As is the case with many artists, Elvis Presley's best recordings, particularly when it comes to his vocals, are his first; the ones he made for Sun Records in 1954–55. They have been repackaged yet again in a very attractive box, Elvis Presley, A Boy From Tupelo, The Complete 1953–55 Recordings, The difference here is that this set, according to the press…
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Forget if you can, the hips, the hair, the pills, and the whole grotesque circus his life eventually became and remember that Elvis Presley, who died 40 years ago today, was in the beginning a hillbilly cat who could genuinely sing.
DeJohnette, Grenadier, Medeski, Scofield: Hudson
John Scofield, electric guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass; John Medeski, keyboards; Jack DeJohnette, drums.
Motema CD-228 (CD). 2017. Hudson, prods.; Scott Petito, eng.; Beth Reineke, asst. eng. DDD TT: 69:92
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
John Scofield, electric guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass; John Medeski, keyboards; Jack DeJohnette, drums.
Motema CD-228 (CD). 2017. Hudson, prods.; Scott Petito, eng.; Beth Reineke, asst. eng. DDD TT: 69:92
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Sometimes, a successful recording is not about the material, the studio, the producer, or even the players involved. Sometimes, it's about a shared feeling that grows among the players and conjures a groove. Grooves can be hard to find, especially among accomplished players recording together…
At the risk of offending nearly every designer and manufacturer of loudspeakers, I think we have not seen anything really new in a long time. Casting a gimlet eye at Stereophile's "Recommended Components" reveals some electrostatic and planar-magnetic models, a few horns, and lots and lots of cones and domes in boxes. Those cones and domes have voice-coils inductively driven by permanent magnets, and overwhelmingly use passive crossovers. Innovation in speakers mostly takes the form of advancements in materials science and, to a much lesser degree, cabinet shape. All helpful, but not…
The Limit Indicator might be of interest to some. Given the relatively small size of the Three's drivers and enclosure and the potency of its multiple amplifiers, it can be assumed that some users might run them at damaging levels. The designer, Bruno Putzeys, has implemented limiters based on multiple-intelligent-detection algorithms that predict when the incoming signal would be harmful to drivers or amps. He thinks it is "the most unintrusive limiter ever used in a playback device." I agree. In fact, I never turned on the Limit Indicator, because I didn't want that cue to bias my…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Kii Three: Three-way, stand-mounted, sealed-box, powered loudspeaker with DSP control. Drive-units: 1" wave-guided tweeter, 5" midrange, four 6.5" woofers, each individually powered. Amplifiers: six 250W custom Ncore. Frequency response: 20Hz–25kHz, ±0.5dB. Acoustic output: 105dB long term, 110dB short term, 115dB peak. Controlled directivity: 4.8dB (80Hz–1kHz, slowly rising thereafter). Input: XLR (analog or AES/EBU up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM). Two KiiLink (RJ45) for Kii Control and master/slave. Controls: Boundary (16 steps), Contour (14 presets).
Dimensions…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Oppo Digital BDP-105 universal BD player, Baetis Prodigy X PC-based music server running Windows 7, JRiver Media Center 22, exaSound e28 multichannel D/A processor; QNAP TS-831X NAS.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research MP1, Parasound Halo P 7.
Power Amplifiers: Classé Sigma Monos (with Bowers & Wilkins and Focal speakers).
Loudspeakers: B&O BeoLab 90, Bowers & Wilkins Diamond 802 D3, Focal Sopra No.3.
Cables: Analog Interconnect: AudioQuest Earth/DBS balanced, Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA). Digital Interconnect:…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Kii Three's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. I fed MLSSA's single-ended analog output to the Three's balanced XLR jack using an adapter, and used the Kii Control to set the speaker's operating conditions, including setting the polarity to Pos, and disabling the contour and boundary equalization so that I'd be examining the Three's fundamental behavior.
Had I read Kal Rubinson's review text when I began taking the…
Much as the idea of them is usually enticing, cross-cultural musical mashups often fall short in execution. Chinese hip hop,, Jazz ragas, even Renee Fleming singing rock tunes. Something is usually missing because, despite music being a universal language, translating for each other or even better, creating a new musical expression that blends elements of two traditions is much harder than it sounds. To actually dig in and collaborate takes an open mind and peerless musicianship, two things that both the Trio Da Kali and the Kronos Quartet have in rich supply.
Formed specifically to…
Judging from Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot's latest recording of the orchestral works of Charles Ives (1874–1954), much of his totally iconoclastic oeuvre sounds as if it could have been inspired by present day events. Ninety-one years since Ives ceased composing, his anything but conventional music continues to cast light on the contrasting and conflicting elements that make America the current meltdown melting pot that it is.
Take, for example, the four pieces of A Symphony: New England Holidays (1904–13), which is also known as the Holidays Symphony. An American Four Seasons of…
"Saying that Sutherland Engineering builds a nice line of phono stages is like saying that the Porsche 911 Carrera is a nice line of sports cars." So began my review of Sutherland's PhonoBlock in the January 2012 issue. I went on to note that similar philosophies underpin both product lines, and to link the cost-no-object PhonoBlock ($10,000/pair) with the GT2 RS ($245,000), then the pinnacle of Porsche's 911 family. It's now 2017, and though Sutherland and Porsche have both gone through a complete development cycle and replaced their flagship models, the analogy still holds true.
What…