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Book Review: Swiss Precision: The Story of the Thorens TD 124 and Other Classic Turntables

Swiss Precision: The Story of the Thorens TD 124 and Other Classic Turntables
by Joachim Bung. Published by Joachim and Angelika Bung, Schmitten, Germany (info@td-124.de), 2008. Hardcover, 288 pages, four-color, ISBN 978-3-00-021162-1. Price: €59 plus overseas mailing.

In 1956, an engineer named Louis Thévenaz presented his employer with the prototype of a turntable of singularly high quality, aimed at broadcast professionals and the burgeoning domestic audio market alike. The employer was Thorens S.A. of Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, and one year later, the first TD 124 (a tourne-disc,…

The Fifth Element #47

US composer Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna is one of the indisputable masterpieces of the 20th century. John Atkinson has recorded the male vocal group Cantus's performances of Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium (on Comfort and Joy: Volume One, Cantus CTS-1204) and Ave Maria Dulcissima (on Cantus, Cantus CTS-1207). (And great recordings they are—one engineer chum thinks JA's Cantus recording of OMM is the single best-engineered choral recording he's ever heard.)

In a White House ceremony on November 15, 2007, Lauridsen was awarded the National Medal of the Arts. He won that honor, according…

The Fifth Element #47 Page 2

I had never heard of Annar Follesø. The liner notes say he studied at Bloomington, Indiana. The cover photo does him no favors; he looks deranged. I was apprehensive that I was in for some scenery chewing before I consigned the SACD to the "donate" pile, but I was wrong.

Follesø's traversal of Bartók's technically and musically daunting Sonata for Solo Violin is entirely musicianly. Follesø is poised and confident but not cocky. There is no showing off, no exaggerated gestures. He plays the work as though it belongs to the great tradition that predated and encompassed Bach, while giving…

A Visit to RTI & Acoustech

It's said that your first experience on entering a space sets the tone for all that follows. At LP pressing plant Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), that experience is my encounter with veteran pressman Richard Lopez, who responds to my request for direction. As he leaves his vintage record press to lead me to owner Don MacInnis, Lopez reads aloud the sticker on a box of recently pressed LPs. "WORLD'S FINEST PHONOGRAPH RECORDS," he declares with pride. As I reflect on how few workers today feel so connected to the products they make, I sense that something special lies ahead.

Soon…

A Visit to RTI & Acoustech Page 2

As Hoffman plays a reel, he points to the oscilloscope on the board, which shows energy in the center of the soundstage. This is easily confirmed by listening. While on most tapes some instruments are positioned closer to the left and right mikes, most place the piano and bass in the center. To Hoffman, that sounds as if you're in a really good seat in a club. And while the ever-secretive, 85-year-old Van Gelder has often insisted that he didn't pay attention to such things, Hoffman believes that you can't get sound like this without really trying.

"We give audiophiles the…

Listening #64

Today, as every Saturday, I brought my daughter to the stables where she has her riding lessons. But this time was different. As we pulled up the long gravel driveway, we found ourselves dodging a riderless horse, moving at a trot across our path. It turned out that the very cold weather had caused a latch to malfunction—"gate won't close, railing's froze"—and five horses had gotten loose.

The situation was messy but not unpleasant. I had fun catching one of the older horses—a small, good-natured Arabian who apparently wanted to go back inside—and within a few minutes the stable…

Listening #64 Page 2

One pipe or two, the Saadhana carries on the Rethm tradition of distinctive styling. Looking more like a domestic periscope than a loudspeaker, it mixes straight lines and curves for a light, elegant effect, and the visual lightness is enhanced by the diffusers at the enclosure's base, over which the rest of the thing seems to hover: The Saadhana appears lighter than it really is. The molded surfaces of my review pair were sprayed a deep shade of copper, and while the sides of the first Saadhanas were clad in a veneer of padauk wood, Rethm has made the change to soft, acoustically…

Joint Recording of February 1992: The Cure

KEITH JARRETT TRIO: The Cure
Keith Jarrett, piano; Gary Peacock, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums
ECM 1440 (849 650-2, CD only). Manfred Eicher, prod.; Jan Erik Kongshaug, eng. DDD. TT: 77:36

It's almost impossible to believe that this trio could have gotten any more tight, loose, funky, or trusting of each other—in a word, better—than they were on last summer's Tribute (reviewed in Vol.14 No.8, August 1991), but when it comes to Keith Jarrett's "Standards" Trio, I've learned to expect miracles.

Here, in seven more standards and one Jarrett original, is yet more evidence that…

Joint Recording of February 1992: Wagner: Götterdämmerung

WAGNER: Götterdämmerung
Hildegard Behrens, Brünnhilde; Reiner Goldberg, Siegfried; Matti Salminen, Hagen; Bernd Weikl, Gunther; Cheryl Studer, Gutrune; Hanna Schwarz, Waltraute; Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Alberich; Helga Dernesch, First Norn; Tatiana Troyanos, Second Norn; Andrea Gruber, Third Norn; Hei-Kyung Hong, Woglinde; Diane Kesling, Wellgunde; Meredith Parsons, Flosshilde; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus; James Levine
DG 429 385-2 (4 CDs only). Cord Garben, prod.; Wolfgang Mitlehner, eng. DDD. TT: 4:29:53

The story of Wagner's scripting-in-reverse of the first three…

Harbeth BBC LS5/12A loudspeaker

In the ice-cream world, chocolate is the universal end of the line. Vanilla experiments that taste great but look foul, maple syrup flavors that are more maple than syrup, tutti-frutti that's too tutti—all are recycled as chocolate flavor, their visual sins permanently hidden from view. In the world of wood, the equivalent of chocolate ice cream is the ubiquitous "black ash" veneer. The original color and character of the wood are irrelevant: it all ends up stained black.

I was reminded of chocolate ice cream when I unpacked the loudspeakers I'm reviewing this month. Both are…