(PDF) Stereo-Review-1995-09.pdf - World Radio History

Stereo Review SEPTEMBER 1995 US $2.95 CANADA $3.95 UK £1.95

SPEAKER 4-0 SPECIAL

CHOOSING THE RIGHT

LOUDSPEAKERS

HOW TO HOOK UP A SU BWOOFER

HOME THEATER: A CLOSE

LOOK AT 10 TOP CENTER

SPEAKERS

SPECIAL TEST: DEFINITIVE

TECH BP 2000 SPEAKER

SYSTEM

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410 Phantom Speaker Effect

Only Yamaha Cinema DSP creates phantom speakers

to _fully replicate a multi -speaker movie theater. So

CINEMA DSP _you'll Fear sounds everywhere in

the room. Even in places where

there aren't speakers. We also offer multi -room,

multi -source capabilities for increased flexibility

Ift:t\Only Cinema DSP c n take yo'h to the Serengeti with

One minute, you're eating popcorn at home. The next, you're being transported to the wilds of Africa. The swampsof Montana seventy million years ago. Or even the moon. With Yamaha Cinema DSP, anything's possible. © That'sbecause only Cinema DSP can create the ultimate cinematic experience, right in your living room. We accomplish thisthrough a unique method of multiplying the effects of Digital Sound Field Processing and Dolby Pro Logic: © DigitalSound Field Processing is Yamaha's exclusive technology that reproduces some of the finest performance spaces in theworld. Yamaha audio scientists measured the actual acoustic properties of these performance venues. Then trans-ferred that information to microchips that go into our A/V receivers. So you can access it in your home at the touch of a

button. And our digitally processed Dolby Pro Logic allows us to place dialogue and sound effects around the room,matching the action on the screen. These two technologies enable us to accurately replicate the full ambiance of amulti -speaker movie theater, in an ordinary listening room. All of which means we're able to offer a growing line ofhome theater components with Cinema DSP that outperform other comparatively priced products on the market.

C 1995 Yamaha Electronics Corporation, USA. Cinema DSP is a trademark of Yamaha Electronics Corporation, Dolby Pro Logic is a registered trademark of Dolby laboratoriesLicensing Corporation.

New 21-V2090

The RX-V2090. Easy -to -use features plus state-of-the-art technology. Like learning remote

control, on -screen display, 7 -channel amplification, DSP, Cinema DSP AC -3 compatibility.

out a passport, map or shots.

And that brings us to the RX-V2090 Home Theater A/V Receiver. One of this year's most New RX-V390exciting new components. As you'd imagine, it comes with everything we've already men-tioned. But, it also offers advanced features you might not expect in a single unit. Likemulti -room, multi -source capabilities with two remotes for independent control of mainsystem A/V sources from another listening room. The RX-V2090 has 7 -channel amplification with 100w mains and

center, and 35w front and rear effects. Pre -outs on all channels. 5 audio and 4 audio/video inputs with S -Videoterminals. Yamaha linear damping circuitry. Plus discrete 5.1 channel line inputs for AC -3. And 10 DSP programsincluding 70mm movie theater. Of course, not everyone has the need for a component this comprehensive. That'swhy we offer a full line of six new AN receivers. So you can choose the one that's best for you. e Which means

now all you have to worry about is cleaning up after those elephants before your next trip. yA m AH Ae For the dealer nearest you, please call 1-800-4YAMAHA.

Yamaha Electinnics Corporation. LSA. P.O. Box 6660, Buena Park. CA 90621

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The Best Surround Speaker in the World.POLK'S LS f/x HIGH PERFORMAN CE SURROUND SPEAKER

"I set out to create the best sounding and most versatile

surround speaker in the world. The critics seem to agree

that I have succeeded." Matthew Poik

"...a rich, warm speaker with bags of bass... a topnotch performer... [they] sound excellent and arehighly versatile." Own Home Cinema, Oreot Britoil 1995

"The initial effect with the Polks was simply stagger-ing. The LS f/x's were the best surround experience Ihave had in my home." Aledio Wilea Mw Zedand 1995

"It's the range of these speakers that thrills. They canmake the floor vibrate with their low bass and areexcellent for space -ships flying overhead or the growlsof moving tanks and cranes, just the stuff of whichimpressive home cinema is made."

What 1--// ft Oreat Britain 1995

CIRCLE NO. 51 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Dealer Locator Number

1-800-992-2520

%I Ad code: 10001

"...a speaker of considerable sophistication....[the LS f/x] can transform the surround channel froma typically flat monochromatic noise to a detached,spacious and coherent soundfield."

Hoorefeertainstent Oredt Britain, 1995

Audition the

LS f/x and other

outstanding

Polk home the-

ater speakers at

your local

authorized Polk

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call us at

(800) 377-POLK.

Polk's stylish IS f/x surround speakers mount easily on your wall

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The Speaker Specialists

5601 Metro Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21215 USA (410)358-3600."Polk Audio"," The Speaker Specialists" and "Dynamic Balance" are registered trademarks of Polk Investment Corporation used under license by Polk Audio Incorporated.

