Ken's chic green robe and delicate patterned scarf intrigued me from the…
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At the end of November, I spent a couple days in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, getting a first look at Marantz's New Reference series audio components. During my brief visit to D+M's European HQ, I was fortunate enough to spend 40 minutes of one-on-one chat time with Ken Ishiwata, Marantz's famed Brand Ambassador, and a key component to Marantz's success for nearly 40 years. I was originally only scheduled to have 10 minutes with him, but thankfully, due to a last-minute adjustment, we were able to talk for longer.
Wednesday December 14, starting at 4pm, Utah Audio (77 East 10600 South, Sandy, UT) will be demonstrating a complete Dan D'Agostino system featuring the new Progression Mono amplifiers driving the Wilson Alexx loudspeakers. Bill McKiegan, president of Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, and Bill Peugh from Wilson Audio will be on hand.
Saturday December 17, from 1pm–4pm, at Esoteric Audio (111 West Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix, AZ), Dan D'Agostino and Bill McKiegan will be on hand for listening and discussion of the company's latest products, including the Momentum and…
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.—William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
I hear not the volumes of sound merely, I am moved by the exquisite meanings.—Walt Whitman, "That Music Always Round Me," from Leaves of Grass
These two statements, to me, express the core perspective shared by Stereophile's contributors. When I encountered both of them within a span of 30 days, they spoke so strongly that I felt impelled to hook up the biggest, baddest loudspeakers I could find…
It's no secret that deputy editor Art Dudley is an anachrophile (footnote 1). After expounding on the virtues of vintage audio gear in his October 2016 Listening" column, he spent no fewer than seven pages of our November issue raving about the sound quality of Auditorium 23's expensive Hommage Cinema loudspeaker, from Germany. (The Hommage Cinema costs $49,995/pair, plus $5495 for the necessary AcousticPlan NT-1 field-coil power supply.)
Auditorium 23's floorstanding Hommage Cinema comprises a bass bin with twin powered woofers—a 7" mounted above a 12"—atop which sits an elegant folded…
Manufacturers' Comment
Editor: We would like to thank John Atkinson for his efforts and his extensive measurements, which correspond with ours. We fully understand his objection regarding the measurement of the tweeter from today's perspective of speaker designs. However, I'd like to recall that the concept of the Hommage Cinema comes from a different time, with a different approach to speaker building and listening.
The decision to design such a complex speaker with remakes of drivers from one of the most famous manufacturers of the US, Western Electric, includes the awareness…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floor-standing loudspeaker with powered woofers. Drive-units: recreations by Line Magnetic of Western Electric's 555 compression driver (midrange) and Western Electric's 597A compression driver (treble), plus 12" and 7" cone woofers. Crossover filters: 7kHz high-pass filter for the treble horn, 300Hz high-pass for the woofer amplifiers, both 6dB/octave. Sensitivity: 105dB/W/m. Impedance: 15 ohms. Woofer amplifier power: 50Wx2.
Dimensions: 45" (645mm) high by 18" (457mm) wide by 16.5" (419mm) deep (Hommage Cinema); 8" (203mm) wide by 7…
Keith Jarrett: A Multitude of Angels
Concerts: Modena, Ferrara, Torino, Genova
Keith Jarrett, piano
ECM 2500–2503 (4 CDs). 2016. Keith Jarrett, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 4:57:19
Performance *****
Sonics ***
Concerts: Modena, Ferrara, Torino, Genova
Keith Jarrett, piano
ECM 2500–2503 (4 CDs). 2016. Keith Jarrett, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 4:57:19
Performance *****
Sonics ***
In the best of Keith Jarrett's long-form Concert recordings—Bremen Lausanne, Köln, and most of all Bregenz München and the monumental Sun Bear—one hears the evolution, over unbroken spans of as long as 45 minutes, of a beginning musical germ. A mere rhythm or broken chord or simple cadence or single note, sometimes a full melody exquisitely arranged, opens what seems an…
Recordings and playback gear are two different sides of the hi-fi coin, and while many people have made careers creating one or the other, far fewer have made significant contributions to both. Joe Harley is one of those few. A longtime principal with the influential high-end audio manufacturer AudioQuest, he also continues to expand the discography of highly regarded recordings he has produced or helped to remaster, of both new and historically significant music.
Sasha Matson: More than most, you've been involved in both sides of the High End: gear and music, or what some now call…
SM: In music recording, the term producing can cover a lot of different activities. Tell us about the musical aspects.
JH: Producing means that you determine the artist, agree on the repertoire, choose the studio and engineer, book the dates, hire the musicians, book any rehearsals needed, supervise the actual recording and mix sessions, book the mastering sessions, and supervise those.
SM: Producing also consists of very practical matters—it's like managing a sports team!
JH: Some sessions require very active involvement in the musical process, right down to the…
As some of you know, my main gig is writing the national-security column for Slate, so, as you might imagine, I've been a bit busy these days. But I emerge from the pit, bearing tidings of joy. Last year, Sony released The Complete Concert by the Sea, not just a remaster of Erroll Garner's classic 1955 live album but two extra discs containing the entire, unexpurgated concert, from start to finish casting new light on the pianist's sparkling wonders.
Now, there's more.
It turns out that Garner's agent, Martha Glaser, who died a few years ago, had socked away thousands of tape…