A sweet soul singer from Alabama, Alexander was not an inspired shouter like Otis Redding nor a super-charged urban strutter like Wilson Pickett. His voice had a lighter, gentler quality. He was a careful enunciator of every word even though his music was deeply southern fried soul. Most distinctive of all, Alexander had a way with a heartbroken ballad—as in his heart was broken—that was above and beyond.…
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One of my favorite South by Southwest moments over the 28 years I have attended was the early-1990s performance of Arthur Alexander who was literally sobbing before his set was done.
It is undoubtedly far more romantic for us to imagine young Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) spending his last weeks on earth writing four chamber cantatas in a Franciscan monastery on the Bay of Naples than it was for him to write feverishly while dying of tuberculosis. Had he experienced a miracle cure, he would have lived to discover that his Stabat Mater was fast becoming one of the most widely disseminated and frequently printed musical manuscripts of the 18th century.
281 years after Pergolesi's death, the beauty and freshness of his 12-movement work for two high voices with…
Recently, a friend played me a masterpiece: Ike & Tina Turner's River Deep—Mountain High, arranged by Jack Nitzsche and produced by Phil Spector (LP, A&M SP 4178). It sounded terrible: murky, distant, with badly booming bass. Even before the first track was over, we both laughed and called it a night.
Nevertheless, I went home obsessed with Tina's inspired singing and Spector's infamous Wall of Sound production.
I have forever lusted for Tina Turner . . . but now, my nerdy old reviewer self wanted to use this dense, soulful recording to bring back my teen testosterone,…
I told Joe he was a super-nice guy and a super-talented engineer, but a below-average explainer.
All I know for sure is that the new Abyss AB-1266 looks the same as the old, costs the same, weighs the same (620gm), and sounds only slightly different. I had both models here to compare.
Listening
The new and old Abyss headphones were voiced using a Woo Audio WA5 integrated/headphone amplifier, with 300B tubes, like the one I reviewed in the January 2017 issue. Therefore, to get the full measure of authorized Abyss pleasure, I used the Woo WA5 for most of my evaluations. I also…
Following my review of the floorstanding Magico S5 Mk.II last February, I spent some time with two-way stand-mounted speakers from Aerial Acoustics, Bowers & Wilkins, and Dynaudio. As much as I appreciated the small speakers' virtues, I found myself missing the big Magico's bass extension and ability to play loud; my next loudspeaker review, therefore, would be of another floorstander.
It's been a while since we published a review of a Rockport Technologies loudspeaker. Michael Fremer raved about Rockport's Antares in August 2002, which at the time cost $41,500/pair. In September 2004…
Having found the approximately optimal positions for the speakers, McKee laid out a grid in blue tape for each, with markings every ½". Using familiar recordings and moving each speaker one marking at a time, from side to side and from front to back, he zeroed on a position for each that gave the most-even transition from the low bass through the upper bass and the most neutral reproduction of vocal vowels. He then made small adjustments to the positioning to bring out what he calls "that ineffable 'musical expression thing'— whether or not ensemble members seem to be listening to one…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25.4mm) beryllium-dome tweeter; 6" (152.4mm) carbon-fiber, sandwich-composite–cone midrange; two 9" (230mm) carbon-fiber, sandwich-composite–cone woofers. Frequency response: 25Hz–30kHz, –3dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum amplification: 30W.
Dimensions: 46.5" (1181mm) H by 15" (381mm) W by 24.5" (622mm) D. Weight: 220 lbs (100kg).
Finishes: Metallic gloss or high-gloss paint.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 1702L & R.
Price: $…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Aurender N10 music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; Arcam irDAC-II, Ayre Acoustics QX-5 Twenty, Chord DAVE, PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converters; AudioQuest JitterBug, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Mac mini running Vinyl Studio, Pure Music 3, Audirvana 1.5, Roon 1.3; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Phono Preamplifier: Channel D Seta L.
Preamplifier: Ayre Acoustics KX-5 Twenty…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Rockport Avior II's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses. A complication was that the 220-lb loudspeaker was too bulky for me to move it outside for the testing, or to lift it onto my computer-controlled turntable. I therefore had to do the quasi-anechoic measurements in my listening room, where the proximity of room boundaries led to more than usually aggressive windowing of the time-domain data, which in turn reduced…
Jim Austin wrote about the BHK Signature 300 in August 2017 (Vol.40 No.8):
When I came up for air after reviewing PS Audio's BHK Signature preamplifier for our June 2017 issue, there was still a pair of BHK Signature 300 monoblock power amplifiers ($14,998/pair) sitting on the floor of my listening room. (PS Audio had provided them to use while reviewing their preamp.) Also sitting there, next to the monoblocks, was a pair of DeVore Fidelity's Orangutan O/96 loudspeakers, their lovely wood baffles gleaming. (They're in for a Follow-Up.)
It was an intriguing match: The BHK…