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Consider the majesty of the London Ambrosian Singers and the Vienna Renaissance Players, directed by John McCarthy, chanting, singing, and playing in the 13th-century Cathedral of Notre Dame in Reims, France. Imagine hearing every singer's breath and, during each pause, visually tracking the thick clouds of reverberation as they expand toward the stone walls, reflect off those walls, and describe the volume of the nave. I could occasionally sense the height of the microphones. The ability to observe these phenomena in grainless, sharp-focus 3D, is what made Guillaume de Machaut's Notre Dame…
Sidebar: Contacts
EMT Studiotechnik, Industriestrasse 25, 77972 Mahlberg, Germany. Tel: +49 (0)7825-879-47-0. Fax:: +49 (0)7825-879-47-15. Web: www.emt-international.ch. US distributor: Tone Imports. Web: www.toneimports.com
Koetsu, Japan. US distributor: MoFi Distribution, 1811 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660. Tel: (312) 738-5025. Fax: (312) 433-0011. Web: www.mofidistribution.com
Miyajima Laboratory, Japan. US distributor: Robyatt Audio. Web: www.robyattaudio.com.
Sound Prints, the quintet co-led by trumpeter Dave Douglas and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, is one of the most exciting small jazz bands around. You wouldn't know it, necessarily, from their first, eponymously titled album, recorded live at the 2013 Monterey Jazz Festival and released on Blue Note, which has long been Lovano's label. Mediocre sound doesn't always suck the life out of a recording if the music is good, but that's what happened here.
The main problem was too much compression, of the sort that kills so many pop albums, where everything is dialed up to the same level of LOUD…
My excitement upon discovering the heretofore unavailable two-CD set, Régine Crespin: Rare Broadcast Recordings, in the catalog of historical performance specialist Norbeck Peters & Ford can only be partially conveyed through words. Crespin's London/Decca studio recordings of Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été and Ravel's Shéhérazade, accompanied by Ernest Ansermet et L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, which were captured in Victoria Hall, Geneva in September 1963, have long been coveted by audiophiles for both their sound quality and Crespin's incomparable artistry. The opportunity to hear the…
"Young people don't listen to music together like we used to do." I have been running into various versions of this opinion in the audiophile world ever since 'personal listening' critical mass was first achieved by ear-buds and iPods in the early 2000s. Hi-fi buffs who are now banking those Senior Discounts think back fondly to that particular dorm room, where they first heard that Van Dyke Parks album their friend turned them on to. (Substitute your own title here . . .)
Time has a funny way of circling around though, almost like the spinning vinyl many of us had thought we had…
Sidebar: Peter Matson's Jupiter Disco LP playlist:
1.) Harvey Sutherland: "Priestess"
2.) Funkadelic: "Aint That Kinda Funkin' Hard on You?"
3.) Fingers Inc.: "Mystery of Love (Mystery of Dub) "
4.) MFSB: "Love is the Message (Mr. K Edit) "
5.) Herbie Hancock: "Ready or Not"
6.) Stardust: "Music Sounds Better With You"
7.) Mr. Fingers: "Washing Machine"
8.) Metro Area: "Atmosphrique"
9.) Theo Parrish: "Nefarious Stranger"
10.) Prince: "Chelsea Rogers"
11.) Fela KutiL "My Lady Frustration"
Early pre-recorded cassettes were so shockingly variable that reviews of their sound would have served no purpose. Some later ones are remarkably good, though. Following are some recordings that we have found to combine excellent performance and superb recordings, some on cassette as well as LP:
Bartok: Piano Concerto No.3; Ravel: Piano Concerto in g
Katchen (piano), Kertesz (cond.), LSO
London CS-6487 (LP)
Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance 1–5; Bliss: Things to Come, Welcome the Queen
Bliss (cond.), LSO
London STS-15112 (LP)
Gottschalk. Night in the Tropics;…
In appearance the Counterpoint SA-7 tube preamplifier is quite attractive, possessing the thin, low-profile look currently in vogue. There is a mute switch which (if you remember to use it) protects your amplifier from the preamp's turn-on and turn-off thumps. Unfortunately, the volume control on my unit didn't track accurately, and it was necessary to adjust balance with each change in volume. One unusual feature: the balance control allows very fine gradations in balance adjustment (a large movement of the control results in a small change in balance).
Interconnects
Since this…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Stereo vacuum tube preamplifier. Inputs for Magnetic phono (both MM and MC), Aux, and Tape. Mute switch. Separate volume and balance control.
Price: $595 (1984); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Counterpoint Electronic Systems, Inc., La Jolla, CA 92037 (1984); company no longer in existence (2018),
Spring may be a little late arriving this year, to judge from the weather in New York, but the May issue is on its way to subscribers, newsstands, and tablets. Featuring Bowers & Wilkins' impressive 702 S2 speaker on the cover, which is reviewed inside by Kal Rubinson, this issue features reviews of amplifiers from Luxman, Mark Levinson, NAD, and Parasound; phono cartridges from Soundsmith and Audio-Technica; an intriguing NOS DAC from HoloAudio; Art Dudley on a DeVore Fidelity speaker; and, believe it or not, a smartphone that offers both hi-rez and MQA playback.
Speaking of MQA, Jim…