I wouldn't usually mention an internal and inconsequential matter like this if it weren't for the fact that the day Keith and I had our altercation, the news broke…
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You could sense the frustration in Keith Pray's e-mail. "We are on the same team. I have always respected your wishes and will continue to do so," he had written me. At the request of a possible advertiser, Stereophile's publisher had asked me a question about something appearing in the issue of Stereophile we were preparing. I had responded that not only would I not give him an answer, I felt it inappropriate for him to ask.
EARL WILD: The Art of the Transcription
Earl Wild, piano, recorded live at Carnegie Hall on November 1, 1981
Audiofon 2008-2 (2 LPs). Julian Kreeger, prod., Peter McGrath, eng. AAA
Earl Wild, piano, recorded live at Carnegie Hall on November 1, 1981
Audiofon 2008-2 (2 LPs). Julian Kreeger, prod., Peter McGrath, eng. AAA
It takes nerve for a performer to allow an entire concert to be recorded for release on disc. It also takes extraordinary confidence in one's technique. Mistakes that are overlooked in the live experience become snags for the ear in the recorded version. One starts to listen for them and loses the musical experience in its totality.
This is one reason why so many discs are mastered in the…
Once upon a time, in audio's infancy, anyone who wanted better than average sound—average sound during the 1940s being rich, boomy and dull—had no choice but to buy professional loudspeakers. In those days, "professional" meant one of two things: movie-theater speakers or recording-studio speakers. Both were designed, first and foremost, to produce high sound levels, and used horn loading to increase their efficiency and project the sound forwards. They sounded shockingly raw and harsh in the confines of the typical living room (footnote 1).
When high fidelity took off during the early '…
Sidebar 1: An Opposing View
J. Gordon Holt's review puts me in a bit of a quandary: I agree with many of his general observations, but not with his description of the speaker under review. I also don't like the sloping highs inherent in the "Boston sound." I have never liked any of the Boston Acoustics speakers, and have long felt that the Allisons and most ARs lack upper octave energy, life, and excitement. While Polk is a distinctly "South Boston" manufacturer, I have generally been disappointed in their highs as well.
This kind of upper octave response may suit the Hafler or…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Four-way, floorstanding loudpeaker. Drive-units: reflex-loaded, 14" pulp-cone woofer, 8" polypropylene-cone lower-midrange unit, 5" polypropylene-cone midrange unit, 1" titanium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 1.4kHz, 5.2kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Maximum recommended power: 400W.
Dimensions: 52" H by 22.5" W by 14.25" D. Weight: 150 lbs each.
Price: $3396/pair (1985); no longer available (2013).
Manufacturer: JBL Division of Harman International, 8500 Balboa Blvd., P.O. Box 2200, Northridge, CA 91329…
I'm not sure why, but people tell me things. Maybe it's because they realize I listen. They reveal themselves, sometimes in charming and unexpected ways. So I was almost prepared for my three-way conference call with the designer of the Symphonic Line Kraft 400 power amplifier, Rolf Gemein, in Germany and Indianapolis-based importer/distributor Klaus Bunge. I started by asking Rolf about his design philosophy:
Rolf Gemein: Hi-fi systems in general are not able to reproduce natural, live sound. We're not even getting close to the intimate experience of an opera house, for example. There…
"Without content, television is nothing more than lights in a box."—Edward R. Murrow, 1958
"When it comes to video, most audiophiles are insufferable snobs."—J. Gordon Holt, 1984
Those who have followed the arguments between audiophiles and home-theater enthusiasts in the pages of Stereophile—I lifted the Murrow quote from a 1996 battle between Steve Guttenberg (representing the former community) and Joel Silver (representing the latter)—will have no doubt over which side of the argument I am on. As I wrote in our March 1993 issue, recorded music is a "hot" medium in Marshall…
Getting a review sample of this unique ultrasonic record-cleaning machine took me years; apparently, Audiodesksysteme Gläss, a small German manufacturer, couldn't keep up with demand. I've also heard from a few sources that reliability was not high in the company's early days, but that now all that's been sorted out, as has manufacturing capacity.
This compact cleaner can be thought of as a very high-tech, automatic version of the Spin Clean Record Washer ($79.95), which I reviewed in my February 2010 column. Like the hand-cranked Spin Clean, the Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner ($3995)…
Fred Kaplan wrote about the Audio Desk in September 2013 (Vol.36 No.9):
In his June 2012 "Analog Corner," Michael Fremer hailed the German-made Audio Desk Systeme Vinyl Cleaner as "the best record-cleaning machine in the world" (also see www.analogplanet.com/content/worlds-best-record-cleaning-machine). Then came the punch line: it cost $3995. That seemed just silly.
In April 2013, the machine was on display at the New York Hi-Fi Show, and I asked its importer, Robert Stein of Ultra Systems, Inc., what the big deal was. I'd just bought a two-LP 45rpm album, Rickie Lee Jones's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: ultrasonic LP cleaning machine.
Price: $3995.
Manufacturer: Audiodesksysteme Gläss, Seestrasse 1, D 89551 Kînigsbronn, Germany. Tel./Fax: (49) 07328-7138. Web: www.audiodesksysteme.de. US distributor: Ultra Systems, 127 Union Square, New Hope, PA 18938. Tel: (800) 724-3305, (215) 862-6570. Fax: (215) 862-4871. Web: www.ultrasystem.com