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This unusual concerto, one of only two composed by Ravel, premiered in 1932 and is distinctive in many aspects (ie, it has only a single movement, and the piano is played with only the left hand). The concerto begins with what some at its premiere must have thought was the orchestra tuning up. By the time Franáois hammers down his first notes, the audience's collective mind was probably confused and delirious. The piano sound on this recording is dark, heavy, and extraordinarily dense, but the RP-1's MC stage and the Hana EL helped a lot by digging down to the composition's core intentions…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Vacuum-tube preamplifier. Tube complement: two 12AU7/ECC82. Frequency response: 5Hz–75kHz, ±1dB. THD: <0.1%. Gain: 9.5dB (line stage); 45dB, 60dB (phono stage). Rated output: 1V. Output impedance: 750 ohms. RIAA accuracy: ±0.1dB. Phono overload: 40mV. Headphone amp: 1W (32 ohms). Power consumption: <1W (off), 23W (on). Power requirements: 115V (50/60Hz), 220/230/240V (50/60Hz).
Dimensions: 15.25" (390mm) W by 3.2" (80mm) H by 14.5" (370mm) D. Weight 16 lbs (7.3kg) net, 20 lbs (9.1kg) shipping.
Finishes: Silver, Black.
Serial number…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12, Technics SL1200GAE turntables; SME M2-9 tonearm; Dynavector 20X2L, Hana EL, Ortofon M2 Black cartridges.
Digital Sources: Schiit Audio Bifrost Multibit DAC, Integra DPPS-7.2 DVD-A player.
Preamplification: Dynavector SUP-200 step-up transformer; Dynavector P75 Mk.3, Parasound Halo JC 3+, Schiit Audio Mani phono stages; PrimaLuna Prologue Premium, Simaudio Moon 350P preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: First Watt J2, PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, Simaudio Moon 330A.
Integrated Amplifiers: Line Magnetic LM-518 IA,…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Rogue Audio RP-1's electrical performance with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It").
The RP-1's phono input appears to use ultra-low-noise LT1115 op-amp chips. I left the internal settings as used by Herb Reichert for his auditioning— high gain and a 300 ohm load —which resulted in a voltage gain of 65.1dB at the main outputs with the volume control set to its maximum, and 55.2dB at the fixed output jacks. This is a little lower than the specified 60dB for moving-coil cartridges, but the shortfall will be…
A letter in response was published in June 1970 (Vol.2 No.10):
Gotcha!
Editor: At last, your fatuous pontificating has tripped you on your face!
Your anti–four-channel "editorial" in the last issue made me boiling mad. This is a legitimate advance in the audio art, and should be acknow ledged as such, particularly in a publication that purports to be in the vanguard of perfectionist-type high fidelity. Instead of citing a half-dozen reasons why it would not go over, Stereophile should have encouraged its supposedly perfectionist readers to support the new four-channel…
Virtually every new recording of Mozart's great opera, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), is eagerly anticipated. The opera is, after all, an indisputable masterpiece, and frequently described as the most perfect opera ever written. Not only does it contain an irresistible flood of melody, with one hummable, ear worm-like tune after the other, but its music also unfailingly serves da Ponte's libretto. As the story careens from ridiculous comedy to trenchant, oft-poignant commentary on the power struggles between master and servant, and women and men, it seems as alive today as it…
Guitarist Nels Cline will make his Blue Note debut on August 5—this coming Friday as a download, with CD following on August 19 and LP on September 2—with his album Lovers. It's a beautiful, wide-ranging, 18-track, 23-person-ensemble look inside Nels's soul, and a project that's been in the making for 25 years. It contains a mix of Cline's originals as well as songs by Sonic Youth, Arto Lindsay, Jimmy Giuffre, and Great American Songbook Standards.
I've known Cline, named by Rolling Stone as one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," from his avantgarde ensemble the Nels Cline…
It takes a lot of courage for a new company to launch an amplifier like this at time when most manufacturers are courting the mass market with budget-priced receivers, and Marantz is pretty firmly established as the Rolls Royce of audio electronics.
The SAE Mark II has, nominally, the same performance specs as the Dynaco Stereo 120, yet it costs twice as much as a factory-wired Stereo 120, and about 2½ times as much as a Stereo 120 kit. Is the SAE really worth the difference? And how does it compare with some other $400 amplifiers? Well, it all depends.
To begin with, the SAE and…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo or mono amplifier. Power output: 60Wpc into 8 ohms, >40Wpv into 16 ohms, both channels driven, 20Hz–20kHz; in mono mode, >100W into 8 ohms, >120W into 14 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz. IM distortion: <0.2% at rated output; <0,1% at lower levels. THD: <0.2% at rated output, <0.05% at lower levels. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz ±0.1dB; 3Hz–100kHz +0, –2dB. Power bandwidth: 8Hz–50kHz. Hum & noise: >110dB below 40 watts. Damping factor: >150. Stability: Unconditional with any type of load, or no load. Sensitivity: 1.…
In writing for magazines, there's a basic rule: Don't become the subject. And in writing about the arts, it's best to remember that you aren't in the music business or the film business: you're in the publishing business. Despite this, there are arts writers who fancy they're a part of the world they write about. All famous musicians are their "friends." The music business values their opinions. They're caught up in the delusion that the Rolling Stones sang about so deliciously in "Star Star," the closing number on Goats Head Soup.
At the risk of breaking that rule, I must note that…