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Recording of June 2023: <I>Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir</I>

Barbra Streisand: Live at the Bon Soir
Streisand, vocals; Tiger Haynes, guitar; Peter Daniels, piano; Averill Pollard, bass; John Cresci, drums
Legacy/Columbia 19658713762 (reviewed as 24/96 WAV, also available on CD, Gold CD, SACD, 2LP). 2022/23. Barbra Streisand, Jay Landers, Martin Erlichman, prods.; Roy Halee, Adjutor Theroux, Paul Blakemore, Jochem van der Saag, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ***

When Columbia Records dragged some recording gear into a small Greenwich Village nightclub, the Bon Soir, on November 5, 1962, it was a good evening for music—a great one in…

TAD CE1TX loudspeaker

The most money I've ever spent on a pair of loudspeakers was back in the early 1990s, when I bought a pair of used TAD TH-4001 wooden horns and their associated TD-4001 compression drivers. The TAD horn's smooth, micro-resolved response was a refinement upgrade from my multicell Altec horns; plus, the TADs' French-polished wood looked radically less industrial than the soldered-tin, tar-filled 1005/288C horns they replaced. None of my horn-fanatic friends had anything sonically or aesthetically comparable, and all of them were envious. I didn't keep the TADs long, because the friend who…

TAD CE1TX loudspeaker Page 2

While Shake Sugaree was playing, a retired audio dealer friend came over to pick up an amplifier. The moment he walked into the room, he stopped and said "Whoa! What are those speakers?" He told me that he knew instantly, "That was how that recording was supposed to sound." And like me, he'd never heard of Elizabeth Cotten.

I asked him how many Japanese-made speakers he had sold back in the day. He couldn't remember any but said, "This here is a different type of sound than most Americans are used to." "In what way?" I inquired. "It's more finely balanced," he opined.

…

TAD CE1TX loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, bass-reflex, "bookshelf" speaker system. Drive units: 7 1/16" (180mm) woofer with aramid-composite cone; Coaxial driver with a 5.5" (140mm) magnesium-cone and a 1 3/8" (35mm) beryllium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 250Hz, 1.8kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Frequency range: 34Hz–100kHz. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m. Max. power handling: 200W.
Dimensions: 11.3" (287mm) W × 20" (510mm) H × 17.6" (447mm). Weight: 63.9lb (29kg).
Serial numbers of units reviewed: BJMM000023WM/... 24WM. Made in Japan.
Price: $32,500/pair, optional…

TAD CE1TX loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: Dr. Feickert Analog Blackbird turntable with Schick 10.5" tonearm, Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum with Koetsu SUT, My Sonic Lab Ultra Eminent Ex powering Sutherland Engineering SUTZ transimpedance step-up; PTP Audio Solid6 idler-drive turntable, with Abis SA-1.2 tonearm, with a Denon DL-103 moving coil cartridge mounted, into an EMIA SUT and a Tavish Design Adagio phono stage.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Denafrips Terminator Plus DAC; dCS Bartók DAC/streamer.
Preamplifier: HoloAudio Serene.
Power amplifiers:…

TAD CE1TX loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the TAD CE1TX's behavior in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. The mesh that covers the coaxial drive unit can't be removed, but the measured behavior was taken without the grille covering the woofer.

Fig.1 Tad CE1TX, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed) (2 ohms/vertical div.).

Tad specifies the CE1TX's voltage sensitivity as 85dB/2.83V/m, which is 2dB lower than average; my B-weighted estimate was within experimental…

Munich High End 2023 Opens

This sign may not look auspicious, situated as it is over a trash basket. But this poster next to the exit stairs of the Kieferngarten stop of the U-Bahn, Munich's equivalent of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system's network of underground and overground trains, was essential for people walking from the train to Munich High End's home in the MOC.

Nor was it the only sign I encountered. Many subways stops—even the airport—displayed large posters announcing the annual well-attended Munich High End audio show.

On Day 1 (Thursday) of the four-day show, the first of two Press and…

Voxativ Revisits its Roots mit dem Ampeggio

You may have now read as much German as I dare put into print, but you'll likely read far more about Voxativ's revamp of its first loudspeaker, the formerly discontinued, single 8" driver Ampeggio loudspeaker (25,900/pair), in the coming months.

"People kept asking for it," Voxativ owner Inès Adler told me. "We've learned a lot in the 20 years since it was first issued, and have been able to optimize and specially tune the design. Yet we've managed to keep it at the same price it was two decades ago."

In an all-Voxativ system that also included Voxativ's network…

SteinMusic's New Topline Bob L Ultimate Loudspeaker

SteinMusic's apparent paradox, a striking black-and-white equipment array that's on track to win my Looker Award of High End 2023 but that delivered maximally colorful sound, attracted throngs to the company's room. On Sir Simon Rattle's recording of Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite, performed by the City of Birmingham Orchestra, and Musica Nuda's live recording of "I Will Survive," Holger Stein's system delivered an arresting three-dimensional soundstage and marvelous range of colors.

Heading the system was SteinMusic's new Topline Bob L Ultimate speaker ($247,500/pair), a 4-way…

Vitus premieres the impressive SD-025 Mk.II & SM-103 Mk.II in Munich

After a lot of hard work, Vitus Audio arrived in Munich with a new Signature DAC, the SD-025 Mk.II (26,500), and new SM-103 Mk.II monoblock amplifiers (70,000/pair). Allied with other Vitus equipment (see below), the system offered bountiful color, snap, and excellent low bass on a CD of Mathias Heise performing "Quadrillion." Having just viewed a bit of a Heise's live performance of the piece, I find myself extremely grateful for the opportunity to close my eyes and focus solely on the music.

The SD-025 Mk.II includes a new streamer board that supports gigabit network…