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The Entry Level #8

"I'm going to have my birthday party here!"

We were at Lucky 7, our favorite little bar in downtown Jersey City, and Natalie was shouting above the loud music.

"Cool!" I shouted back.

"Would you want to DJ?"

"Huh?"

"WOULD YOU BE THE DJ AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY?" She smiled brightly.

"Are you SERIOUS?"

"Yes."

"HERE?"

"Yes!"

A million wild thoughts raced through my vodka-soaked mind—questions and fears, desires and insecurities, all tangled up like the strings of lights haphazardly hung from the ceiling above our heads. I…

The Entry Level #8 Page 2

Of all the albums I bought for Natalie's birthday party, I was most eager to hear Gang Gang Dance's 4AD debut, Eye Contact (LP, 4AD CAD3107). Previous releases from this exciting New York City band had impressed me with their combination of electronics, fiery electric guitar, restless rhythmic patterns, explorations of urban and world music, and Lizzie Bougatsos's strange voice, often as terrifying as it is alluring. Eye Contact's first single, "MindKilla," would definitely send bodies to the dance floor. It combines surprisingly powerful kick-drum blasts with deep synthesizer sounds, deft…

The Entry Level #8 Page 3

Switching back to the Analog One, the sound was slightly softer and more laid-back overall, with perhaps some loss of bass weight and high-frequency extension. While I missed the power and drama of the Analog Two, I preferred the rhythm and pace of the less expensive Analog One.

Dance-off!
So, both the AudioQuest and Signal Cable interconnects outperformed the less ambitious RadioShack interconnects—no surprise there. How did they compare against one another?

I turned to Prefuse 73's The Only She Chapters (LP, Warp WARPLP208) and cued up "The Only Hand to Hold," a…

The Entry Level #8 Make It Sexy: The Music

Sidebar 1: Make It Sexy: The Music

Here's a list of some of the records I purchased for Natalie's party. I highly recommend them all. Thanks to Other Music, and especially Daniel, for helping make the party a success.

Egyptrixx, Bible Eyes (LP, Night Slugs NSLP001)
FaltyDL, You Stand Uncertain (LP, Planet Mu ZIQ286)
Sylvi Foster, If Are You . . . (LP, CitiTrax CITI003)
Gang Gang Dance, Eye Contact (LP, 4AD CAD3107)
Kode9 & the Spaceape, Black Sun (LP, Hyperdub HYPLP002)
Matthew Dear, Slowdance (EP, Ghostly International Gi-135)
Maria Minerva, "Noble…

The Entry Level #8 Contacts

Sidebar 2: Contacts

AudioQuest, 2621 White Road, Irvine, CA 92614. Tel: (949) 585-0111. Fax: (949) 585-0333. Web: www.audioquest.com.
Giant-Killer Cables, 98 Cowes Road, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 5TP, England, UK. E-mail: alister@giantkillercables.com. Web: www.giantkillercables.com.
Signal HiFi, Inc., PO Box 38, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577-0038. Tel: (917) 957-8505. Web: www.signalcable.com.

Jenny Scheinman's Mischief & Mayhem

Photo: Michael Gross

Violinist Jenny Scheinman is back at Manhattan’s Village Vanguard this week with the quartet she calls Mischief & Mayhem, and judging from the two times I've seen them (the first a year ago, the second last night), I'd say this is one of the great raucous jazz-fusion bands of our time. Go see them. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

By "jazz-fusion," I mean not just jazz + rock (though there is plenty of that, thanks to the presence of Wilco's Nels Cline on electric guitar) but jazz + all manner of genres, styles, and moods. Scheinman (whom I've been…

Mark Levinson No.532H power amplifier

"Larry, you have too many amplifiers!" exclaimed John Atkinson during a recent visit. This surprised me—I didn't think it was possible to have too many amps. While I'm not going to open an amp museum, I do have a starter collection of Mark Levinson amplifiers from different eras. This either makes me exactly the right or the wrong person to size up Mark Levinson's new No.532H.

The No.532H is the latest model in a product line that spans four decades and has given us 76 different audio products. Mark Levinson Audio Systems (MLAS) opened for business in 1972 in an industrial park in…

Mark Levinson No.532H power amplifier Page 2

Inputs, Outputs, Controls
Like all Mark Levinson power amps, the H models' front panels have only a single Standby pushbutton. This sits below the on/off power LED, which cycles on and off at different rates under standby or fault conditions. Otherwise, it glows steadily when the amplifier is turned on.

H-series amps are CE-certified so they can be sold in Europe. This requires a rear-panel power switch to disconnect the supervisory power supply from the AC mains without having to unplug the amplifier. Other rear-panel features include single-ended RCA and balanced XLR inputs, and…

Mark Levinson No.532H power amplifier Page 3

Soundstaging, too, benefited. The No.532H enabled my Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers to project a broad, detailed, involving, three-dimensional soundstage with vivid dynamics that equaled, and in many cases bettered, the soundstage created by my ML-2 monoblocks. "Breathe," from the SACD remastering of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (SACD/CD, EMI 2435-82136-2), presented a wicked brew of throbbing helicopter blades, jackhammers, footsteps running across my listening room, dive bombers, and announcements made on the PA system of a railroad terminal—all on a wide soundstage, to create…

Mark Levinson No.532H power amplifier Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Solid-state, dual-mono power amplifier. Inputs: 1 pair unbalanced (RCA), 1 pair balanced (XLR). Outputs: 2 pairs of binding posts. Output power at 0.5% distortion into 8 ohms: 300Wpc RMS, 20Hz–20kHz (24.8dBW). Frequency response at 300Wpc: 10Hz–20kHz, ±0.5dB. Input impedance: 60k ohms balanced, 30k ohms unbalanced. Voltage gain: 26.8dB. Output impedance: 0.05 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz. Input sensitivity: 130mV for 2.83V output, 2.25V input for full output. Signal/Noise Ratio: >85dB ref. 2.83V RMS. Power consumption at 1/8 power: 3W standby, 85W idle, 475W…