search
I was not in a position to disagree at the time—my listening seat that night was on the floor, stage left, about 5' in front of and just to the outside of the left loudspeaker. But I will observe that a dozen or so "6', biological Tube Traps" (listeners) in an already moderately well damped, 15' by 20' listening room, will do a number on high-frequency detail and "air," as well as significantly increase the required power output. As a frequent solo listener in that room to the Rowland Model 1–driven Stages in the month prior to the writer's conference, I had been struck by the Rowland…
Sidebar 1: System
The reference-system equipment used with both amplifiers included the Rowland Consonance preamp and the Apogee Stage loudspeakers. Program sources were the Oracle Delphi Mk.IV turntable and Oracle 345 tonearm with the Dynavector XX-1L cartridge and the Sony CDP-X77ES CD player. Other equipment used included the Mirage M-3 loudspeakers and (briefly) the Coda Technologies FET Preamplifier 01. The Threshold SA/12es and Muse 100 amplifiers were pressed into service where needed.
Loudspeaker cables were Symo (for the Stages) and AudioQuest Clear (for the M-3s).…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
As can be seen from fig.1, the Rowland exhibits a virtually ruler-flat frequency-response curve. The 10kHz squarewave (fig.2) indicates a fast rise-time, with no significant rounding of the leading edges. Polarity of the Rowland was non-inverting, and input impedance at 1kHz was 20.8k ohms, 95k ohms, and 750 ohms at the 20k ohm, 100k ohm, and 600 ohm input settings respectively. It required 142.4mV to give an output of 1W into 8 ohms, a gain of 26dB. Unweighted noise was 75.3dB below 1W into 8 ohms. Channel separation was better than 105dB below 1.5kHz (actually…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Power output: 60Wpc into 8 ohms (17.8dBW), 120Wpc into 4 ohms (17.8dBW), 215Wpc into 2 ohms (17.3dBW). Bridged power output: 240Wpc into 8 ohms (23.8dBW), 360Wpc into 4 ohms (22.6dBW), 500Wpc into 2 ohms (21.0dBW). Power bandwidth: 0.3Hz to 300kHz, –3dB. Slew rate: 70V/ns. THD+noise: under 0.035% at 1kHz, rated power into 8 ohms. Damping factor: greater than 200, 20Hz–20kHz into 8 ohms. Output current: 22A peak, continuous, 55A peak into 0.1 ohm for 20ms at 1kHz. Input impedance: 100k ohms, 20k ohms, or 600 ohms (…
Photos: Brian Li
It's half past seven on a drizzly Friday night in New York City. I'm a little bit of a mess; soggy from the sporadic downpour, weakened by a full day's work, and still regretting the sub-par pork and chive dumplings I wolfed down earlier. All day long I've been fighting off the urge to inject myself with cold beers (preferably Guinness) and binge watch Wong Kar Wai films. It's one of those days.
I'm with my friend Brian Li and we're walking in the East Village. Our destination: Other Music.
Pause. Allow me to back track and offer you, reader, some…
I've listened to this album several times now, and it's growing on me with each play. A duet session with pianist Vijay Iyer, 44, and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, 74, both master musicians, immersed in avant-garde composition but comfortable with basking in lyrical ballads too, A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (on the ECM label) is spacey without devolving into New Age goo, intense (sometimes simmering, sometimes bursting to a boil) without losing the theme or pulse of a piece.
The heart of the album is a 52-minute, largely improvised suite (which provides the CD's title), inspired by the…
Note: All dialogue quoted verbatim from e-mail exchanges to which I am privy; the stage directions are imaginary.
Dramatis Personae:
bill, director of marketing for PS Audio
randy (footnote 1), amateur reviewer for a commercial audiophile website
dick (footnote 2), professional reviewer for an established audio magazine (not Stereophile)
SCENE ONE
The stage is completely darkened, save for a small pool of light L. and another R. At L. we see randy in his office, sitting with his feet up on his desk. Other than a computer and a telephone, his desk is…
Esperanza Spalding: Emily's D+Evolution
Concord 7238281 (LP, 24/96 FLAC from PonoMusic). 2016. Esperanza Spalding, Tony Visconti, prods.; Kyle Hoffman, Tim Price, engs.; Martin Cooke, Kyle McAulay, Erin Tonkon, asst. engs.; Paul Blakemore, mastering; Rich Costey, mix. Mario Borgatta, mix assist. DDA? TT: 43:41
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Concord 7238281 (LP, 24/96 FLAC from PonoMusic). 2016. Esperanza Spalding, Tony Visconti, prods.; Kyle Hoffman, Tim Price, engs.; Martin Cooke, Kyle McAulay, Erin Tonkon, asst. engs.; Paul Blakemore, mastering; Rich Costey, mix. Mario Borgatta, mix assist. DDA? TT: 43:41
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
It may have started back in 2011, when the crowd at the Grammy Awards let out a collective "Who?" as Esperanza Spalding was named Best New Artist, an award almost everyone had thought would go straight to Justin Bieber. Spalding was the…
What can you say about a man who wrote a love song to tomatoes?
“Now you can go out to eat and that's for sure/ But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure/ Put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew/ You make your very own tomato juice.
"You can eat 'em with eggs, eat 'em with gravy/ Eat 'em with beans, pinto or navy/ Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle/ Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle
"Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes/ What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes/ Only two things that money can't buy/ And that's true love and homegrown tomatoes.”…
Friday May 20, from 2-10pm, Hi-Fi Sales (1732 Route 70 East, Cherry Hill, NJ 08003) is hosting an event in which audiophiles can get their first look at VPI's brand new ADS (Analog Drive System) speed controller (projected price: $800-$1000), the first product of the company's newly forged partnership with electronics designer Mike Bettinger. Attendees will also have a chance to compare VPI's magnetic-drive and direct-drive turntable technologies, in the form of two otherwise-identical VPI Avenger turntables—a first for their direct-drive system.
Mat Weisfeld and Harry Weisfeld of VPI…