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Date Moved! Mårten Django Debut at David Michael Audio

The debut of the Mårten Django loudspeaker at David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) originally slated for March 17th, has been moved to Saturday, April 7, Noon–7pm.

Follow this link for more details on the event and the history of Stereophile's coverage of the Mårten Django. Review forthcoming.

Music in the Round #53

When I attended the 2011 CEDIA Expo last September, one thing I was looking for was a rumored top-of-the-line preamplifier-processor from Rotel with all the bells and whistles and a large TFT display. It was nowhere to be seen or even rumored, but the Rotel folks did introduce me to a less exalted pre-pro, their RSP-1572 ($2199). I've always liked Rotel's styling; I guess you could say that the pretty RSP-1572 caught me on the rebound (footnote 1).

Of course, that doesn't mean that the RSP-1572 is not replete with all the features expected in a modern pre-pro, including multiple HDMI v1.…

Music in the Round #53 Page 2

Arcam's AV888 has only a marginally effective auto EQ and no manual option). By contrast, Classé's excellent SSP-800 and CT-SSP offer only a manual parametric EQ, but it's a good one: five filters per channel, each with fully programmable center frequency, magnitude, and Q. Rotel, like its corporate sibling Classé, seems to eschew auto EQ—but does the RSP-1572 have a manual parametric EQ like the much pricier SSP-800, and was this pre-pro effective in dealing with room acoustics? No and yes.

No, they're not the same
While the Classé SSP-800 lets the user vary the frequency, Q, and…

Music in the Round #53 Rotel RSP-1572: 10 Parametric Filters

Sidebar 1 Rotel RSP-1572: 10 Parametric Filters

FrequencyStepDefault Band 120–80Hz1Hz40Hz Band 220–80Hz1Hz60Hz Band 381–140Hz1Hz100Hz Band 481–140Hz1Hz120Hz Band 5141–200Hz1Hz160Hz Band 61110–1550Hz 10Hz1300Hz Band 71560–2000Hz 10Hz1750Hz Band 82.1–8kHz100Hz4kHz Band 98.1–14kHz100Hz10kHz Band 1014.1–20kHz100Hz16kHz

Each filter has a Q adjustable from 1–24 and gain from –12dB to +3dB.

Music in the Round #53 Recordings In The Round

Sidebar 2 Recordings In The Round

Boston Symphony Chamber Players: Profanes et Sacrées: 20th-Century French Chamber Music
Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Violin & Harp. Dutilleux: Les Citations. Franáaix: Dixtuor. Ravel: Introduction & Allegro for Flute, Clarinet, Harp & String Quartet. Tomasi: Cinq Danses profane et sacrées.
BSO Classics 1102 (SACD/CD).

The Boston Symphony's house label, BSO Classics, hasn't issued many discs (although their library of downloads is growing), and when they do, it's always an event for all the best reasons. This one is no…

Thinksound’s ms01 in-ear monitor

The first model in Thinksound's Monitor Series: the ms01, shown here in Chocolate Gunmetal finish.

I’ve become familiar with all the fashionable brands just by taking notice during my daily commute to and from work: Incase, Eskuche, Urbanista, WeSC…. I want to love headphones like Tyll Hertsens loves headphones. (V-Moda, VSonic, J-Phonic….) Almost everyone wears them, and they’re often extremely cool looking. (AKG, Sennheiser, Sony, Shure….) I can’t help but admire the man or woman I see on the street, in the train, at the café or the bar, wearing the shiny Scullcandies or the colorful…

The Entry Level #15

A cold, rainy winter day had calmly turned into a cold, rainy winter night—perfect for listening to Mercury Rev's dark masterpiece, Deserter's Songs. Originally released in 1998 (CD, V2 VVR1002771), during my junior year in college, the album, like so many of my old favorites, has recently been reissued on vinyl (LP, Modern Classics/Light in the Attic MCR 900). As with everything released by Light in the Attic, the quality is superb: The thick, glossy gatefold jacket features a perfect reproduction of the original artwork, and the quiet, 180gm LP is housed in an old-fashioned paper sleeve. A…

The Entry Level #15 Page 2

Perhaps he sensed my dismay. "We have also revisited this decision from time to time," he continued, "because of an increasing number of Z [products] used which are not rack mounted, but are for freestanding and desktop systems."

I would love to see Parasound get rid of the rack-mount design altogether. Yes, the rack-mounting holes give the Z products an industrial, utilitarian look. But what if you, like most audiophiles, don't intend to mount your gear in a rack? Those rack-mounting holes, then, are simply awkward and useless.

As you might have guessed from the product's name,…

Dynamic Range Day: How Could I Forget?

Over @Stereophile, we received a tweet from follower Henry Gessau:

Henry Gessau. Henry Gessau! Who is this mysterious chap? He must be some time-travelling, sound-saving avenger! Color photography was not widely available until the 1950s, so based on his profile picture, Henry must have lived sometime between the years 1850 and 1950 and then tweeted into the future! But forget the man. What about his message?

“Friday is Dynamic Range Day. Spread the word.”

Dynamic Range Day is a day of awareness of the evils of the Loudness War and a celebration of dynamic…

Simon Rattle, Carnegie Hall, 2/24/12

I waited a long time for this performance: the first on US soil of Bruckner's Symphony 9 with any edition of the completion of the Finale by Nicola Samale, John A. Phillips, Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs, and Giuseppe Mazzuca (SPCM), and the first anywhere of a four-movement 9th by a first-rank conductor and orchestra, in this case Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. I sat in seat K-16, on the right side of the Parquet (orchestra or floor section) of Carnegie Hall, and so was even more grateful that Rattle had split the Berlin's first and second violin sections into antiphonal choirs, left…