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Festival! The Best of the 1995 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Microphones & Techniques

Microphones & Techniques: John Atkinson

Once the venue has been chosen---in the case of this disc, that was preordained---there is no quality-changing decision in all of recording that is more fundamental than that of what microphones to use. Not only does every microphone have its own sonic signature, but the combination of its pickup pattern and how the engineer chooses to exploit that pattern drastically affects the stereo image and the perceived quality of the hall reverberation.

For Stereophile's previous live recording project---Concert, featuring Canadian pianist…

Festival! The Best of the 1995 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Microphones part 2

Why should that be so? Assume that the two mikes are placed one above the other with their axes at a 90 degrees angle to one another. Also assume that each has the perfect cardioid response of producing a voltage output proportional to (1+cosinex degrees), where x is the angle between the direction of the soundsource and the microphone's main forward axis. A soundsource 45 degrees to the side of the soundstage centerline (x = 0 degrees) will produce an output level of (1+cos0 degrees) = (1+1) = 2V from the left-hand mike. However, rather than the desired zero output from the right-hand…

Festival! The Best of the 1995 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Recorders & Post-Production

Recorders & Post-Production: John Atkinson

We were very fortunate to be able to use a Nagra D digital recorder for the Festival project. This Swiss open-reel recorder packs a huge amount of superbly engineered, computer-controlled functionality within its tiny frame. Widely used for film-sound location recording, it is capable of storing either two or four channels of up to 24-bit digital data on 5.75" reels of Ampex 467 tape. In two-channel mode, each reel lasts two hours; four data channels give just over an hour's worth of recording time at a 44.1kHz sampling frequency (48kHz is…

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker

In 1985 or so, a middle-aged audiophile who lived in New York City called to invite me to come listen to his stereo: It was, he assured me, the best in the world. All he wanted was the pleasure of my opinion, for which he offered the princely sum of $100. (As I learned in the months and years to come, this same audiophile called virtually every other audio writer in the metropolitan area whose phone number he could get hold of, making the same offer.)

The Art Dudley of 2005 would have taken the man's money and demanded lunch, but the Art Dudley of 1985 still had patience and sympathy to…

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker Page 2

The low-frequency drivers, made in Denmark by Peerless, both use triple-layer polymer cones to minimize flexing while still avoiding the penalties of energy-storing mass. They're fastened to the baffle with Torx-head bolts and threaded inserts, and the back wave of each is reflex-loaded, with separate chambers and double-flared ports that are themselves tightly bolted to the cabinet's rear. The flares, which function as acoustic transformers—just like any horn—help optimize the port's radiation resistance, relative to the volume of air in the listening room.

The Akurate 242's enclosure,…

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Five-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.5" fabric-dome supertweeter, 1" soft-plastic dome tweeter, 3" plastic-dome midrange driver, 6.5" plastic-cone upper-bass driver, 6.5" plastic-cone lower-bass driver. Crossover frequencies: 225Hz, 450Hz, 3.6kHz, 9.2kHz. Crossover slopes: fourth-order Linkwitz-Reilly. Frequency ranges: 49Hz–33kHz with standard passive crossovers, 40Hz–33kHz with optional active crossovers. Impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 40" (1025mm) H by 8.25" (211mm) W by 15" (385mm) D.…

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Sources: Linn LP12 turntables (two samples) with: Linn Lingo, Naim Armageddon power supplies; Linn Ekos, Naim Aro tonearms; Linn Akiva cartridge. Rega Planar 9 turntable, Lyra Helikon Mono cartridge. Audio Note AN-S2, Tamura TKS-83 moving-coil step-up transformers.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player, Naim CD5x CD player.
Preamplifiers: Fi, Linn Klimax Kontrol, Naim NAC 32.5.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm ML2.1 monoblocks, EAR 890, Linn Klimax Twin, Naim NAP 110.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Lowther PM2As & PM6A Ticonals in…

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Because of the extended spell of sub-zero temperatures in New York in late January, when this issue was being prepared, I was unable to measure the Linn Akurate 242 outdoors on a high stand. This, my usual practice, effectively eliminates the interfering effects of room boundaries on the measured response. I therefore had to measure the speaker indoors, which reduced the anechoic time window of my MLSSA measurements from 6ms to around 2.5ms. I might well have missed response problems in the midrange, therefore. With that qualification, here are my measured…

Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier

Creek Audio founder/designer/co-owner Michael Creek is a quiet, friendly, unassuming man. Unlike some ego-driven electronics designers who tout their products very loudly from their pulpits, Michael Creek has been quietly designing high-quality, musical, and affordable integrated amps in black-metal boxes for nearly 20 years. His target market is the passionate music-lover who wants something a notch above an entry-level NAD or Rotel receiver, but whose bank manager would frown on splurging on electronic separates.

Creek designs have improved over the years, but in a quiet,…

Creek 5350SE integrated amplifier Page 2

Enough with the thick faceplates already—how does it sound?
Although I always hope for high levels of performance within all parameters when I review a component, I'm particularly sensitive to and unforgiving of products that deviate from a neutral tonal balance. Bob Reina's Hippocratic Oath of Timbral Accuracy is "First, do no harm."

Well, after more than three months of auditioning the 5350SE using six speakers, two analog and one digital source, and after comparing the Creek to three other amplifiers (more on that below), I cannot conclusively point to any instance in which the…