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There is music so unique, so colorful, and so potentially challenging for the casual listener that words like "pretty" or "entertaining" go flying out the window. Such is the case with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard's mind-boggling recording of Olivier Messiaen's (1908–1992) Catalogue d'Oiseaux. Anything but background music for a relaxed evening by the fire or in the hot tub, the Catalogue consists of 13 extended odes for solo piano, each of which was inspired by a different bird species. Recorded by Pentatone in 24/96 hi-rez stereo and surround in the famous Saal 1, Funkhaus, Nalepastrasse,…
Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Circus Polka
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, cond.
London CS 6554 (LP/tape).
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta, cond.
London CS 6554 (LP/tape).
This is all the proof one could want that London's big, fat sound is more the result of their recording philosophy than of the halls they record in. One of the first London recordings ever made in the US, this has the now-familiar London sound all down the line: The big, fat low end, the richness, the superb balance, and the razor-sharp detail without zizz or zip. As usual, the result is not terribly real, but it certainly is exciting as well as being musically satisfying…
In appearance Conrad-Johnson's PV4 is distinctly plain: a basic black and silver box with a few simple knobs and buttons. The controls are logically laid out, clearly labeled, and work properly. The two channels track well through the volume control, maintaining balance; pushbuttons and control knobs have a smooth, solid feel (except for the noises audible through the system when switching inputs). Don't forget the turn-on and turn-off thumps mentioned above; the PV4 is the only one of the preamps I review in this issue—the others are the Audible Illusions Modulus ($450) and the…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Stereo vacuum-tube preamplifier. Inputs for magnetic phono, Aux, and Tape. Separate volume and balance controls.
Price: $485 (1984); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Conrad-Johnson Design, McLean, VA 22101 (1984). 2800K Dorr Avenue, Fairfax, VA USA 22031 (2018). Tel: (703) 698-8581. Fax: (703) 560-5360. Web: conradjohnson.com.
Following the last-minute cancellation of the 2018 Los Angeles Audio Show, scheduled to be held this coming weekend in Irvine, two Southern California audio retailers have stepped into the breach with AudioCon-June. Jason Lord of The Source A/V Design Group (3035 Kashiwa Street, Suite 101, Torrance, CA 90505. Tel: (310) 534-9900) and Sunil Merchant of Sunny's Components (1370 E. Cypress St, Covina, CA 91724. Tel: (626) 966-6259) are holding weekend-long free events. The events run 10am–6pm on Saturday June 9 and Sunday June 10 and you can find full information here and here.
Special…
The Acustik-Lab SR Bolero loudspeaker ($1580/pair) debuted at the 1988 SCES in Chicago. I must own up right from the outset that I know nothing about the Swiss SR Trade (Acustik-Lab) company. I do know, however, that Audio Advancements' Hart Huschens was getting an intensely musical sound from their little Bolero speakers, driven by the German Klimo Kent tube amplifiers, at the 1988 Summer CES. I immediately asked for a pair for review; in addition, Mr. Huschens sent along a pair of the matching Bolero Forte woofers ($920/pair).
SR's Bolero is a well-made two-way minimonitor using drive-…
Sidebar 1: System Details
The review procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: Each pair was used with a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblocks, connected with Monster M1 speaker cable, while the preamplifier was a combination of the Mod Squad Line Drive Deluxe AGT and Vendetta Research SCP2 phono preamp. Source components consisted of a Marantz CD-94 CD player used to drive a Sony DAS-R1 D/A converter, a 1975-vintage Revox A77 to play my own 15ips master tapes, and a Linn Sondek/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on a Sound Organisation table to…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I estimated the voltage sensitivity (using 1/3-octave pink noise centered on 1kHz) and measured the change of impedance with frequency, while the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was assessed with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass extension relative to the level at 100Hz.
The Acustik-Lab Bolero's modulus of impedance with frequency is shown in fig.1. Typical of a 4 ohm design, it stays below 8 ohms most of the time, the only exceptions being in the region of the tweeter resonance and the twin reflex humps in the bass. The…
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) loudspeaker projects are quite common in the UK, where details about several excellent designs, including a recent one by Martin Colloms, have been published for public domain consumption. Stateside, the situation is rather grim, where only an occasional subwoofer project (always popular) makes it into the commercial magazines.
Whatever this imbalance may say about American audiophiles, it speaks well for the British attitude toward good sound; home construction offers the audiophile a ticket to kilobuck sound quality at a fraction of the cost. Generally, there's a…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description (Bolero): Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" hard-dome tweeter, 5.25" plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: approximately 3kHz. Frequency response: 50Hz–19kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 10–60W.
Dimensions: 14.125" H by 7.75" W by 9.4" D. Weight: 17 lbs each.
Price: $1580/pair (1989); no longer available (2018).
Description (Forte): Drive-unit: 6.5" doped paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: approximately 150Hz. Measured –6dB point: 32Hz.…