends (updated)

It’s been an unusually stressful couple of months here at Stereophile, thanks in large part to a succession of unusually demanding endeavors. Preparing our October issue was difficult for the usual reason (“Recommended Components”) and our November issue was particularly exciting for me, as it includes my first full-length review (VPI Traveler turntable), but nothing could prepare us for the intensity that came with producing, in a single month, both our December issue and our annual special issue.

Really, one issue per month is enough fun; two is cruel and unusual. In previous years, we…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker

The last few decades have seen dramatic improvements in the art (and science) of loudspeaker design. Tannoy's budget-priced Mercury series is now in its fifth iteration. The two-way, front-ported Mercury V1 ($320/pair) measures 11.8" high by 6.7" wide by 10" deep and weighs 9.9 lbs. My samples came in a very handsome Dark Walnut finish (Sugar Maple is available) with simple black cloth grilles. I left the grilles off to reveal the speakers' attractive front baffles and accentuate their equally attractive high frequencies (more on the latter later).

The Mercury V1's fit and finish were…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker Mejias Returns

Stephen Mejias returned to the Mercury V1 in October 2012 (Vol.35 No.10):

The Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeakers ($320/pair) were already carefully packed in their box, pushed into a corner of my messy kitchen, ready to go to John Atkinson for a Follow-Up—but I couldn't stop thinking about them. Their delicate, graceful highs and tight, properly balanced bass had entranced me, and, now, as I listened over and over to a recent reissue of Bill Dixon's amazing Intents and Purposes (CD, International Phonograph LSP-3844), I felt a strange urge to unpack the Tannoys and return them to my…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" soft-dome tweeter, 5.1" paper-cone woofer. Frequency range: 45Hz–25kHz. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 11.8" (300mm) H by 6.7" (170mm) W by 10" (254mm) D. Weight: 9.9 lbs (4.5kg) each.
Finishes: Dark Walnut, Sugar Maple.
Serial number of review samples: 810780.
Price: $320/pair.
Manufacturer: Tannoy Ltd. UK, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire ML5 4TF, Scotland, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1236-420199. Fax: (44) (0)1236-428230. Web: www.tannoy.com.…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker System

Sidebar 2: System

I listened to music using my Rega Research P3-24 turntable, NAD C 515BEE and Parasound Zcd CD players, Parasound ZphonoUSB phono preamplifier, NAD C 316BEE integrated amplifier, and Kimber Kable 8VS speaker cables and PBJ interconnects. The Mercury V1s were secured with small globs of Blu-Tack to 24"-tall Target stands, while the electronics rested on my Polycrystal equipment rack. Source components and amplifiers were plugged into a Furutech e-TP60 power conditioner, itself plugged into a Furutech GTX wall receptacle via an AudioQuest NRG-X3 power cord.—Stephen Mejias…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I examined the performance of one of the Mercury V1s (serial no.810780) with DRA Labs' MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I estimated the Mercury V1's voltage sensitivity at 85.1dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is a couple of dB below average and slightly lower than the specified 86dB. The Tannoy's nominal impedance is specified as 8 ohms; this is appropriate, given that its impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) remains between 6 and 12…

The Fifth Element #74

I've had Vivid Audio's Oval K1 loudspeaker here for several months. Over many years, the only other speaker brands I've written about as much as I have Vivid have been Wilson Benesch and Shahinian Acoustics, whose speakers I still revere and can recommend without reservation—to the right listener. But Vivid's high-tech sorcery has raised the bar. The Vivids I've had here are among the best loudspeakers I've ever heard, and that's a consensus that seems headed in the direction of critical mass.

Vivid's designer, Laurence Dickie, is an alumnus of another British speaker manufacturer,…

The Fifth Element #74 Page 2

I asked Vivid's US distributor, Philip O'Hanlon, if he had any ideas that might explain my reactions to the K1. He explained that the additional woofers required a somewhat different crossover design, and that the K1's crossover had benefited from "lessons learned" in designing the B1. He also pointed out that the K1's minimum impedance of 4.8 ohms is higher than the B1's 2.8 ohms, making it an easier load to drive. Ah. Those 2 ohms could really make a difference—and I'm not joking.

I heard a clear difference in the two speakers' bass extension and power in my room. (Vivid claims bass…