Listener's writers included Herb Reichert, Michael Fremer, Alex Halberstadt, Rob Doorack, Adam Sohmer, and the late Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg, as well as guitarist Duck Baker, trombonist Roger Oyster, poet Robert Kelly, and a host of others. Features included equipment reviews, how-to articles, regular…
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A couple of weeks back, we posted a video profile of our Deputy Editor, Art Dudley, and received overwhelmingly positive feedback for Art—and deeply nostalgic comments about Listener Magazine, which he founded in late 1994, and which ceased publication after the September/October2002 issue.
MOUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain
Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond.
Telarc 80042 (LP). Recorded at Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland, OH. Edited at Soundstream, Inc. Mastered at JVC Cutting Center. Robert Woods, prod.; Jack Renner, eng.; Stan Ricker, mastering eng. DAA.
Cleveland Orchestra, Lorin Maazel, cond.
Telarc 80042 (LP). Recorded at Masonic Auditorium, Cleveland, OH. Edited at Soundstream, Inc. Mastered at JVC Cutting Center. Robert Woods, prod.; Jack Renner, eng.; Stan Ricker, mastering eng. DAA.
This is unquestionably the best recording Telarc has done to date. It is almost impossible to fault. If I were to pick nits, I would complain about a slight lack of air in the strings. The rest is, simply, superlatives!
The performances aren't quite that good, unfortunately.…
Bill Sommerwerck: The more intelligent you are, the less you know. I don't mean just the obvious use of "know," where one rigidly holds certain beliefs as absolute. I'm also suggesting that the properly disciplined mind replaces a lot of specific facts with a few generalities.
The inductive process (reasoning from general observations to specific principles) has obvious application to math and science and is just as applicable to such studies as economics or history. And once one understands enough basic rules, deductive reasoning allows one to predict the outcome of a particular set of…
Alvin Gold responds
It's not often I take up arms as a result of what I read in the hi-fi press, but there are moments. When I am told that all competently designed amplifiers used within their input/output limitations sound the same, I see red. And then there's this business about single speaker demonstrations (SSDs). . .
It's not often I take up arms as a result of what I read in the hi-fi press, but there are moments. When I am told that all competently designed amplifiers used within their input/output limitations sound the same, I see red. And then there's this business about single speaker demonstrations (SSDs). . .
The reason I see red here is simple—I actually spend a lot of time listening to music using hi-fi equipment, and my ears tell me that SSDs work. BS seems content to use paper logic to prove that they don't, apparently without reference to any practical…
In critic speak, "fascinating" is a word that can go either way. On one hand there's the fascinating which translates to a polite way of saying that as ideas go it had potential, but in execution it's really only for diehard fans of the artist. Or maybe, it's not really for anybody.
A perfect example of the opposite positive use of fascinating is Shorter By Two, an idea that probably shouldn't have worked but in practice succeeded in ways that most people could never have imagined. Originally released in 1984, these adaptations of Wayne Shorter's original compositions played by two pianos…
TCHAIKOVSKY: Capriccio Italien
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol
Boston Pops conducted by Arthur Fiedler.
Crystal Clear CCS-7003 (Direct-cut LP). Ed Wodenjak, prod.; Bert Whyte, eng.; George Piros, Richard Simpson, Stan Ricker, mastering; John Meyer, special equipment; John Curl, console design.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol
Boston Pops conducted by Arthur Fiedler.
Crystal Clear CCS-7003 (Direct-cut LP). Ed Wodenjak, prod.; Bert Whyte, eng.; George Piros, Richard Simpson, Stan Ricker, mastering; John Meyer, special equipment; John Curl, console design.
One of Crystal Clear's earlier releases (1978), this has very distant, directionally vague sound, but the sound (stupendous by standards of only a few years ago) cannot stand in the way of two of the most exciting performances of these potboilers that have ever been committed to…
The KSL ($1800, $2100 with phono section) is a one-box line controller/preamplifier, just 2.25" high, with a nominal voltage gain of 10dB, or 3x. Despite its moderate price, the KSL is distinguished by having balanced outputs (via industry-standard XLR connectors), as well as two balanced inputs. Conventional single-ended, unbalanced outputs are also available via a pair of gold-plated phono sockets. Two unbalanced inputs are provided, plus a third via the tape monitor switch. The tape output is unbalanced, derived from the selector switch setting, while the main outputs may be used…
Sidebar 1: A Matter of Balance
Much has been written about balanced operation, but few real facts have been established except for its frequent use in professional studio applications, where it was primarily developed for low-level microphone signals and long cable runs, sometimes as long as 100m. By using an intimately twisted pair of conductors (which offers good rejection of external electromagnetic interferences when driven in a push-pull balanced mode), then shielding the assembly, often with two successive dense-wire braids, external hum and noise fields could be suppressed. The…
Sidebar 2: Ancillary Components
A well-judged assessment of equipment of this quality requires several conditions to be satisfied. First, the equipment must be conditioned, run-in for several days, and well warmed up. Second, its mode of use and the chosen interfaces should be carefully selected, with allowance made for some experimentation to determine the optimum arrangement. This area includes balanced and unbalanced operation, and the choice of cables. Third, it's valuable to have a handful of comparable and reference components with which to compare. In the case of the KSL…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As might well be expected, harmonic distortion levels were negligible—better than –83dB over the measured 20Hz–20kHz range at a nominal 0.5V IHF output level. With class-A circuitry, fully complementary harmonic orders were low, with quite negligible upper-range harmonics. The two-tone high-frequency intermodulation test generated a very low –89dB level of in-band difference tone. Little variation was observed at higher or lower signal levels. Virtually a little power amplifier in its own right, the KSL could deliver a maximum voltage swing of 8.7V RMS from a very…