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Music in the Round #90: Merging+Player PL8 Contacts

Sidebar 1: Contacts

Merging Technologies, Le Verney 1070, Puidoux, Switzerland. Tel: (41) 21-946-04-44. Fax: (41) 21-946-04-45. Web: www.merging.com. US distributor: Independent Audio Inc., 82 Gilman Street, Portland, ME 04102-3034. Tel. 207 773 2424. Web: www.independentaudio.com

Revelation Audio Labs, Inc., 2 Pine Cone Drive #354061, Palm Coast, FL 32137. Tel: (386) 627-8630. Web: www.revelationaudiolabs.com

Signal HiFi Inc., PO Box 38, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577-0038. Tel: (917) 957-8508. Web: www.signalcable.com

Aqvox Audio Devices, Steilshooper Strasse 118,…

Music in the Round #90: Merging+Player PL8 Recordings in the Round

Sidebar 2: Recordings in the Round

Del Tredici: Child Alice
Courtenay Budd, soprano; Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project>BR> BMOP/sound 1056 (2 SACD/CDs). 2017. DDD. TT: 133:44.

I'm thrilled to tell you about this release. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been a lifelong fascination for composer David Del Tredici, who in 1980 won a Pulitzer Prize for Part 1 of Child Alice. Since then he's written a stream of similarly inspired works, though they seem linked less by any continuous narrative than by a rich and continuous stream of creativity.…

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition loudspeaker

Stereophile writers have reviewed three versions of Sonus Faber's stand-mounted, two-way loudspeaker, the Guarneri: Martin Colloms on the original Guarneri Homage, in 1994; Michael Fremer on the Memento edition, in 2007; and Art Dudley on the Evolution, in 2012. The Guarneri has always been an expensive speaker—$9400/pair with matching stands in 1995, $15,000 with stands in 2007, $20,000/pair plus $2000 for the stands in 2012—but its prices have been related to its build quality and appearance, both of which have always been superb. Now we have the Guarneri Tradition, for $15,900/pair,…

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition loudspeaker Page 2

The speakers were toed in to my listening chair. On their conical feet, the stands are almost 29" tall, which places the tweeters 39" from the floor—I had to sit more upright than usual to raise my ears to the tweeter axes. With the dual-mono pink-noise track on my Editor's Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2), the sound developed a slightly hollow coloration if I sat high enough to see the tops of the cabinets. Sitting with my ears on the tweeter axes, I could hear a slight emphasis in the low treble, though the balance was otherwise relatively even. The central image of the noise was…

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" (28mm) damped-apex silk-dome tweeter, 5.9" (150mm) sandwich-cone mid/bass driver. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz. Frequency range: 40Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 30–250Wpc. Long-term maximum input voltage (IEC 268-5): 20V RMS.
Dimensions: 14.85" (377mm) H by 9.4" W (239mm) W by 14.75" (375mm) D. Weight: 35.2 lbs (16kg). Dedicated stand: 29.85" (758mm) H by 12.25" (300mm) W by 15.35" (390mm) D. Weight: 35.2 lbs (16kg).…

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player;MBL Noble Line N31 CD player–DAC; NAD Masters Series M50.2 digital music player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter with Bridge II (v.0.2.15) & RedCloud firmware; Mac mini running Roon 1.3, Vinyl Studio; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Preamplification: NHT Balanced Passive Volume Control; Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Integrated Amplifier: NAD M32.…

Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. The Guarneri's sensitivity is specified as 87dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was close to this, at 86.1dB(B)/2.83V/m. How the Sonus Faber's impedance magnitude varies with frequency is shown by the solid trace in fig.1. Although it drops below 4 ohms between 160 and 340Hz, with a minimum value of 3.6 ohms at 125Hz, and there is a combination of 4.5 ohms and –38°…

A Devastating <I>Landfall</I> from Laurie Anderson and Kronos

Devastating in power and impact, Laurie Anderson's sonically all-encompassing, three-dimensional Landfall takes, as its ostensible start, the ravaging impact of Superstorm Sandy. But, given that this evening-long melding of string quartet, text, and electronically-manipulated soundscape, created for and with the Kronos Quartet, is by one of America's most prescient, larger-visioned multi-media performance artists, Landfall ultimately addresses the cataclysmic nature of life in modern times in ways that drive the sense of loss deep into one's being.

It took Kronos founder, violinist David…

A Binaural Video Report: the Sound of PS Audio’s IRS Vs

In the first two parts of our video coverage of Jana Dagdagan's and my visit to PS Audio in Boulder, Colorado, we toured the factory and I interviewed the company's founder Paul McGowan. In this final video, I listen to three of my own recordings played on the legendary IRS V loudspeaker system, driven by PS Audio's BHK 300 monoblocks. I recorded the sound with Sennheiser's "Ambeo" binaural system, which mounts microphones on the outer surfaces of a pair of earbuds, and if you listen along on headphones, you will hear what I heard!

Hope you enjoy it—I did! And if you play it loud, the…

Recordings of May 1974: Delos Records: A New Classical Label

Chopin: Preludes, Op.28
Carol Rosenberger, piano. DED-15311.

Handel: Harpsichord Suites Nos.3 in d & 7 in g; Chaconne No.1 in G
Malcolm Hamilton, harpsichord. DEL-15322.

Scarlatti: sonatas, Vol.1.
Malcolm Hamilton, harpsichord. DEl-15321.

Szymanowski: Masques, Op.34; Etudes, Op.33; Four Etudes, Op.4
Carol Rosenberger, piano. DEL-15312.

Common to all: Amelia S. Haygood, executive producer; John Wright, Katja Andy, producers; Carson C. Taylor, engineer.

It is certainly cause for rejoicing when a new label appears that is dedicated to…