search

Memorandum:
To: Steve McCormack, Chief Designer, The Mod Squad (footnote 1)
Dear Steve:

I cannot question the general value of Tiptoes in many specific applications. There are a great many areas where I, many other audiophiles, and a number of leading manufacturers have found that Tiptoes can improve any audio system in which the components are subject to. mechanical or acoustic vibration from speaker sound—that is, virtually any audio system.

While initially skeptical, I now concede that Tiptoes are a worthwhile…

Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" soft-dome tweeter, two 8" polypropylene-cone woofers (one rolling off above 100Hz), 12" polypropylene-cone passive radiator. Crossover frequencies: 100Hz, 2kHz. Frequency range: 28Hz-22kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 25–200W.
Dimensions: 44.5" H by 15.5" W by 8.5" D (173/8" with bases attached). Weight: 63 lb each.
Price: $1400/pair (1988); no longer available (2022). Approximate number of dealers: sold factory-direct.…

The test procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: each pair was used with a Mark Levinson No.26/No.20 combination—amplification unlikely to be used with any of these speakers but which would undoubtedly get the best from them—a Marantz CD94 CD player used via its optical digital output to feed a Marantz CDA94 outboard DAC unit, and a 1987 Linn Sondek/Ittok/Troika combination sitting on a Sound Organization table.

The Orpheus 808 loudspeakers were carefully positioned for optimum performance, and…

The frequency response of each speaker was measured in the listening window—spatially averaged to minimize room standing-wave problems—using a 1/3-octave warble-tone generator, which is said to be a little more analytical than the filtered pink-noise signal I have used in the past; in addition, the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was measured with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass extension relative to the level at 100Hz.

Measured nearfield on the lower woofer, the –6dB point relative to 100Hz lay at a low 36Hz, though there…

Editor: Recent examination of the returned speakers indicates that the Orpheus 808s reviewed by John Atkinson in the June 1988 issue were not set up according to manufacturers' instructions—that is, the bases were not attached to the speakers.

I also received from Stereophile the bases for speakers #808112AB, which were stolen from John Atkinson's home. Why weren't these bases taken along with the speakers they were supposed to have been attached to? Inspection of these bases reveals no thread marks on the bottom, and the bag…

My favorite formulation was laid down by music critic John Swenson in March 2021 in a My Back Pages essay. He called them death-row discs: These are the records that, at the end of your life, you'd want—you'd…

Procol Harum: Live: In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Procol Harum, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Leonard, cond.; Da Camera Singers
Chrysalis CHR1004 (UK LP). 1972. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFCD 788 (CD) 2007. Gary Brooker, orchs.; Chris Thomas, prod.; Wally Heider, Ray Thompson, Tom Scott, Ken Caillat, Biff Dawe, engs.

The end of the 1960s was a Golden Age for British "progressive" rock bands. Following the demise of Cream in 1968, those that had the biggest effect on this budding audiophile were King Crimson, The Nice,…

Various: Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
Music On Vinyl MOVLP1000 (4 LPs). 1993/2014. Jeff Kramer, Kevin Wall, Don DeVito, Jeff Rosen, prods.; David Hewitt, eng.

How many times have we seen the phrase "All-Star Cast" in ads for some performance? More than I can count. How many times does the live performance live up to that promise? None—until I heard this recording. The all-star cast includes Eric Clapton, Neil Young, George Harrison—and, of course, Bob Dylan. The list goes on, and everyone—as individuals and in ensemble—…

John Coltrane: Expression
John Coltrane, tenor saxophone, flute; Pharoah Sanders, flute, piccolo, tambourine; Alice Coltrane, piano; Jimmy Garrison, bass; Rashied Ali, drums
Impulse! MVCI-23023, AS-9120 (CD). 1967/1991. John Coltrane, Bob Thiele, prods.; Rudy Van Gelder, eng.

In 2021, the release of a live recording of A Love Supreme cast attention once again on John Coltrane's legacy. Thumbnail histories posit that he delved into more cacophonous music from there, but his final (much over-looked) studio session tells a different story.…