Everyone who comes to Callas comes to her in a different way. As a teenager, I kept hearing what a great, genre-defining singer she was. Because opera was in my blood—I was weaned on the acoustic…
search
So much critical ink has been spilled on Maria, Pablo Larrain and Steven Knight's biographical fantasy on the last days of operatic soprano Maria Callas (footnote 1), that everyone who hasn't yet seen it "knows" exactly why. Which is a crying shame, given that very few reviews present the musical reasons that make Maria essential viewing, especially for people who care deeply about music.
In my January 2014 column, I reviewed HiFiction's Thales TTT-Compact turntable and Simplicity tangential-tracking pivoted tonearm, an intriguing combo from Micha Huber, a talented Swiss watchmaker turned turntable designer (footnote 1). It's a dense, compact, self-contained assembly of refreshingly understated industrial design, and the packaging and instructions are equally well thought out.
The TTT-Compact's particulars, including its battery-powered motor and exceptional ease of setup, are described in detail in that review, which includes a link to a useful animation that shows how…
The Madake produced more cymbal shimmer and transient precision than the Shilabe, but not at the expense of the physicality of a metal disc being struck. Those who accuse more analytical cartridges of serving more sizzle than steak, and the Shilabe of dishing out steak but no sizzle, will here find plenty of both.
The Madake's very top produced much of the air and space delivered by some of the cartridges described as "analytical" by some, but without "capital B" brightness or etch. At the same time, the Madake's midrange was well fleshed out and full bodied, just not as fully and…
In these waning days of Analog's Last Stand, it might seem absurd to review mid-priced phono cartridges when this space could be given instead to the gear Stereophile usually covers—like $3000 OTL tube amps built by guys like that "Rainbow Man" lone nut who used to dance in the stands at Super Bowls before he took hostages in a hotel room with a .45 screaming, "MIT CAPACITORS!!! MIT CAPACITORS!!!"
C'mon! Nobody buys $3000 OTL tube amps built by guys who wear rainbow afro wigs. No, kids today are buying DIGITAL RIGS, and who can blame 'em? These days, LPs are harder to find than crack, and…
Sidebar 1: The Benz Story, from the December 1990 issue (Vol.13 No.12)
In early April 1990 I made a journey to Switzerland to visit Ernst Benz, the manufacturer of the Benz-Micro MC-3 cartridge which so impressed Thomas J. Norton in the March 1990 issue, and to get a feel for the Swiss hi-fi and high-end market.
The Swiss market is a very active one, I soon learned. The timing of my visit coincided with High-End 90, the Swiss high-end show, held annually in the Mövenpick hotel in Egerkingen, located at about equal distance from the three major cities in the German-speaking part of…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Benz-Micro MC-20E II: high-output moving-coil phono cartridge. Nominal output: 2.5mV. Compliance: 8cu (1cu = 1x10–6cm/dyne). Recommended load: 47k ohms. Stylus: elliptical. Tracking force: 2gm. Price: $125 (1993). Retipping cost: $75 (1993).
Benz-Micro MC Silver: high-output moving-coil phono cartridge. Nominal output: 2mV. Recommended load: 47k ohms. Stylus: elliptical. Tracking force: 2gm. Price: $325 (1993). Retipping cost: $175 (1993).
Both: Approximate number of dealers: 40. US Distributor Musical Surroundings, Oakland, CA 94618 (1993). Benz-Micro…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
The cartridges were auditioned on the Well-Tempered Record Player and Arm, as well as the Roksan Radius turntable and Tabriz arm. The cartridges were all broken-in with at least 20 hours of playing time; this translates to approximately 30 LPs' worth of break-in, and if any of the manufacturers wanna carp that their baby needs at least 100 hours before the magic starts flowin', let 'em carp! Would you sit there and dutifully run your cartridge in for 100 hours before you sat down to enjoy your new booty? Me neither.
Both the WTRP and the Roksan '…
If there's a technical thing nearly every audiophile knows, it's that low frequencies (LF) aren't directional. We tend to treat LF as mono—think sub/sat systems in stereo, "LFE" in home-theater. But if the conclusions of a study by Thomas Lund, a researcher at Genelec OY (footnote 1), imply what they seem to, then that conviction is quite wrong.
In addition to resetting that bit of conventional wisdom, Lund's study may have uncovered an important contributor to the feeling of envelopment so many audiophiles crave, itself a profound source of pleasure beyond the music itself. As I have…
Mozart: Horn Concertos
Alec Frank-Gemmill, B-flat horn; Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, cond.
BIS-2635 (reviewed in native 24/96). 2024. Thore Brinkmann, prod.; Brinkmann, Håkan Ekman, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
Alec Frank-Gemmill, B-flat horn; Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, cond.
BIS-2635 (reviewed in native 24/96). 2024. Thore Brinkmann, prod.; Brinkmann, Håkan Ekman, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½
When I recollect the soundtrack to my acid-tinged summer of 1967, several LPs stand out: The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's you-know-what, The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties, Richie Havens's Mixed Bag, and Dennis Brain's equally famed recording of the Mozart Horn Concertos, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan.…
On Thursday January 30th, the frigid landscape of Red Hook, Brooklyn, was the site of several audio-focused debuts. Adam Wexler's Resolution AV, a purveyor of high-end audio, celebrated its grand reopening, showcasing new products from Fyne Audio. Fyne Audio CEO Max Maud and Harmonia Distribution Vice President Jesse Luna were on hand to introduce the new products and answer questions.
Fyne Audio's Max Maude and Harmonia Distribution's Jesse Luna.
Resolution A/V got its start as used-equipment dealer Stereobuyers, the subject of Art Dudley’s final column. While the…