As we announced last month, this past weekend saw the grand opening of EarsNova's new store at 3 East 28th Street, in Manhattan. Founded in 1979 by Joshua Cohn (right in photo), the store's new location is on the second floor of a solidly constructed 1920s building, with high ceilings and the space to present high-end audio products and systems under ideal circumstances. The listening rooms, for example, have floors and walls that are isolated from the building's structure. Not only does this prevent sound from the audio systems being demmed leaking into the other…
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Shara Worden, My Brightest Diamond’s enchanting vocalist, explains: “In November, the great composer Gorecki died and I remember that weekend clearly, listening to the work and reading the lyrics in his beautiful Symphony No.3, the lament of a mother who has lost her son in war. This was the context in which I started writing ‘Be Brave.’”
“Be Brave” is the first single from My Brightest Diamond’s upcoming album, All Things Will Unwind, Worden’s response “to a world unwinding.” With the video, we gain a look into the recording process, but also a look into Worden’s heart and mind.
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Kurt Sanderling died on September 17 in Berlin, just two days shy of his 99th birthday—of "old age," according to his eldest son Stefan. Sanderling was the last of a generation of conductors displaced by Hitler—an exodus that included Otto Klemperer, Josef Krips, Sir George Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Bruno Walter, who all went West. (Never mind that Klemperer had converted to Catholicism and that Krips was half-Jewish.) Sanderling fled East, to the Soviet Union.
He was born in Ays, East Prussia (now Orzysz, Poland), on September 19, 1912, studied piano in Berln, became a rehearsal director…
It says something for the state of technology that, after a quarter of a century, there still is no authoritative explanation for why so many high-end audiophiles prefer tubes. Tubes not only refuse to die, they seem to be coming back. The number of US and British firms making high-end tube equipment is growing steadily, and an increasing number of comparatively low-priced units are becoming available. There is a large market in renovated or used tube equipment—I must confess to owning a converted McIntosh MR-71 tuner—and there are even some indications that tube manufacturers are improving…
Sidebar 1: Editor's Addendum
While tubed and solid-state components are definitely sounding more like one another these days, I have yet to hear any tubed power amplifier that has as much extreme high-end energy as a good solid-state amp. Not only that, the character of the high end will be different. The amount of high end heard will depend on the loudspeaker's HF characteristics, but even when HF "quantity" sounds the same the tubes always seem to have a rather sweeter, more "consonant" quality than the transistors. The transistor amps seem better able to reproduce sharp attacks.…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Tubed stereo power amplifier. Output power: 100Wpc into 8 ohms (20dBW). Frequency response: 8Hz–48kHz, +0, –3 dB, full power.
Weight: 92 lbs.
Serial number of review sample: 5201018.
Price: $2950 (1984); no longer availabe (2011).
Manufacturer: Conrad-Johnson Design, Inc., 2733 Merrilee Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031. Tel: (703) 698-8581. Fax: (703) 560-5360. Web www.conradjohnson.com.
The Audio Research D-160B has been heavily modified since the D-160A, and uses the same technology as the D-70, D-115, and D-250. It embodies William Z. Johnson's latest transformer and power supply designs, his latest choice of capacitors and resistors, and the same independent regulation of screens, drivers, and front end. D-160s and D-160As can be converted to D-160Bs for $1500.
In terms of physical layout, the D-160B is large and impressive-looking. It is quasi rack-mountable—you need braces to support the back. The D-160B uses quiet fans and has an LED power readout which is useful…
Sidebar 1: Review System
I tested the Audio Research D-160B using top-quality turntables like the Goldmund and SOTA-Sumiko arm combination, top quality cartridges, and speakers like the modified Quad ESL-63s, Thiel CS3s, Spica TC-50s, and Fuselier 3.3s. Preamplifier was the Audio Research SP-10. I have used them with Compact Discs and a wide range of FM Tuners. I have mixed and matched cables, including the Straightwire, Petersen, Discrete Technology, Audiosource, and Monster Cable Interlink Reference.—Anthony H. Cordesman
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Tubed stereo power amplifier. Maximum power: 160Wpc. Frequency response: 10Hz–50kHz, +0, –3dB, full power.
Weight: 115 lbs.
Serial number: of review sample: 32024017.
Price $6000 (1984); no longer available (2011).
Manufacturer: Audio Research Corporation, Minneapolis, MN 55430 (1984); Audio Research Corporation, 3900 Annapolis Lane N., Plymouth, MN 55447-5447 (2011). Tel: (763) 577-9700. Fax: (763) 577-0323. Web: www.audioresearch.com.
While August 29 was officially the day the State of Connecticut honored Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, the celebrations the US subsidiary of the German headphone and microphone manufacturer had planned were postponed, thanks to Hurricane Irene. But Tuesday, September 20 saw journalists converging on the company's headquarters in shoreline town of Old Lyme—"conveniently located midway between New York and Boston," according to company president John Falcone, pictured above—to take part in the delayed event. "This recognition celebrates Sennheiser's vital role in the business community, as…