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LP playback: Linn LP12 with Naim Armageddon Power Supply, Naim ARO tonearm, van den Hul Frog cartridge; LP12/Lingo/Cirkus, Ekos tonearm, Arkiv phono cartridge.
CD playback: Audio Research CD2, Mark Levinson No.39.
Phono preamplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier Fifteen, Linn Linto, Naim Prefix.
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Eleven A, Krell FPB 600, Mark Levinson No.33H.
Loudspeakers: B&W Silver Signature, Dynaudio Contour 3.0, EgglestonWorks Andra, ProAc Response One SC; REL Studio II subwoofer.
Cables: Kimber KCAG and WireWorld GEI…

Checking the Meridian player's error correction with the Pierre Verany test disc, which has deliberate data dropouts engraved on its surface, revealed a good ability to deal with missing data. The CD2 could play up to track 32 (a 1.25mm gap in the data) without the sound muting, and didn't fail catastrophically until track 34 (a 2mm gap). This is considerably better error correction than required by the official CD standard, but it is interesting to note that Meridian machines from the early '90s actually did better than this.

At 2.54V, the player's output…

This extends to the composition of the quartet itself. Formed in 1976, the group gave its first concerts in 1977 and settled into its current lineup in 1979, when cellist David Finkel joined. But the Emerson has never settled on a permanent first violinist—Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate those duties.

"We've just always done it that way," Philip Setzer explained. "On my last day at Juilliard, I mean…

"Back when we began the Beethoven cycle, someone asked us exactly the same question&#151'Why Beethoven?'—although the reasons there were very different," said violist Larry Dutton. "Many people knew the Beethoven quartets, many amazing musicians had recorded them, so our decision was based upon our need to confront those pieces. With Shostakovich, it's a little different. We love the music, of course, but it's not all that well-known, and perhaps our interpretations of it will make it possible for people who haven't heard it before to become Shostakovich listeners,…

"We had, in Aspen, a perfect opportunity to explore this kind of recording," Drucker said. "And in Da-Hong [Seetoo, producer, recording engineer, and violinist] we found the ideal collaborator. Computer editing stations and the ability for us to take…

"I used four Schoeps MK2H omni [microphone] heads on bodies of my own design in a square arrangement in the middle of the Quartet, about 70" from the musicians, going straight to hard drive at 24-bits/44.1kHz. I burned CDs for the Quartet from each day's performances. I edited the sessions using Sound Designs software."

Da-Hong Seetoo designs electronics under the Omnitronics name.—Wes Phillips

BARBER: String Quartet
IVES: String Quartets 1 & 2, Scherzo ("Holding Your Own").
DG 435 864-2

BARBER: The Complete Songs, Dover Beach
HARBISON: String Quartet 2
SCHULLER: String Quartet 3
WERNICK: String Quartet 4
Thomas Hampson, baritone
DG 437 537-2

BARTóK: String Quartets 1-6
DG 423 657-2 (2 CDs)

BEETHOVEN: String Quartets 1-16
DG 447 076-2 (7 CDs)

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet 11
SCHUBERT: String Quartet 14 ("Death and the Maiden")
DG 423 398-2

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet 16
…

Originally a defense and space contractor offering high-performance (and presumably high-cost) analog/digital converters (ADCs), British-based Data Conversion Systems is one of a small number of…

The first series of listening sessions was both satisfying and dissatisfying. Satisfying because the sound was always musical; I enjoyed my favorite CDs and DATs for hours on end, one leading to another. Dissatisfying because I am a professional reviewer, dammit, and…