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You read that correctly. 2017 will see the advent of two, potentially competing high-end audio shows, located just 35 miles and several congested freeways apart in Southern California. The first, the new Los Angeles Audio Show (LAAS), will take place June 2–4 in the Sheraton Gateway LAX, and is produced "in collaboration with the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society" (LAOCAS). The second, a continuation of T.H.E. Show Newport that was founded by the late Richard Beers and formerly supported by LAOCAS, will be held September 21–24 (September 21 reserved for press) in the Hilton…
Devialet Event in Cambridge MA Thursday, September 29, 6–8pm, Blink High End (129 Franklin Street, Cambridge, MA 02139) is holding a special event. Amaury Guillement, Regional Manager for the French Devialet brand, will be demonstrating the Devialet Expert 1000 Pro, a $35,000, dual-mono, 1000Wpc integrated amplifier. This flagship amplifier from Devialet combines preamplifier, amplifier, DAC, streamer, and phono stage in a single, extremely thin slab.
Seating is limited, so please RSVP by phone at (617) 225-0700 or via email to reserve a seat for you and a guest. Champagne, hors…
One of America's most vital living composers—New Yorker Steve Reich—turns 80 on October 3. In celebration, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM, two companies that greatly helped build Reich's reputation by recording his initially uncategorizable forays into minimalism, have reissued their seminal efforts. Given that all recordings feature members of the Steve Reich Ensemble (including the composer), and that Reich would not authorize performance and recordings of his work by others until 1990, the recordings are definitive (footnote 1).
From DG comes the 3-LP set, Steve Reich: Drumming, a reissue…
They don't make 'em like they used to.
That aphorism has few fans among people shopping for cancer drugs, contact lenses, GPS receivers, and laptop computers, all of which seem to get better with each passing year. Hell, even I know that.
It earns a more positive reply from anyone who's shopping for an oriental rug, or a fly rod, or a tweed jacket, or a musical instrument—people who will tell you that their fond response to the market for vintage examples of such goods is motivated by two things: older products were better made than their newer counterparts (better designs,…
The result is that, in certain aspects of their performance, many audio products made in the 1930s through the 1960s outperform virtually everything made since that time, often by generous margins. Those breathtaking levels of realism have yet to be matched, let alone exceeded.
I was about to add my usual, polite qualifier: It all depends on whether those performance parameters are important to you. But screw that. The fact is, contemporary audio consumers are even worse than contemporary audio designers when it comes to letting go of the things they think they know, in an effort to…
The second I encountered Dynaudio's Focus 200 XD powered loudspeaker at the High End 2015 show in Munich, Germany, it called to me. I wasn't so much drawn to its unique functions—which I describe below—as by the fact that it could help fill the black hole left by the dismantling of my reference system for my move from big, badass Oakland, California to the small, magical town of Port Townsend, Washington.
Until the completion of renovations to our future music room, my reference system would have to be my desktop system, built around a pair of Dynaudio Focus 110A powered loudspeakers,…
I listened to the Dynaudio rig both on my desktop and in the large classroom at nearby Peninsula College, where I taught classes in "Voices that Touch the Heart." Finally, I gave the setup a workout in my large, cathedral-ceilinged living room using Dynaudio's Stand 6 stands ($499/pair.) No matter where I played the Focus 200 XDs, they inspired a mixture of profound appreciation and disappointment. While the sound was clear, powerful, laudably neutral, and free of distortion, I consistently heard a bit of dryness at the centers of the voices of singers I've heard in person. That dryness lay…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way rear-ported, powered, stand-mounted loudspeaker with remote control. Drive-units: 1.1" (28mm) soft-dome tweeter, 6.7" (170mm) one-piece, magnesium-silicate-polymer (MSP) cone woofer with 3" (75mm) pure-aluminum-wire voice-coil. Crossover frequency: 2500Hz. Crossover slope: 18dB/octave. Adjustments and calibrations: Treble, +1/0/–1dB; Input Sensitivity (Analog In), +6/0/–6dB (1/2/4V RMS); Speaker Position, Neutral/Wall/Corner (continuous adjustment); Channel Mode, Master/Slave/External; Wireless In via Dynaudio Connect, up to 24/96 to 1 zone…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer with Intel i7, SSD, 8GB RAM; Apple iMac desktop computer with 3.4GHz Intel Core i7, 12GB RAM; G Drive 4TB external hard drive; Oppo BDP-93 NuForce Edition universal BD player; Benchmark DAC-1 USB DAC. M2Tech HiFace 192kHz Digital Audio Interface.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Focus 110A.
Cables: Digital Interconnect: Nordost Odin 1 (BNC with RCA adapters). Analog Interconnect: Nordost Heimdall 2 (USB) & Odin 1 (RCA). AC: Nordost Odin 1 & Odin 2 & Valhalla.
Accessories: Nordost Thor power…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Dynaudio Focus 200 XD's frequency response in the farfield; and, for the nearfield frequency responses, an Earthworks QTC-40, which has a ¼" capsule and thus doesn't present a significant obstacle to the sound.
I measured the Dynaudio at its analog input. As the Focus 200 XD is a powered speaker, my estimate of its voltage sensitivity can't be directly compared with those I publish for conventional speakers. But with a pink-noise input at 115mV RMS, the 200 XD's rotary…