Digital Source: Ayre C-5xe universal player.
Preamplifier: Conrad-Johnson CT5.
Power Amplifiers: Moscode 401HR, Nu Force Reference 8B.
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Special Twenty-Five.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries, Stereovox Colibri. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra, Stereovox Firebird. AC: Shunyata Research Anaconda, Orion.
Accessories: Audience adeptResponse power conditioner, Shunyata Research Hydra AC power-distribution system; OSAR Selway/Magruder equipment racks; Ayre Myrtle Wood Blocks.—Wes Phillips
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
All the measurements were performed with the speaker's reflex port open. The Dynaudio Focus 140's estimated voltage sensitivity was 86.1dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is slightly below the average of the speakers Stereophile has reviewed, but within the margin of error of the specified 86dB figure. Its impedance dropped to 4 ohms at 170Hz (fig.1) but remained above 6 ohms for much of the midrange and treble, with a moderate electrical phase angle. The speaker will not be demanding when it comes to choosing an amplifier with which to partner it.
The traces in fig.1…
In September 2005, for the first time, I attended the Expo of the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA), in Indianapolis. Although I saw many familiar faces and companies, it was apparent that the event was dominated by a spirit very different from the one that pervades this magazine or the high-end exhibitions at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). That spirit, however, does suffuse the rest of CES, and is well represented at Primedia's own Home Entertainment shows. That spirit encompasses video, and a view of audio that differs significantly from that of…
Before you get the visual confirmation of all these settings, though, there comes the fancy part, as Audyssey MultEQxt does more measurements and calculations. Even if you listen alone, more than a single microphone position is needed. I don't sit with my head in a vise, but move around as I listen. My wife may not be as picky as I, but she doesn't deserve to be ignored. One of the important features of Audyssey MultEQxt Room Equalization is the Mult part. It can combine measurements from up to eight microphone positions and calculate a compensatory EQ for each speaker channel that optimizes…
Sidebar: Records in the Round
SHOSTAKOVICH: The Symphonies
Dmitri Kitajenko, Gurzenich-Orchester Köln
Capriccio 71 029 (12 SACDs)
In the September 2004 Stereophile I described the recording of Shostakovich's Symphony 8 that appears in this set as "A powerful, crunchy performance and a recording that is suitably weighty and brilliant by turns." As a collective effort of the musicians and producers, the entire set is equally impressive. Just as I can single out Kitajenko's readings of symphonies 1, 7, 8, and 9 as outstanding by any standard, the rest of this cycle is not…
BEETHOVEN: The String Quartets
Emerson String Quartet
Eugene Drucker, 1st violin, Philip Setzer, 1st violin, Lawrence Dutton, viola, David Finckel, cello.
DG, 447 075-2. (7 CDs). 1997. Alison Ames and Roger Wright, exec. prods; Max Wilcox, prod.; Nelson Wong, eng. DDD. TT: 8:18:02.
Music: *****
Sonics: *****
Emerson String Quartet
Eugene Drucker, 1st violin, Philip Setzer, 1st violin, Lawrence Dutton, viola, David Finckel, cello.
DG, 447 075-2. (7 CDs). 1997. Alison Ames and Roger Wright, exec. prods; Max Wilcox, prod.; Nelson Wong, eng. DDD. TT: 8:18:02.
Music: *****
Sonics: *****
Though string quartets by Mozart, Ravel and Debussy all provide chamber musicians with reasons to live, the Beethoven quartets keep them together. The string quartet is the medium in which Beethoven most consistently gave his richest, most introspective efforts in…
Sidebar: JA on the sound
String quartets are often not particularly well-served on record, the sparse scoring either being rendered too dry, too scratchy, or too "bathroomy." While DG's engineers have gone for a close perspective, resulting in full-bodied sound, the balance is still not in the listener's face. Personally, I would have liked a little more of the room to leak around the outlines of the instruments—as it does in the Op.59 performances—but this is still a fine recording overall.—John Atkinson
Ask most professional symphony musicians for their views concerning recording sessions, and you might be greeted with seemingly nonchalant and cavalier responses. You will probably be told that although recording can be quite lucrative, it is almost always an exercise in futility. If you press further, and inquire as to why these "artists" display such negative attitudes, they would treat you to both a lecture concerning the shortcomings and gross musical distortions usually involved in the recording process, and to a tirade on the incompetence and arrogance of many recording engineers and…
Professional instrumentalists and vocalists are trained both in the conservatory and through practical experience to produce big, resonant, clear sounds in order successfully to project to the "last row in the house." They accomplish this by adding an edge, or "zing," to their sounds that is clearly audible up close, but not at a distance. If one were to sit in the middle of our wind section during a concert, the visitor would probably find the unfocused and unrefined quality of the sound to be distracting and unmusical. If microphones are placed too close to the instruments, the perspective…
A dream I have had since I discovered the pleasures of music is to possess a time machine. Not a fancy one, just a small device that would allow me to escape modern music-making and drop in to hear what must have been some of the greatest musical experiences of all time. Classical music presents no problems: Off to 18th-century Leipzig on Sunday, of course, to hear J.S. Bach play the organ in church, after an early 19th-century Saturday evening spent in Vienna listening to Beethoven improvising at the pianoforte. During the week it would still be Vienna, but forward 80 years or so to hear…