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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…
I want to address the statements by many over the past century that Bruckner's Symphony 9 is, in its unfinished, three-movement form, still somehow complete. From at least one perspective, this is a wholly understandable take on the symphony, and it works well enough, up to a point. After all, Bruckner himself called the descending brass chorale early in the Adagio, beginning at bar 29—a chorale that prefigures the descending chorale in the Finale—his "farewell to life," and the phrase has since been applied by many to the entire symphony, and particularly to the Adagio.
I have no quarrel…
The magic numbers, for Salon Son et Image, are 25, 100, and 10,000. Canada's first and largest high-end audio show, whose 25th-anniversary show arrives March 23–25 (press day March 22) in downtown Montreal's Hilton Bonaventure, expects to set a new attendance record as up to 10,000 visitors explore 100 exhibit rooms.
Michel Plante, who co-produces the show with his business/personal partner, Sarah Tremblay (see photo below), reports that the increase in attendance is directly related to outreach by their new PR agency.
"We expect 30% new people this year," he reports. "Our…
Computer audio is more than just a pleasant distraction. For the jaded reviewer, USB digital converters and the like are an escape from that humdrum, if only because they bring with them so many variables: myriad combinations of different platforms, storage devices, operating systems, device drivers, media players, codecs, word lengths, sampling rates, connection protocols, and more. Challenging though they may be, computer-audio products are a tonic for reviewers inclined toward apathy.
A new digital-to-analog converter from Abbingdon Music Research, the DP-777 ($4995), serves as a good…
Since its raison d'être is the ability to throughput virtually any music file at its native sampling rate, the DP-777's performance can only be gauged with a media player that itself adapts to such distinctions, preferably on the fly; thus iTunes would suit only the user who's willing to check each file ahead of time, exit iTunes altogether, manually change the file type in the Apple Audio MIDI Setup utility, then relaunch iTunes. And that is so not me. Luckily, I already own Decibel v.1.0.2, a program that plays any and every file size, natively and on the fly—and that's what I used, for…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Tubed digital-to-analog processor with volume control. Tube complement: two 6H1n-EV, one 6H11P. Sampling rates supported: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz. Maximum word length: 32 bits. Digital inputs: 2 S/PDIF (coaxial/TosLink optical), 2 S/PDIF (XLR/BNC), 1 USB. Analog inputs: 2 line level (RCA). Analog outputs: 1 RCA, 1 XLR (single-ended). Maximum output voltage: >2V. Signal/noise: >100dB, A-weighted (no reference level given). Channel separation: >90dB. Dynamic range: >90dB. Harmonic distortion: <0.3%.
Dimensions: 17.7" (450mm…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary, EMT OFD 25 pickup heads; Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers.
Digital Sources: Wavelength Proton USB DAC; Apple iMac G5 computer with Apple iTunes v.10.2.2 & Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player.
Preamplifier: Shindo Masseto.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne & Haut-Brion.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Quad ESL.
Cables…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Abbingdon Music Research DP-777 using Stereophile's loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It," ); for some tests, I also used my vintage Audio Precision System One Dual Domain and the Miller Audio Research Jitter Analyzer.
The first thing was to decide which aspects of the DP-777 to measure. Unless I lost count, there are 193 different configurations in which this product can be used, and to perform a full set of measurements on each would take me several weeks.…
As large as a small file cabinet and weighing 223 lbs, MBL's most powerful amplifier, the Reference 9011, is a tour de force of electronics design and implementation that will set you back $60,000 if you're a stereo enthusiast, or $120,000 if you like pure balanced mono.
Though it includes two separate amplifier modules per chassis and can be run as a lower-powered stereo amplifier, I've seen the 9011 used only in pairs, as monoblocks, at shows and in owners' homes. I guess if you can afford to spend $60,000 for a power amplifier, you can comfortably double up to get the most from this…
The 9011s' presentations of space and dynamics were what you'd expect to hear from big, powerful monoblocks; combine that with pitch-black backgrounds, and the result was a sophisticated, non-electronic-sounding amplifier that simply got out of the way and let the music flow.
Depending on your taste, the sound produced by the 9011s driving the MAXX 3s could be described as opulent, full, musical, and totally lacking in electronic artifacts—or as somewhat bland and/or boring. I prefer more punch on the bottom, more sparkle and transparency on top, and greater instrumental three-…