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Prediction: The visionary new music, system-testing percussion, and virtual rainbow of colors that distinguish Dawn to Dust, the latest hybrid SACD in Reference Recordings' Fresh! series, guarantee that it will become a hit among music-loving audiophiles who dare play tracks beyond 3 minutes in length. The inventive genius that courses through the recording's three compositions—Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra) by Nico Muhly, 34; Switch by Andrew Norman, 37; and Eos (Goddess of the Dawn), a ballet for orchestra by Augusta Read Thomas, 52—is, in and of itself, enrapturing, formidable,…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
In his review of this expensive, two-box, tubed phono preamplifier in October 2015, Art Dudley concluded that were he "the owner of a lesser full-function preamplifier, or virtually any line-only preamp, the new Aurieges would be at the top of my list. In its sound, its musicality, and its distinction as a handmade, artisanal component of exceptional quality and consequently high value, it is every inch a Shindo."
However, when he used the Aurieges phono preamplifier with April Music's Aura Note V2 CD receiver while reviewing the latter for the April 2016…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: If I had known this unit was coming for measurements, I would have changed my old, worn-out tubes for new ones. No surprise it was a bit noisy, it's got thousands of hours on it with the original tubes.—Jonathan Halpern, Tone Imports
111 seems to be the magic number for AXPONA 2016, aka Audio Expo of North America. Taking place April 15–17 in the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, IL (near Chicago's O'Hare airport), AXPONA promises 111 exhibit rooms, including 29 larger meeting spaces which sometimes house multiple systems. AXPONA will also host 111 booths and table displays, with a good 50 of those located in the Ear Gear Expo. All told, the show will feature products from 375 brands, most of which will sing away every day starting at the mercifully civilized hour of 10am.
As for who is going to attend, discounted web sales…
I put the LP of Frogtown on and had just turned around when it hit me. Anthony Wilson was singing! A hugely talented guitar player of more than a little renown, Wilson has built a thriving solo career that currently stands at ten fine-sounding solo records. He's also an in-demand sideman, having played on a number of records by the likes of Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Mose Allison, and Leon Russell, to name just a few. Lately, much of his time has been taken up by being a member of Diana Krall’s touring band. Perhaps best of all, he’s the son of far-ahead-of-his time arranger and big band…
On Saturday, April 16, beginning at 9:30am, NYC audio retailer In Living Stereo (2 Great Jones Street, New York, NY 10012) is celebrating Record Store Day with a day of in-store performances, shopping for limited-edition RSD releases, and special giveaways. At 11am DJs will start spinning records while The Sweet Things perform live at 1pm.
The list of RSD releases can be found here; In Living Stereo has ordered most RSD titles, so there will be something for every collector, but they warn that as quantities are limited, it's first come, first served, and they are limiting sales to one…
You don't have to be a seasoned speaker builder to recognize the Focal name. For years they've offered the home constructor a full assortment of quality drivers and kits. The kits were designed in-house—mostly by Focal in France—and, according to Focal, they represent fully engineered and tested systems. The Aria kits (the 5 and the 7), depart from Focal's past policy, in that the project was a collaborative design effort between Dr. Joe D'Appolito and Focal America. Focal's main contribution was in the area of cabinet development, while D'Appolito was responsible for the system integration…
The integration of the bass octaves with the midrange proved to be another strength. You may recall the famous MartinLogan Sequel II upper-bass hole, which squeezed the testosterone from male vocalists. The Aria will do none of that. It does not slight any one particular bass register. The reproduction of male voice, cello, and double bass was tonally quite authentic. The upper-bass/lower-midrange anemia that more often than not afflicts so many minimonitors was blissfully absent.
There wasn't a prodigious quantity of deep bass, which meant that orchestral foundation lacked authority.…
Editor's Note from 1974: As you can read in the following "As We See It," the last issue of Vol.1 No.12 (cover dated "Spring 1966") was perhaps not as "strong" as it might have been. If we had been doing things according to Proper Business Practice, we should have held back our best articles and our gutsiest reports until that issue, as a high-powered incentive for our subscribers to renew their subs. We didn't. There were better articles and a greater variety of topics covered in earlier issues, but Issue 12 was significant in that it set the pattern of topic emphasis, and the balance of…
The left-hand side of fig.7 shows the Aria's bass response, measured in the nearfield of both the lower woofer and the port. The port (red trace) can be seen to handle the range below 85Hz or so, its tuning revealed by the minimum in the woofer output to lie at 51Hz. This was confirmed by measuring the impedance of the speaker, the minimum value between the two peaks in the bass also lying at 51Hz (fig.8). Overall, this measurement confirms the Aria's 4 ohm rating, with slight dips just below that figure apparent in the upper bass and the presence region.
Fig.8 Focal Aria 5…