So many years have passed since I had a TNT, and so much equipment has come in and out of my listening room, that you'd be more than justified in being skeptical about what I found with So Beautiful or So What—but the first play of this…
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So up first was Paul Simon's newest album, So Beautiful or So What (LP, Hear Music HRM-32814). If Simon's flair for melody isn't what it once was, his poetry more than makes up for it. The musical landscape is dominated by instrumental and rhythmic references to world music, but the vibe is more Bookends than Graceland—except that now Simon is living it.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Belt-driven turntable with tonearm. No specifications given.
Dimensions: 22" (559mm) W by 10" (254mm, including wire loop) H by16" (407mm) D. Weight: 81 lbs (36.8kg) with ring and record weight.
Finishes: Piano black base with wrinkle graphite color top.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 3265.
Price: $6000. Approximate number of dealers: 69. Warranty: 5 years.
Manufacturer: VPI Industries, 77 Cliffwood Ave. #3B, Cliffwood, NJ 07721. Tel: (732) 583-6895. Fax: (732) 946-8578. Web: www.vpiindustries.com.
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, Castellon turntable, tonearm & stand; Kuzma 4Point tonearm; Ortofon A90, Lyra Titan i & Helikon SL, Soundsmith Sussurro cartridges.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player–DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Meridian Sooloos music server, Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon VPS-100, Einstein Turntable's Choice phono preamplifiers; Soulution preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: MBL 9011 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties…
In 2010, sales of motorcycles equipped with sidecars accounted for only 4% of total motorcycle sales in the US. But that was a significant increase over 2009, which was itself an increase over 2008. While numbers remain low overall, sales of sidecar motorcycles are going up at a decent rate, while sales of most other motorcycles are in the toilet.
It seems reasonable to think that bike manufacturers who accommodate this trend should have a better chance of surviving. Indeed, the Russian manufacturer of Ural motorcycles has worked to focus consumer attention on their all-sidecar line (and…
The user who opts for the new Oracle cartridge will find that that's been pre-installed—accurately, as far as I could tell. Neither the tonearm's cartridge platform nor the cartridge's machined body have any of the sorts of straight lines that are useful in making or checking alignment (footnote 3), but to the extent that I could see, overhang and offset were correct for standard Baerwald alignment.
For the high-output and, apparently, high-compliance Oracle Paris moving-coil cartridge, Oracle recommends a downforce of 1.6gm and a load of 47k ohms. The latter spec deserves special…
The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is held at the Denver Marriott Tech Center. On the show's opening day, the line of attendees stretched through the entire lobby, out the hotel's front entrance, and wrapped around the parking lot. It's a beautiful day for a hi-fi show.
1. This show is massive. I think John Atkinson and I are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the number of exhibitors. I’m not sure that we’ll be able to see and hear everything that is on display. A strategy: John will start in the Tower and I will start in the Atrium, and tomorrow, we’ll compare notes and examine what we have and…
Here we see AudioStream’s Michael Lavorgna in serious listening mode. (We can’t seem to keep him away from vinyl.) The album is Edward Ka-Spel’s O Darkness! O Darkness!
Something strange and awesome was going on in the Zu Audio room. The lights were low, an evil but alluring sound was filling the room, and the company’s Sean Casey was crouched down in a corner, surrounded by vinyl.
The turntable was a modified Technics SL-1200 with a Rega tonearm and Zu DL-103 phono cartridge running through a Bob's Devices step-up transformer. The record was Edward Ka-Spel’s O Darkness! O Darkness!. A mighty Kronzilla amplifier was driving Zu’s new Definition Mk.IV loudspeakers ($12,500/pair).
Soon Casey mixed in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This room was less…
Similar to the system we enjoyed at the California Audio Show, here we heard the beautiful Sony SS-AR1 loudspeakers ($27,000/pair) with Pass Labs X600.5 power amplifiers and XP-20 preamplifier, Parasound Halo JC3 phono preamp, Clearaudio Concept turntable, and an EMM Labs XDS1 SACD player. Speaker cables were Kimber Kable's KS-3033, interconnects were Kimber's KS-1111, and AC cables were Kimber's PK-10 Gold.
The system sounded rhythmically nimble and certain with big, fleshy images, a rich midrange, and warm, full bass. Easy to listen to and easy to enjoy.
“In nature, sound has three elements,” explained BSG Technologies’ Larry Kay: “Amplitude, frequency, and phase.”
At a hi-fi show, there are many different types of demos. In some, there is music played casually, seemingly without much thought, selected either by the host or by an attendee; in others, music is carefully selected and introduced by your host, each track used to display certain characteristics of the system at hand; in others still, music is certainly played, but only after attendees are offered a detailed explanation of the gear in the room—we learn about the…