I remembered Charney Audio from a previous show: based in Somerset, New Jersey and run by designer Brian Charney, they specialize in horn-loaded, full-range speakers and low-power amplifiers—and the last time I heard their products, I thought the company had considerable promise. Based on what I heard at CAF 2017, Charney has upped his game even further: the sound from…
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After the Capital Audio fest vintage seminar and my visit to Vinyl Revivers, I looked at my phone and saw that time was running out: I had just over three hours left to cover seven or eight more rooms. Time to get cracking!
Today through Sunday, November 9–12, Ovation Audio+Video (6609 East 82 Street, Indianapolis, IN 46250) is holding a 50th Anniversary Celebration. "Four fun days to taste, toast, and savor music, movies and the very best in high-performance stereo and video—with wine & cheese" they say!
Special guest Thursday evening will be Stereophile's and AnalogPlanet.com's own Michael Fremer. Fresh from the "Making Vinyl" event In Detroit, Michael Fremer will talking vinyl and playing records. The event tonight starts at 6pm, and Michael will be appearing at 7pm, followed by live demos featuring…
Founded in the mid-1970s, Acoustat was the first manufacturer of full-range electrostatics literally forced to address what had long been a major weakness of such speakers: high-voltage breakdown, or "arcing." The original design was built and used in JP (Jeep) Harned's home, where the living-room french windows opened out onto a stream in the back yard. That, plus Florida's legendary humidity, conspired to produce summer days when moisture would trickle down every vertical surface in the house, including the speaker elements. With 8000 volts or so running around in the speakers, and the…
The panels are hinged, allowing them to be tilted forward or back to accommodate any likely listening height, as well as unlikely ones like LA standing up. (Yogis please note: the forward tilt range is not great enough to allow listening from the lotus position, unless you are able to levitate.) Two screws on each base can then be tightened to lock the panel in position. This tiltability is a dandy feature, and one I wish had been available on other large electrostatics I have tested in recent years. It must also be said that it is almost a liability on the Spectras, because they have such…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Full-range push-pull electrostatic with optional dynamic subwoofer. Specs: Frequency response: 30Hz–20kHz ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB. Power requirement: 100W.
Dimensions: 66" H by 31.75" W by 23" D (array 2.125" D).
Price: $2995 (1987); no longer available (2017). Approximate number of dealers: 95 (1987).
Manufacturer: Acoustat, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315 (1987). Rockford Fosgate, 600 South Rockford Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281 (1990s); company no longer in existence (2017) but see www.audiocircuit.com/Home-Audio/Acoustat…
Britten: Orchestral Music
Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia from Peter Grimes; Sinfonia da Requiem
London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, conductor.
Angel S-37142. (Stereo/SQ LP). Christopher Bishop, prod.; Christopher Parker, eng.
Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia from Peter Grimes; Sinfonia da Requiem
London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, conductor.
Angel S-37142. (Stereo/SQ LP). Christopher Bishop, prod.; Christopher Parker, eng.
EMl/Angel have come up with demonstration quality sound on this one. The "Sea Interludes" have stood well on their own as a concert piece, and previous recordings have been by Britten (Decca/London) and Giulini (EMI/Angel). Previn's earlier Sinfonia da Requiem with the St. Louis Symphony has recently been reissued on Odyssey, but that version…
Break On Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison by James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky
544 pages, $20 hardcover. Published by William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.
544 pages, $20 hardcover. Published by William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.
Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and The Doors by John Densmore
319 pages, $19.95 hardcover. Published by Delacorte Press, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10103.
With at least six books on Jim Morrison and The Doors now on the shelves, five published within the last year to take advantage of tie-in sales on the flowing, copious coattails of Oliver…
"Exquisite" is not a word to be invoked lightly. In the history of vocal music on record, there has been only one singer to earn that appellation—soprano Maggie Teyte, Debussy's second Melisande, whom the great Polish tenor Jean de Reszke dubbed "L'Exquise." To that exalted category must now be added countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, whose latest recording for Warner, The Handel Album, contains some of the most exquisite singing I have ever been privileged to hear.
For his first complete Handel album, the 39-year old countertenor has chosen 13 rarely recorded arias from 10 of Handel's 35…
Ron Cox, Zen master and good friend from Zuni, New Mexico, gingerly navigated the crowded streets of Amp City—the essentially all-tube amp collection sprawled on my listening-room floor between the speakers. Ron had no trouble spotting the four chrome-and-black chassis of the JA 200s. He pointed a tentative finger: "Are those the Jedi?"
Jedi, Jahdee, Jahdiss, Jadiss—I wasn't really sure. But one thing was beyond doubt: These amps indeed befit a Jedi Knight. The oversized transformers, massive chassis, and elegant profile bespeak nobility.
The JA 200 is but one step removed from…
Jonathan Scull reviewed the Jadis in March 1994 (Vol.17 No.3):
Kathleen and I were catching up on our favorite "Mystery" detective one evening, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, in an episode in which Inspector Japp taps his nose, gives Poirot a look, and says, "Better to let sleeping dogs lie, eh, Poirot?" Poirot twitches one of his immaculately cared-for moustaches and delivers a wonderfully charming malapropism, "Non, non, non, mon ami, between reviewers, there should be no sleepy dogs!" Well, he didn't actually say "reviewers"...
The Sleepy Dogs I refer to are the gorgeous, $…