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Working from home one day during yet another snowstorm, I was on the computer, two rooms away from my large listening room, where I'd cued up Louis Thiry's solo pipe-organ performance of Messiaen's La nativité du Seigneur (CD, Calliope CAL 9928). This complex work, which I've heard performed live, puts the organ through a wide range of textures—from subtle to bombastic, dissonant to consonant, delicate to complex—throughout the instrument's entire frequency range. Even heard as background music, the realism of the Totem's reproduction of the organ was so arresting that it was difficult for…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way bass-reflex bookshelf loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) titanium-dome tweeter, 4" (102mm) long-throw, multi-sandwich–cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz, first-order compensated. Frequency response: 57Hz–25kHz, ±3dB (in room). Impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 87.5dB/W/m. Maximum SPL: 101dB before dynamic compression. Recommended amplification: 20–80W.
Dimensions: 11.3" (287mm) H by 5.1" (130mm) W by 7.1" (180mm) D. Weight: 5.5 lbs (2.5kg) each. Shipping weight: 16 lbs (7.3kg).
Finishes: Black Ash, Mahogany; Cherry, add $50/pair…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV, Rega Planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges.
Digital Sources: Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audio Valve Eclipse line stage.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research Reference 110.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek Destiny.
Loudspeakers: Epos M16i, Linn Majik 109.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Totem Dreamcatcher's frequency response in the farfield. For the nearfield response, I used an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a ¼" capsule and therefore won't appreciably change the tuning of the small-diameter port. Despite its small size, the Dreamcatcher's sensitivity was average, at an estimated 87.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which conforms with the specification. Its impedance (fig.1) remains above 6 ohms for most of the audioband but does drop to 3.8 ohms in the lower midrange. The…
Bill Frisell's Sign of Life (Savoy Jazz) is one of the most gorgeous new albums I've heard in a while. It's in the tradition of his "Americana" albums (Disfarmer; History, Mystery; Ghost Town; Gone, Just Like a Train; This Land), but here he burrows deeper into the roots. There are traces of folk, bluegrass, minimalism, western-blues, as well as certain modes and improvisational cadences of jazz.
The ensemble is the 858 Quartet (Frisell on guitar; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Eyvind Kang, viola; Hank Roberts, cello), first formed (and last recorded) five years ago, to accompany a museum…
To write intelligibly about the experience of seeing Ted Nugent sitting in with the Les Paul Trio—let me repeat that—Ted Nugent sitting in with the Les Paul Trio at The Iridium Jazz Club on Broadway and 51st Street just off Times Square on Monday May 16, I need to first explain two bits of context.
First, as a teenager, riding around in cars, slugging Strohs beer out of warm 16 ounce cans and trying to sweet talk teenage girls out of their tube tops---ahhh, the Dazed and Confused Seventies--I owned and in the case of his self–titled 1975 debut record, loved, yes, loved in my own…
I won't debate here how to make a turntable's platter go around. Choose your favorite: belt vs direct drive, idler wheel vs belt, spring-windup vs wind power, whatever. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to debate. Each of these technologies has its pluses and minuses, but none can produce CD's accuracy of speed and inherent freedom from wow and flutter.
Despite that, you'll never convince me that CDs produce music that sounds better or more lifelike than LPs, or that CDs even come close to communicating music's ability to evoke emotions from listeners, or the sensation that you've…
In designing his direct-drive system, Helmut Brinkmann chose to flip the direct-drive paradigm and go with a 22-lb, "resonance-optimized," aluminum-alloy platter and a relatively low-torque motor that takes about 12 seconds to get the platter up to 33.33rpm. Brinkmann claims that, once set in motion, the massive platter requires but a small electronic "nudge" to maintain accurate speed; thereafter, the ultra-low-friction bearing requires very little energy to maintain correct speed. Brinkmann also claims that the heavy platter and the close-proximity coil array's overlapping magnetic fields…
It was immediately obvious that the TZ-9 can't be all things to all listeners. While it proved capable of producing an impressive sound with most rock and classical organ recordings, where its deep bass, excellent sense of dynamics, and neutral high-frequency balance helped communicate the music's vitality, orchestral recordings didn't fare as well. I couldn't escape a rather nasal coloration in the lower midrange that most affected the sound of naturally miked violins, lending them a "hooded" quality. Voices, too, were a little nasal, but male spoken voice was more affected by a boomy…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" hard-dome ("Ceramic-Graphite") tweeter, 3" hard-dome ("Ceramic-Graphite") midrange unit, two 9.5" pulp-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 600Hz, 4kHz. Frequency range: 20Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 91dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 60–300W.
Dimensions: 48.75" (1238mm) H by 14.5" (370mm) W by 20.75" (425mm) D. Weight: 143.25 lbs (65kg) each.
Price: $4000/pair (1989); no longer availabe (2010). Approximate number of dealers: 50.
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