Every performance venue in New York City is shut down—and also in the rest of the state. There are no live gigs here for musicians--and that's true many other places in the US and across the world.
Studios, too, are shut down: "I really don't know of any [recording sessions] that…
"Yeah, you broke it when you were 2," he replied.
I was weaned on opera. With all that Italianate passion bubbling in my blood, reconnecting with the voices of Caruso and Galli-Curci felt like coming home. While Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and then Donovan soon joined them—I used…
Then, in 2016, came the passing of US ProAc distributor Richard Gerberg, of Modern Audio Consultants, and for some time the company's products weren't available stateside.
"We lost our importer in the USA a few years ago, and it took a little while to find a replacement," wrote ProAc's founder, CEO, and head designer…
Listening
After two weeks of break-in, during which I streamed music from Tidal at a low level on my Asus laptop, the D2R impressed me…
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 2.75" (70mm) ProAc ribbon tweeter, 6.5" (165mm) SEAS/ProAc midrange/woofer. Sensitivity: "88.5dB." Recommended amplifier power: 30–150Wpc.
Dimensions: 17"(430mm) H × 8" (203mm) W × 9.75" (248mm) D. Weight: 24.2lb (11kg).
Finishes: Black Ash, Mahogany, Cherry, Walnut, Natural Oak, and Silk White. Also available at extra cost in Rosewood and Ebony.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: D2/002890 (both).
Price: $4500/pair for standard finishes. Approximate number of dealers: 51…
Analog sources: Kuzma Stabi R turntable with Kuzma 4Point 11" tonearm and Hana ML MC phono cartridge; Thorens TD 124 turntable with Jelco 350S tonearm and Hana EL MC phono cartridge.
Digital sources: Asus PC streaming Tidal; BorderPatrol DAC SE.
Preamplification: Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono stage.
Integrated amplifiers: Cary SLI-80HS, Schiit Ragnarok 2.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Orangutan O/93.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: manufacturers' own.
Accessories: IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner…
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system to measure the ProAc Response D2R, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone for the farfield behavior and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. Though ProAc specifies the Response D2R's sensitivity as 88.5dB, presumably for 1W at 1m, my estimate was somewhat lower, at 85dB(B)/2.83V/m.
The ProAc's specified impedance is 8 ohms; the solid trace in fig.1 reveals that, other than two regions in the midbass and lower midrange, the impedance remains above 8 ohms for the entire audioband. The minimum value is 6.22 ohms…
At the end of that bit, I invited readers to send in their own such stories, and…
When Herb Reichert reviewed the Mola Mola Tambaqui in his December 2021 Gramophone Dreams column, he very much liked what he heard from this Bruno Putzeys–designed D/A processor. "During my first days of listening, the Mola Mola's most conspicuous sonic trait was a bright, evenly illumined clarity," he wrote, adding, "Mola Mola's Tambaqui did not whisper—it declared loudly: 'See! The truth is more beautiful than you thought it would be!'" Herb concluded that with the Mola Mola Tambaqui, "Putzeys seems to be punching away at the fundamentals…
At 90 years of age, Sofia Gubaidulina has honed her musical language amidst conflict. Since 2003, the profoundly religious, visionary, and visceral Russian composer has written three huge, prescient works that depict in musical terms a…