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A century ago, pioneering psychiatrist Carl Jung had a wild encounter with the power of sound. "In a village on the way from Lake Albert to Rejaf in the Sudan we had a very exciting experience," Jung wrote in his book Memories, Dreams, Reflections. He goes on to describe his participation in a tribal drum and dance ritual. "Night had fallen ... when we heard drums and horn blasts. Soon some sixty men appeared, martially equipped with flashing lances, clubs, and swords." A huge fire was built. Women and children began dancing around the fire, and the men formed an outer ring. Jung's guides and…
The Ana Mighty Sound system. (All photos in this report by Alex Halberstadt)
During the past decade and a half, the trips I've taken have tended to be for magazine stories. I love to travel, but as a New Yorker living on a writer's income, I figure it makes more sense to do it on someone else's dime and stay in nicer places than I could afford otherwise. The downside is that these trips don't feel like vacations, or even particularly restful: My time tends to be taken up with interviews, overly elaborate meals eaten (or tasted) in the company of chefs and winemakers, weeks when I…
I'd been building and repairing tube amplifiers for a few years when my first Altec A5 Voice of the Theater speakers arrived. I bought them to help me evaluate the sound of low-powered triode amps—but whoa! The moment I turned that VOT system on, I heard from 30' away the sound of either a waterfall or a large AM radio tuned between stations.
When I checked my amplification for hum and standing noise, everything was at or near what I considered "spec" for zero-feedback tube amps. Apparently those specs needed revising. Meanwhile, I was fascinated by how a very sensitive speaker could show…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used my Audio Precision SYS2722 system to measure the Eversolo AMP-F10. I performed a complete set of tests in Stereo mode, then repeated some of the tests with the two channels operated in Bridged Mono mode. I preconditioned the amplifier at 1/8 the maximum power into 8 ohms for 30 minutes before starting the testing. At the end of that time, the heatsinks were almost too hot to touch, at 139.1°F/59.5°C. The top panel's temperature measured 108.5°F/42.5°C. This amplifier needs plenty of ventilation.
Looking first at the Eversolo's behavior in Stereo: The…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I performed a full set of measurements on the Weiss DAC204 using my Audio Precision SYS2722, repeating some of the testing with the magazine's higher-resolution APx555 analyzer. I used optical and coaxial S/PDIF data—the TosLink input accepted data sampled at rates up to 96kHz—as well as USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the processor as "xCORE USB Audio 2.0" from "XMOS" and indicated that the USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. The AudioMIDI utility revealed that the 204's USB port accepted 16-…
Horn players were always the show ponies of bebop. While drummer Art Blakey, pianist Thelonious Monk, and other instrumentalists were also powerful pioneers, it was the saxophonists, building on the legacy of the great Charlie Parker, who've come to symbolize this once-hated, now-revered form of jazz.
While the tenors and altos got the lion's share of saxophone glory, baritone players also made their mark, on bebop and also swing. Perhaps the most famous is Harry Carney, a mainstay of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Serge Chaloff, Pepper Adams, Gerry Mulligan, and Cecil Payne are all…
This past Monday, July 21, drummer/composer Terri Lyne Carrington and harpist/composer Brandee Younger discussed their recently released albums, respectively We Insist 2025! (Candid) and Gadabout Season (Verve) at an event billed as Joy and Resistance, moderated by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey. The Doris Duke Center in New York City hosted the event, with a streaming audio system featuring Treble Clef Audio's TCA-M active floorstanding loudspeakers.
Two of contemporary jazz's most inventive, communicative, and creative voices, Terri Lyne Carrington and Brandee Younger, deliver powerful…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description; Stereo/bridged-mono class-AB power amplifier. Inputs (per channel): one XLR (balanced), 1 RCA (single-ended), switchable. Input impedance: 10k ohms (balanced and single-ended). Gain: switchable 29dB or 23dB (200W, 1kHz into 8 ohms). Input sensitivity for rated outputs, stereo and bridged: 5.2V and 2.4V (balanced inputs); 2.65V and 1.3V (single-ended inputs). Continuous output power, stereo: 200Wpc into 8 ohms (23dBW), 320Wpc into 4 ohms (22dBW), 450Wpc into 2 ohms (20.5dBW); bridged: 650W into 8 ohms (28dBW), 950W into 4 ohms (26.8dBW). Damping…
On the first page of the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 4.2 Welcome Guide, Radiant Acoustics founder Peter Lyngdorf states, "The first thing you'll notice when listening to these speakers is the absence of distortion."
Seeing that, my brain responded: I hope not. When I listen to records, the first thing (or things) I want to notice is, who is singing what song and where might they be singing it?
I say this without cynicism. I understand that an engineering-focused company is likely to frame the virtues of their products in technical terms. But when I sit down to listen, I want the…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured a different sample of the CH Precision C10 from that auditioned by Jim Austin; mine had the serial number 0X651902. The power supply was the same one that he had used; its serial number was 0X651904. I carefully followed the instructions in the manual to connect the processor chassis to the external power supply with the four umbilical cables, one for each channel's analog circuitry and one for each channel's control circuitry. The umbilicals were long enough that I could keep the power supply chassis on the floor, well away from the processor.
I…