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Attention Screen Takes Flight at Yamaha

How am I to convince music lovers that this CD is markedly different from Attention Screen's first two live CDs?

The question kept running through my head as I marveled at the breadth and maturity of Attention Screen's remarkable improvisations during a pre-concert sound check in the Piano Salon of Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI), at 689 Fifth Avenue, in the heart of Manhattan.

Attention Screen impressed even more at the public concert the following night, April 24, 2010. As the band members engaged in one improvisational miracle after another, fearlessly exploring new…

Attention Screen Takes Flight at Yamaha Live Recording: Documentary or Artifice

Live Recording: Documentary or Artifice

I learned my way around a recording studio during my brief career (1972–1976) as a professional bass guitarist, during which time I recorded three albums and some 20 singles with various bands and singers. But I grew increasingly dissatisfied with the conventional practice of overdubbing voices and instruments onto a basic rhythm track until the producer deemed everything perfect. I was redoing my bass part on one session when it dawned on me that even though the notes I was playing fitted better with the overdubs and were technically better played…

Attention Screen Takes Flight at Yamaha The Music (with samples)

Sidebar 1: The Music (with samples)

Attention Screen: Takes Flight at Yamaha Stereophile STPH021-2
Don Fiorino (guitars, lap steel, electric mandolin), Bob Reina (Yamaha AvantGrand N3 electronic piano), Chris Jones (fretless electric bass guitar), Mark Flynn (drums, percussion)

Track Listing

[1] Sleeping Metronomes Lie* 5:45

[2] Ear Topology 11:09

[3] Yamanization 10:04

[4] Inner Dimensional Light 10:24

[5] Carnatic Rhapsody 12:50

[6] 13 Trojans of Vundo 9:52

[7] The Deer and Buffalo…

Attention Screen Takes Flight at Yamaha The Nature of Improvisation

Sidebar 2: The Nature of Improvisation

"Nothing happens purposefully in our improvisations," Bob Reina declared, post-concert in a five-way conference call with the band. "What you hear is how we all feel collectively about the direction of the piece. Given all our musical backgrounds, I think it's amazing how underivative our music is. It doesn't remind you of another band, or another type of music that we're copying from."

"I really enjoy taking an instrument, seizing the improvisational nature of sound, and playing off it as though I were painting," Don Fiorino…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player

Should an audio component accurately reproduce the signal it's fed, or should it evoke the sound and feel of live music? Accuracy or musicality? This question has been at the heart of high-end audio since its inception. Back then, the question often took the form of the tubes-vs-transistors debate. Proponents of solid-state pointed to the far superior measured performance of transistor designs, and claim that they thus more accurately reproduced the input signal. Tube lovers steadfastly maintained that their gear sounded better, more natural—more like music. Since then, both camps have…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player Page 2

The Vincent's superb resolution of low-level detail was a big part of how it re-created this live feel, and one way that it distinguished itself from most other CD players I've heard. Many CD players, even some of the very best, struggle at the very softest end of the volume spectrum, losing the finest, lowest level of detail in a digital silence that feels a bit electromechanical. With the Vincent, those tiny details were there, distinctly drawn yet coherent, with a realistic surrounding ambience, just as they are with a top-flight analog front end—or a live performance.

Even more…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player Page 3

This isn't to imply that the C-60's soundstage was smaller than those of other source components. To the contrary, the Vincent's soundstage was consistently large, extending well outside the speakers, projecting slightly in front of them, and creating whatever depth had been coded into the bits and bytes. Images were always appropriately sized, and I never felt that the Vincent was expanding or limiting the scale of the players or stage. In fact, the C-60's knack for reproducing fine detail behind louder, more prominent lines worked well with recordings of a soloist and orchestra. Listening…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Single-chassis, top-loading CD player. Fully balanced, hybrid circuitry with 8x oversampling and 24-bit/192kHz D/A conversion, tubed power supply, and user-selectable tubed or solid-state analog output stages. Tube complement: two 6922EH, one 6Z4. Inputs: none. Digital outputs: S/PDIF, 1 coaxial, 1 optical (TosLink). Analog outputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Analog voltage output: variable, 2.5V maximum. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0/–0.5dB. Signal/noise ratio: >90dB. THD: <0.003%. Dynamic range: >100dB. Channel…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Spiral Groove SG-2 turntable & Centroid tonearm; VPI HR-X turntable & tonearm; TriPlanar Precision Mk.VII tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Grado Signature Reference cartridges.
Digital Source: Simaudio Moon Evolution Andromeda, Primare CD 31 CD players.
Preamplification: Sutherland PhD phono preamplifier; Sutherland Direct Line Stage, Placette Active Line Stage preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: VTL MB750 Signature, Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia II.
Cables: Audience Au-24e,…

Vincent Audio C-60 CD player Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Vincent C-60 (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). For some tests, I also used my Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer.

The Vincent's output preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting) from both its balanced and unbalanced jacks, with and without the FET buffer. The XLR jacks are thus wired with pin 2 hot. The remote control offers volume up and down buttons, with the maximum level…