Introduced nearly eight years ago as the first recordable digital format for consumers, DAT both failed to appeal to its target market and was blocked from formally entering the USA for four years by the RIAA, who feared for the copyright of its members' recordings. However, the DAT medium was enthusiastically snapped up by professionals and semiprofessionals, who found its combination of reliability, CD-compatible signal format, and editing ease ideal for mastering. Sony currently offers a small range of consumer models, from the diminutive Walkman-sized TCD-D-7 DATMan to four-head cassette-decksized machines for the so-called "prosumer": amateur recordists who make pin money taping local concerts. The DTC-2000ES is Sony's latest entry (footnote 1).
"Crossovers? We don't need no stinkin' crossovers!" Most Stereophile readers probably feel this way when it comes to third-party electronic crossovers. In this day of proprietary "soup-to-nuts" speaker systems, nearly all manufacturers supply complete systems. Nevertheless, some brave (or foolish) souls still choose to sail in uncharted crossover waters. Most do so because they're insanely in love with their current speakers, and have an irrational desire for that last bottom octave. Others have "orphaned" speakers that are not readily upgradeable to the next level of performance. I fall into the second category.
Lars recently received a device that looks and works like a $25 digital alarm clock and is said to subtly improve the overall sound of one's system. It's the ElectroTec EP-C, from a company called Coherence Industries.
Although most audio perfectionists look down with scorn on equalizers, there are times when the benefits of such devices can outweigh their disadvantages. I discussed the pros and cons in my review of the Accuphase G-18 in Vol.11 No.4, but a brief recap here won't be amiss.
Memorandum:
To: Steve McCormack, Chief Designer, The Mod Squad
Dear Steve:
I cannot question the general value of Tiptoes in many specific applications. There are a great many areas where I, many other audiophiles, and a number of leading manufacturers have found that Tiptoes can improve any audio system in which the components are subject to. mechanical or acoustic vibration from speaker soundthat is, virtually any audio system.
Prologue: The context for this review is that back in the 1980s, preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers with remote controls didn't exist. In early 1985 I borrowed a sample of Acoustic Research's Stereo Remote Control, which I believe was designed by Ken Kantor (later to find fame with NHT) and set it up in my bedroom. It drove a pair of powered loudspeakers with auto turn-on, and I very quickly grew to appreciate, not just the sound quality, but the convenience of being able to control the system from the comfort of my bed. So what did JGH think of the SRC?John Atkinson
The VPI Magic Brick is an 8lb block of steel laminations, about 5" by 3" by 2", encased in a nicely-finished oak box for aesthetic appeal and for protecting whatever the brick is sitting on from scratches. Placing the Brick over the power transformer of a piece of electronic gear is supposed to improve the sound of your stereo system.
The Revox A-77 has extremely good speed regulation, vanishingly low wow and flutter, very low noise, superb tape handling, and the smoothest, widest-range frequency response of any recorder we have ever tested.
The portable version, with built-in monitor amps and speakers, is very compact for a machine with 10½ reel capacity, and is easily carried by one person. Now that the later version is equipped with a flutter-filtering tension arm, our only criticism of the A-77 is its use of three-circuit jacks for the micro phone inputs instead of the XLR-type receptacles that are considered to be "standard" in the US for on-location audio recording.
The Swiss-made G-36 recorder had earned an enviable reputation among perfectionists during the few years that it has been available in the US, and our inability to test one (because of a backlog of other components for testing) became increasingly frustrating to us with each glowing report we heard from subscribers who owned them. Now that we have finally obtained one through the courtesy of ELPA (footnote 1), we can see what all the shouting was about, but we also have some reservations about it.