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If you want to know why I really love this album, it's because it was the first gift given to me by my sweetheart. The woman's got good taste. If that's not reason enough, then you should know that every track on The Back Room is a dark, beautiful hit. Deceptively simple songs are built around hypnotic and infectious bass lines, while reverb-drenched guitar riffs, syncopated drum rhythms, and layers of breathy, passionate vocals intersect at…

Any new recording by Robert Silverman is an event worth celebrating, but his traversals of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and 32 Variations on an Original Theme are worthy of a national holiday. Boldly assertive, Silverman's playing seems to…

One of my favorite discs at the moment, this collaboration is a musical meeting of two of the world's great musical traditions, the Arabian and the Indian. A single work that runs the entire length of the CD takes you on a slow journey. The interplay is cautious, maybe even tentative at first, but gains confidence and pace as it develops. The…

When it comes to pop music for the new millennium, it doesn't get any better than this. Even if you weren't in love with "Stacy's Mom," a wistful, lustful teenage fantasy that was a surprise radio hit, there's lots to love here. I can't drive over the Tappan Zee Bridge without hearing "Little Red Light" (about how technology can't fix everything), and I smile every time I hear the opening lines of "…

I was allowing listeners to compare the 24-bit/88.2kHz-sampled master files for some of my Stereophile recordings with "Red Book" (CD) versions and MP3s encoded at various bit rates. No one had a problem hearing differences between the different versions of these recordings. Yes, I was using a reasonably high-end system assembled by Roy Gregory, editor of UK magazine HiFi+ (see ), but the speakers…

Description: Four-way, stand-mounted, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) ring-radiator tweeter; two 12" treated-paper/carbon-fiber composite-cone woofers (one internal, one external). The 4.35" dustcap on the external woofer is said to act as the midrange radiator. Crossover frequencies: 80Hz, 500Hz, 2.5kHz. Crossover slopes: 18dB/octave acoustical (between woofers), 6dB/octave electrical (between all drivers). Frequency range: 18Hz–50kHz. Sensitivity: 93dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance (at low frequencies): 6.5 ohms. Power…

Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ittok tonearm, Spectral moving-coil cartridge; Day-Sequerra Classic FM tuner.
Digital Sources: Krell KRC-28 CD player, Sony SCD-C555ES multichannel SACD/CD player, Slim Devices Squeezebox music server, Bryston B-100DA D/A converter.
Preamplification: VTL TL-6.5, Krell KCT preamplifiers; Bryston 10B-SUB electronic crossover.
Power Amplifiers: Bryston 28B-SST, Mark Levinson ML-2 monoblocks; Krell FPB 600c, Mark Levinson No.334.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Revel Ultima Salon…

As LG noted, the Escalante Fremont is considerably more sensitive than the norm, my estimate (measured on the tweeter axis) coming in at 92.5dB/2.83V/m. This is within experimental error of the specified 93dB. However, the speaker's impedance is significantly lower than specified, falling to 3 ohms for the entire midrange and remaining between 4 and 6 ohms for much of the rest of the audioband, which, in combination with a relatively large electrical phase angle some of the time, suggests that the Fremont will need a high-current amplifier to play at its loudest…