Indeed it was. Dean Martin sounded gorgeous on LP, with voice and accompaniment…
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Only one question followed me to the 14th floor of Hotel Irvine: Will floor 2's unprecedented number of good-sounding rooms be repeated on other floors during T.H.E. Show Newport? With drums rolling and tension mounting, I entered one of the hotel's dismayingly slow-to-arrive elevators to emerge on the show's top floor. There sang the room shared by the Audio Salon of Santa Monica and Nordost. Immediately, I knew that unless the Goddess of Setup had been in a very foul mood, the sound would be stellar.
Saturday, June 11, 1–7pm, Esoteric Audio (111 W Monroe Street, Suite 100, Phoenix), is presenting "Musical Bliss for any Budget" with Aerial, Aesthetix, dCS, Musical Surroundings, and Simaudio, while from 11am–7pm, Integrity Sound (4035 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota) will host a special "Truth in Sound" event with MartinLogan, Parasound, and AudioQuest.
The Arizona event will demonstrate the exceptional performance available to customers at a variety of price points, not just the "latest and greatest," but how much of this elite performance can be realized in more affordable options.…
“I Get a Kick Out of You”
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
“Night and Day”
“Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”
One hundred and twenty five years ago today Cole Porter was born. What a songwriter! And while many of his most memorable tunes were big hits in the Broadway shows or films they were written for, and Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Dinah Washington and countless others cut memorable versions, for more than a few listeners, Porter’s catalog was made indelible thanks to the pipes of one Francis Albert Sinatra. Frank recorded and re-recorded Porter numbers like “I’ve Got…
I've included the long view of this room to demonstrate the lengths to which Ocean Way Audio's Allen Sides, in partnership with Viola Labs, went to achieve reference quality sound at T.H.E. Show. That the two companies succeeded by means of semi-diagonal placement, lots of room treatment, and invisible room treatment behind their sign is a testament to their dedication and perseverance.
The sound was superb, right up there with the best Wilson/VTL/D'Agostino/dCS rooms I visited throughout the show. (Other top-contender systems, which would have included speakers from YG Acoustics, Vivid,…
CD player prices continue to go down and, surprisingly, sound quality goes up; the Yamaha CD-X1 is an example of both. It's a front-drawer loader with some interesting innovations. Pushing the Open/Close button opens the drawer; it can be closed either by pushing the same button again or by pressing lightly against the end of the open drawer. (We understand this was done because many such players have been damaged by users trying to force the drawer shut by hand.)
The unit has three operating modes: Auto, Manual and Single. In Auto, play begins as soon as the drawer is closed, or as soon…
Sidebar 1: My Dinner With Toyasaki Matsumoto
Toyasaki Matsumoto, designer of the Yamaha CD-X1 and manager of Yamaha's Design Group 2, recently visited the US and met us for lunch at Nelson's, the famous upper West Side New York Delicatessen. After sampling the local pastrami, which he greatly enjoyed, we got down to business: the CD revolution and his company's new cost-effective player. Here are Mr. Matsumoto's views on the subject.
The key to the CD-Xl's considerable success in the United States lay in its small size and reduced cost. Designed originally for the minicomponent…
Back in 1970, one Julian Vereker decided to record some musician friends in his house in Salisbury, England. Using standard, off-the-shelf electronics and tape machines, he was startled at how dissimilar the recording was to the sound of live instruments. As a result, he started designing his own recording electronics, including a recording console, of which he sold several to local broadcast facilities.
Spurred by this success, Julian founded Naim Audio to design and manufacture home playback equipment that more closely approached the sound of real music. Naim has since become one of…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Programmable Compact Disc players. Specifications: all perfect (as usual).
Dimensions: 13.375" (CD-X1), 17.125" (CD-2) W by 3.625" H by 11.375" D.
Price: $599 (both, 1985); no longer available (2016).
Manufacturer: Yamaha Electronics Corp., 6660 Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park, CA 90260. Tel: (714) 522-9105. Fax: (714) 670-0108. Web: www.yamaha.com.
Connecting the Hi-Cap to the system is far from intuitive. Instead of running a DC supply cable from the Hi-Cap to the preamp and an audio cable from the preamp to the power amplifier, the audio signal is first routed through the Hi-Cap before driving the power amplifier. Consequently, it is easy to hook up the system incorrectly, as I did initially. Note that only a single cable (either a four- or five-pin DIN connector) should be connected to the 62 preamp (besides the signal inputs). This unusual arrangement reportedly results in a superior grounding scheme (the Hi-Cap as central ground…
Soundstage depth and feeling of three-dimensionality were exceptional. There was a distinct impression of up-front presence (more so with CD source), yet simultaneously a laid-back quality. Instruments toward the front of the soundstage were right there in front of the listener, with immediacy and palpability, yet musical subtleties and instruments toward the soundstage rear were laid-back and distant. I found that this ability to put images in their appropriate musical contexts heightened the listening experience. In addition, the impression of depth wasn't truncated toward the soundstage'…