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No violinist is more equipped to perform the music of Krzysztof Penderecki than Anne-Sophie Mutter. The composer dedicated his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No.2, Metamorphosen (1992–1996), to her after hearing her perform at a young age and then conducting her in Prokoviev's First Violin Concerto in 1988. Mutter subsequently recorded Metamorphosen with Penderecki conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in 1997, and she has commissioned three works from him. He, in turn, dedicated each of them to her. If anyone can be said to have Penderecki's music in their blood, it is Anne-Sophie…
Sunday, September 30, 8:30am–8:00pm, the Burning Amp Festival 2018 takes place at San Francisco's Fort Mason Center. Held annually in the fall since 2007, BAF celebrates DIY audio technology both new and old, tube and solid-state, analog and digital. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own gear—DIY amps, speakers, turntables, DACs, servers, etc—and there will be free admission to anyone bringing a DIY project.
There will be displays, demos, auction and raffle items, and freebies, plus lectures at the Firehouse, given by three prominent figures in audio engineering design: Nelson Pass…
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond., Erich Gruenberg , solo violin.
London Phase 4 SPC-21005 (LP). Recorded September 22, 1964. Kingsway Hall, London. Marty Wargo, prod., Tony D'Amato, recording dir., Arthur Lilley, eng.
London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond., Erich Gruenberg , solo violin.
London Phase 4 SPC-21005 (LP). Recorded September 22, 1964. Kingsway Hall, London. Marty Wargo, prod., Tony D'Amato, recording dir., Arthur Lilley, eng.
This is infuriating. Along comes the performance of Scheherazade that we've been waiting for, and the powers that be at London Records decide, God knows why, to bestow upon it the dubious blessing of Phase 4 recording. The sound is positively vast and cavernous, the bass booms, the highs scream, the harp sounds like…
There are the Grammys, and then there's the supermarket. Both are marks of achievement and permanence in popular recorded music. Having just begun writing this piece, I walked into the Price Chopper Supermarket in Cooperstown, New York, and what do I hear? Rita Coolidge, and the refrain from her 1977 recording of "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher." Now that's a hook—a high mark on the tree of pop.
Coolidge recorded her first single under her own name in 1969, when she was 24; this year sees the release of her latest album, Safe in the Arms of Time (Blue Elan BER1074). Do the…
"Its a dessert topping!"
"No, its a floor wax!"
"Dessert topping!"
"Floor wax!"
"Kids, don't argue—it's a dessert topping and a floor wax!"
"No, its a floor wax!"
"Dessert topping!"
"Floor wax!"
"Kids, don't argue—it's a dessert topping and a floor wax!"
Twenty years later, this Saturday Night Live routine still rings true. Experience has taught me that very few products can do two things equally well. Remember those jaunty amphibicars that sported propellers on their rear decks, letting you drive them straight into the lake after a bracing spin along the back roads? Unfortunately, they could neither corner well nor handle even the slightest chop. As for Swiss Army Knives, well, I…
Other than this relaxed presentation, the other attribute I noticed immediately was the extent to which the center-channel speaker simply nailed the dialog and sound effects to the video screen. The Aerial CC3 and M&K S-150AC represent the finest center channels I've auditioned to date, and the SCS2 is easily as good, if not better, especially because using five of the Thiels guarantees a uniform sound throughout the system.
In theory, the surrounds don't have to be equal to the front three channels—although this will probably change when five discrete digital channels become more…
Sidebar 1: Review System
Chiro C-800 surround processor Marantz AV600/Marantz DP870 AC-3 processor Chiro C-200 and C-300 amplifiers Marantz LV510 laserdisc player (sending the digital signal through an Assemblage DAC1 and Sonic Frontiers Ultrajitterbug) AudioQuest cables M&K MX150 THX subwoofers (2) Room dimensions are 16.5' x 11' x 8' Acoustic treatments include ASC Bass Traps and Studio Traps.—Wes Phillips
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Thiel loudspeakers are traditionally quite difficult loads for an amplifier to drive. The SCS2 is no exception, its impedance magnitude (the solid trace in fig.1) remaining below 5 ohms over almost the entire audio band. In addition, while the electrical phase angle (dotted trace) is low at almost all frequencies, it does become quite capacitive below 200Hz, which, combined with the low magnitude between 80Hz and 200Hz, will make high current demands on the partnering amplifier. The B-weighted voltage sensitivity is also only moderate at 85dB/2.83V/m, meaning that…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Driver complement: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter with short-coil, ferrofluid cooling, and neodymium magnet; 6.5" (5" radiating surface), polystyrene-reinforced aluminum-diaphragm woofer with cast magnesium frame, 1.5" voice-coil, short-coil/long-gap motor system, copper pole sleeve, and 1.4Tb magnet. Crossover: second-order (12dB/octave) Frequency response: 46Hz–18kHz, –3dB. Phase response: minimum ±10°. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms (3 ohms minimum.) Recommended power: 30–150W.
Dimensions: 7.5" W x 19" H x 10.5" D. Weight: 31…
As I took my valedictory lap around High End, the immense audio show held each May in Munich, Germany, it was clear that this year's event was an exuberant flowering of mature technology. I witnessed the dominance of hardware for LP playback, as well as analog amplifiers, many of them based on tubes, and passive loudspeakers with traditional cone-and-dome drive-units. And there was no shortage of excellent and impressive musical demonstrations. Still, I experienced no revelations, and heard no announcements of any new technology that might trigger a hopeful anticipation of the near future.…