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For a few weeks each year in the high summer of Minnesota, the corn sold from rickety roadside stands is so sweet and tender it is best eaten unadorned. For the wise and lucky nibbler willing to forgo condiments, the rewards of eating these naked kernels are the pure taste of Midwestern soil and sun transformed into a juicy, golden confection. I've begun to wonder if the yearly encounter with this magnificent and ephemeral sweet corn reminds Midwesterners of the joys of simplicity and plainness. Though my hypothesis is a stretch, it sure would explain a great deal about the Midwestern…
My initial complement of Curve System models comprised two Medium Absorbers ($299.99 each) placed at the first-reflection points of my sidewalls, two Medium Diffusors ($349.95) at the second-reflection points, a Corner Trap ($574.90) at each end of the front wall, two Small Diffusors ($274.95) on the sidewalls even with my listening seat, a Medium Absorber hung on my front wall in front of my glass patio door, and a Large Diffusor ($399.95) hung behind my listening position—all in all, $3699.52 worth of Curve System. I listened with this configuration for a few weeks, to let my ears grow…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Versatile accessories to solve room acoustics problems.
Diffusors (all 42" H): CRV1442D Small Diffusor (14" W), $274.95. CRV2142D Medium Diffusor (21" W), $349.95. CRV3142D Large Diffusor (31" Width), $399.95.
Absorbers (all 42" H): CRV1442A Small Absorber (14" W), $245.99. CRV2142A Medium Absorber (21" W), $299.99. CRV3142A Large Absorber (31" W). $349.95.
Corner Trap (all 42" H): CRVTRAP Medium Corner Trap (21" W, includes CRVCT2042 Corner Trap frame and CRV2142D Medium Diffusor), $574.90.
Accessories: CRVSTAND2041 Stand gobo (42"…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Sony Vaio laptop computer; Bel Canto Design CD 2 CD player. Benchmark DAC1 & DAC1 HDR, and Bel Canto DAC 3.5 VB (with VB-1 power supply), Weiss DAC202, dCS Debussy D/A converters.
Power Amplifiers: Rogue Audio M180 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Revel Performa F30, Atlantic Technology AT-1.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDVX coaxial, Silver Sonic D-110 AES/EBU. USB: Cardas Clear. Interconnect: Sain Line Systems Pure (balanced). Speaker: Kimber Kable BiFocal X. AC: Sain Line Systems Reference.
Accessories: Shunyata Research…
I’ve mentioned my old band, The Multi-Purpose Solution: We play a type of hard, fast, guitar-driven rock and roll, inspired by all kinds of things, including: New Jersey, Sonic Youth, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, pizza, beer, brotherhood, women, Tom Waits, Kurt Vonnegut, Jim Thompson, anger, desperation, the Cure, and Metallica.
But I also make music with my dear friend, Todd. Todd, I think, is a genius: His crazy ability to create and combine sounds would be frightening if it wasn’t so purely delightful. I especially enjoy the music Todd makes under the name At Work. It's…
The phono preamplifiers reviewed this month are both affordable ($400–$1960) and highly accomplished, and the most expensive of them offers versatility that's unprecedented in my experience. Three of them are designed to be used only with moving-magnet, moving-iron, and high-output moving-coil cartridges, so I installed Shure's V15VxMR cartridge in VPI's Classic 3 turntable and listened in MM mode to all of them, beginning with the least expensive.
A word about the Shure V15VxMR: After spending a week listening to it in the VPI Classic 3, I've come to respect it far more than before,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state MM/MC phono preamplifier. RIAA matching: within 0.1dB, 20Hz–20 kHz. Voltage gain at 1kHz: 40dB (MM); 60dB. Loading: 21 values from 13.3 to 1000 ohms, preset to 100 ohms (MC; 21 values from 4.9k ohms to 75k ohms, preset to 47.5k ohms (MM). MM input capacitance: 100pF. S/N ratio: 74dB unweighted ref. 5mV at 1kHz (MM); 70dB unweighted ref. 500µV at 1kHz (MC). Output impedance: 100 ohms.
Dimensions: Not noted.
Serial number of review sample: not noted (original sample); 1006 (sample supplied for measurement).
Price: $1600.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
When Michael Fremer reviewed this $1595 phono preamplifier from Precision Transducer Engineering (PTE) in the October issue (p.31), he liked its sound via its moving-coil input.5 "Drum textures were believable—as were, generally, the percussive attacks," he wrote, adding that "The bottom end was well developed, helping to produce rich lower strings, warm French horns, and an enveloping hall sound. Macrodynamics, while no match for the Einstein [Audio Turntable's Choice]'s, were very good, particularly for $1595." He was less impressed by the sound of the PTE's MM…
Opening with a prayer for Whitney Houston, the Grammy Awards had its usual smattering of worthwhile performances and utter idiocy. To my simple mind, it was nearly upstaged by the constant appearance of Elton John’s amusing Super Bowl Pepsi ad. There’s something about him tottering on those platform shoes that never ceases to make me smile. That and Flavor Flav in the pit.
In my unhumble opinion, some Grammy categories need a critical tweak. When Chris Brown won Best R&B Album it was sickeningly clear to me—Chris Brown is Rhythm and Blues? Please. Chris Brown and Otis Redding (who won…
Although many high-end audio products are described as revolutionary and as breakthroughs in design when new, most audiophile components now on the market have not changed our way of relating to such products in the way the iPad has done. Once in a while, a new audio product does move in that direction by enabling the audiophile to do install a product and optimize its performance in a different way.
The last applies to the Bowers & Wilkins Group's new DB1 subwoofer: In addition to its automated room-compensation system, which samples over a wider bandwidth and adjusts for more room…