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Listening #6 Page 2

By the time you read this, the war may be over and done with, or it may be showing signs of dragging on forever—or some possibility in between. Whatever the case and whatever your point of view, feel free to modify the reason for having a Road Box at all—whether fire, flood, or fear of John Ashcroft.

Beer and Tone Controls
Beer, often associated with obesity and meanness, has also been known to enhance some people's enjoyment of music. That's one of the appeals of listening at home.

Unless it's a nightclub or an outdoor music festival, beer isn't usually a part of the live…

Listening #6 Page 3

How often? Thanks to my review sample of the Linn Klimax Kontrol preamp with its remote-controlled mono switch, I made a recent informal effort to answer that question. I'd say that, on average, one out of every five or six stereo classical recordings sounds better to me in mono—as does one out of every three nonclassical stereo recordings. A lot better.

For example, the well-known traditional country collection Will the Circle Be Unbroken is indeed stereo pop at its best. It's a simple, intimate recording to begin with, having been taped live to two-track through a nice old tubed mixing…

A High-End Audio Horror Story

Tom Swift is a talented young loudspeaker designer. Tom believes that he has never been able to prove exactly how talented he is, because the company he works for refuses to build the cost-no-object loudspeaker he's been doodling designs for (on company time).

Tom befriends Rollo Rich, an audiophile and a young Trustafarian. Rollo impulsively promises to fund Tom's new speaker. Rollo thinks it will be nifty to attend events as an industry insider rather than as a consumer. He also thinks it will be way cool, dude, to upgrade his home stereo at industry accommodation prices. Rollo,…

VAC PA80/80 power amplifier

I love the sound of glowing glass,
especially when I'm lonely.
I love the nuances of emotion.
It's nothing new, nothing new,
The sound of glowing glass... (with apologies to Nick Lowe)

I do, I really do love the sound of a tube amplifier. I also love the glow, the physical warmth, even the smell of heated glass. Years ago, when I had my first system that could be dubbed "high-end," my wife and I would occasionally turn off all the room lights and spend romantic evenings in front of our Marantz 8B—much as other couples would cuddle by the fireplace.

But I'm not…

VAC PA80/80 power amplifier Page 2

As noted above, the 80/80 comes outfitted with KT88s, which is how I auditioned it—mostly. VAC also sent along a quartet of the new Golden Dragon KT90s. I tried 'em and liked 'em—mostly. Extended listening revealed the KT90s to lack the expressive subtlety of the KT88s, not to mention the gloriously open sense of air manifested by the older tube. The '88s are definitely the way to go, an opinion shared by designer Kevin Hayes. "I've gone back and forth on the subject of the KT88 vs the KT90—much as the KT90 itself has progressed. When I first heard them, I preferred the KT90, but the more I…

VAC PA80/80 power amplifier Page 3

The first movement opens with a heroic theme, declaimed fortissimo by eight horns in unison. The full orchestra bursts in upon the theme, accenting it with great blasts of sound that quickly fade to silence. What a test for an amplifier! The 80/80 sings it all full-throttle. The orchestral outbursts are overwhelming, but totally controlled, and as the tones fade, one can clearly hear the immensity of the Avery Fisher auditorium—and the creaking stage floor and audience paper rustle that project as well as (if not better than) the music itself in that cursed, quirky hall. The score, now…

As Reviewers See It Page 2

Atkinson: We have two roles. We illuminate; we say, "This is what exists, these are the differences..."

Archibald: And we then say, "This is what I think you should do." I don't think we have to do that, but I think that readers like to know...

J. Gordon Holt: I don't think we should be doing that.

Lipnick: I don't think so either.

Archibald: I do.

Lehnert: Readers will ask us anyway.

Will Hammond: Is it possible to take the reviewing process one step further, which is to give some indication, semi-quantitatively, as to really how much better an $…

As Reviewers See It Page 3

Bob Deutsch is starting out as an equipment reviewer for Stereophile and asked me—I'm paraphrasing here—"Give me a detailed brief of what I need to do." I said, "No. Why should I arbitrarily impose a strict set of rules and guidelines on you when I don't yet know what you're capable of doing as a writer and as a describer, and as a maker of value judgments? I will tell you what I want—I want you to describe as accurately as possible what you hear. I want you to be a responsible reviewer with those components, and use them in ways which make them perform at their best. I want your review to…

As Reviewers See It Page 4

Norton: In general it's more difficult to review less expensive products if only because there's so many more of them out there. The field is so much broader to choose from. I think every one of us prefers to review the more esoteric products. You listen to a $5000 speaker and suppose you're blown away by it—well, you say I darn well ought to be for that price. But there's certainly a reward to finding a gem for $1000 a pair vs $5000. There's certainly something to be said for that.

English: That's a critical point. There's immense satisfaction in finding that next Audible Illusions or…

As Reviewers See It Page 5

Holt: Depending on which speaker.

English: A Leslie cabinet. That's how it's going to be performed. It'll be a defined amplifier, a defined speaker, and a defined keyboard. That's how the thing is going to be heard, and you're going to hear it that way anywhere in the country, exactly the same.

A more appropriate thing to say, which I think would be the same for you and I, is if we were to say that you should use as reference material those things that you know best. Those things with which you're the most familiar. That would be equally true for you to then apply it to certain…