When the CD is gone, and it will be soon, we'll miss it. New CD releases are winding down (footnote 1). In the classical world, the era of big, bargain-priced boxes of CDs—a somewhat recent development—is ending because, after a long, slow descent, retail sales have fallen off a cliff in the past year or so. In pop and rock, if you discover a new band you like, you may or may not be able to buy a CD. Perhaps they'll self-publish a few to sell at concerts; there's a better chance they'll have LPs, assuming they…
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Physical media market shares, from 1973–2024. From riaa.com/u-s-sales-database.
Danny Elfman: Percussion Concerto, Wunderkammer
Colin Currie, percussion; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, cond.
Sony Classical 906443 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2024. Danny Elfman, prod.; Peter Cobbin, Kirsty Whalley, Dennis Sands, Patricia Sullivan, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
Colin Currie, percussion; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta, cond.
Sony Classical 906443 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV). 2024. Danny Elfman, prod.; Peter Cobbin, Kirsty Whalley, Dennis Sands, Patricia Sullivan, engs.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****
It's time to go out on a limb. Are Danny Elfman's Percussion Concerto and the other works on his new album "great music"? Should this classical music, from the former lead singer and songwriter of new wave band Oingo Boingo—who composed film scores for Pee-Wee's Big…
As founder and chief designer of Sonus Faber, Franco Serblin designed and manufactured many loudspeakers of acclaimed high quality, mainly in box form. Nevertheless, he remained painfully aware that such conventional rectangular parallelepiped constructions inevitably possessed an inherent and hard-to-suppress resonant signature characteristic of box-form cabinetry, significantly differing from that for a musical instrument. Franco had long obsessed over the sound and construction of classical string instruments, violins, violas, and cellos made by grand masters over centuries. He valued…
The sound
Experience with the Accordo Goldberg has reacquainted me with Franco's pursuit of truly natural timbres. From the first few notes, I heard an unstressed, communicative delivery that quickly drew me in. While rock and electric jazz played as well as most designs of this size, power handling, and compact category, such material could not reveal the full measure of the quality on offer here.
It was with simple recordings of natural sounds that these speakers' true excellence was revealed. Here, the Accordo Goldberg proved capable of effortlessly differentiating…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, rear-ported, bass-reflex loudspeaker with laminated wood cabinet. Frequency range: 39Hz–23kHz. Impedance: 7 ohms nominal, 3.8 ohms minimum, at 5.5kHz. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Minimum amplifier power: 40Wpc.
Dimensions: 16" (405mm) H × 9.5" (240mm) W × 16.9" (430mm) D. Stand height: 29.1" (740mm). Weight: 27.5lb (12.5kg) each loudspeaker; 17.6lb (8kg) each stand.
Finish: Solid wood with parts made of chrome and aluminum.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: Numbered pair 371 (auditioned), 326 (measured). Manufactured in Vicenza,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Keel chassis, Karousel main bearing, Radikal motor control, Naim ARO tonearm, and Lyra Delos cartridge.
Digital sources: Naim UnitiCore network server and S/PDIF source. Roon Nucleus +. Naim ND555 Streamer-DAC with dual 555PS(DR) power supplies.
Preamplification: Townsend Allegri Reference, Naim SuperLine-SuperCap DR phono preamplifier.
Power amplifier: Naim NAP250 2024 series.
Loudspeakers: FinkTeam KIM, BBC LS3/5a (15 ohm), Magico A5.
Accessories: Several 4- and 5-tier point contact Naim…
Sidebar 3: Martin's Measurements
Basic measurements were undertaken to confirm the condition of these UK review samples and help coordinate with John Atkinson's full tech report on his US example. I checked the effect of the near-vestigial grille; I found little to note save errors of less than 1dB in the mid-treble from its addition, increasing to 1.5dB at 15kHz. I consider such changes negligible, as I could not reliably hear the effect. I think that is because the strand spacing is wider here than when I had previously encountered this design detail with a Sonus Faber design…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
I measured a different sample of the Franco Serblin Accordo Goldberg loudspeaker to those auditioned by Martin Colloms. Mine had the serial number 326. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, which has a ¼" capsule, for the nearfield responses.
The…
The hi-fi receiver has been many different things. Early examples, like the Harman Kardon "Stereo Festival" TA-230 from 1958 (said by modern-day Harman/Samsung to be the first stereo receiver; footnote 1), featured separate FM and AM monophonic tuners that could assign a speaker to each if you wanted to listen to what was then a fad: stereo broadcasts over two stations (left channel over FM, right over AM, for instance). Standardized FM stereo broadcasting began in 1961, and by then, receivers had evolved into large, complex, nearly complete stereo systems; an example of that was the Fisher…
I decided I'd "pull up the patient pants," as my wife often advises, and set it up by the book: the user manual. The book says to download the app first and use it for setup. This proved the right move, as navigating the device's menu tree is time-consuming with the remote and even more so using the front-panel buttons and knobs. The app was a bit clunky when it came to pairing the unit to my Wi-Fi network, which required several attempts but ultimately worked. I could have plugged in the Ethernet cable and connected quicker, but I wanted to use this with Wi-Fi since I figured that would be…