Cover

Speakers in the spotlight:counterclockwise from upper left,

Cambridge SoundWorks Surround.

KEF 100 center channel. KlipschKG 5.5 and Definitive Technology BP

.2(XX) lowers. Velodyne VA -1215X

subwoofer, Acoustic ResearchSW30 subwoofer, Paradigm Mini-Mk3,

and Mission 731 bookshelf.

Photograph by Roberto Brosan

LETTERS 11

NEl PRODUCTS 15

TIVE DELAY 20

AUDIO HA 28

SIGNALS 32

TECHNICAL TALK 34

POPULAR MUSIC 92

CLASSICAL MUSIC 102

THE HIGH END 120

COPYRIGHT 0 1995 BY HACHETTE FILLPACCIII MAGAZINES. INC. All rights reserved.Stereo Review. September 1995. Volume 60. Num-ber 9. Stereo Review (ISSN 0039-12201 is pub-lished monthly by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines.Inc. at 1633 Broadway, New York. NY 10019: tele-phone 12121 767-6000. One-year subscription ratefor the United States and its possessions. 51594:Canada. 523.94 (includes 75 GST. GST registra-tion number 126018209, Canadian Sales Agree-ment Number 992361: all other countries. 523.94:cash orders only, payable in U.S. currency. Second-class postage paid at New York. NY 1001. and atadditional mailing offices. Authorized as second-class mail by the Post Office Department. Ottawa.Canada. and for payment of postage in cash. POST-MASTER / SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE: Pleasesend change -of -address forms and all subscriptioncorrespondence to Stereo Review. P.O. Box 55627.Boulder. CO 80322-5627. Please allow at leasteight weeks for the change of address to become ef-fective. Include both your old and your new ad-dress. enclosing. if possible. an address label from arecent issue. If you have a subscription problem.write to the above address or call (3031 604-1464:fax. (3(13) 604-7455. PERMISSIONS: Material inthis publication may not be reproduced in any fontwithout permission. Requests for pemiission shouldhe directed to: The Editor. Stereo Review. 1633Broadway. New York, NY I10119. BACK ISSUESarc available. Write to Stereo Review -Back Issues.P.O. Box 70145. Brick. NJ 08723. Enclose a checkfor the cover price of each issue you want plus51.75 each (or shipping and handling. For tele-phone credit-card orders, call 19010 367-2900.EDITORIAL. CONTRIBUTIONS must be accom-panied by return postage and will be handled withreasonable cam. but the publisher assumes nil re-sponsibility for the return or safety of unsolicitedmanuscripts, art. or photographs.

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

Stereo ReviewINCORPORATING HIGH f

S EPTEMBER 1995

PeripheralsMusic online: the Internet, the Web, theservices, by Cary Lu

Equipment Test Reports 36Yamaha RX-V590 A/V receiver, page 36JBL J820M loudspeaker system, page 40Pioneer CLD-D704 CD/laserdisc combi-player,

page 44Sennheiser HD 565 Ovation headphones,

page 48

Choosing a Loudspeaker 51How to go about selecting speakers youcan live with, by Julian Hirsch

The Center of the Action 58\ !lie (plus one) top center -channel speakers

for the home theater gold, by Tom Nousaine

Definitive TechnologyBP 2000 Loudspeaker 10A special test report. 1)\-.11111,III Hirsch

H ow to Hook Up a SubwooferMaking the connections for betterbass performance, by David Ranada

Systems 18From Heathkit to home theater in twenty-fiveyears, by Bob Ankosko

Kubrick's Bone 83\ century of music and technology,by Eric Salzman

B est Recordings of the Month.. 01Van Morrison keeps having "Days Like This,"Maria Joao Pires plays Chopin, the Ramones say"Adios Amigos," and William Christiebrings out the drama of Charpentier's Medea

A Page 58

Page 40

Page 87

THE

LITTLE

SPEAKOZTHAT ARE

MAKING IT

They're on display

in the Design

Museum in

London. And

they've quickly

become one

of the decade's best selling small

loudspeakers. Why are Solid speakers

so wildly successful? Simply because

they produce superb, high quality sound

that one would expect only from

speakers many

times their size

and price. Thereason? They're

acoustically

engineered by

world-renowned B&W Loudspeakers.

The same people who created the

legendary B&W Matrix 801 - the speaker

used for nearly eighty percent of all

classical recordings. Start with a single

pair. Then build a

complete home

theater system

including a Power -

Bass subwoofer tc

capture the earth-

shaking realism of films like Jurassic Park.

Call 1.800.370.3742 for the name of the

Solid dealer nearest you. And find out how

to get big sound without spending big money.

They play big.

Rock Solid Soundsof America54 Concord StreetNorth Reading, MA01864- 2 6991.800.370.3742 T E L

1.508.664.4 I 09 FAXCIRCLE NO. 53 ON READER SERVICE CARD

Stereo ReviewVice President, Editor in Chief

LOUISE BOUNDA`)

Executive EditorMICHAEL RIGGS

Art DirectorMINDY OSWALD

Senior Editor Technical EditorBOB ANKOSKO DAVID RANADA

Director, Hirsch -Houck Laboratories.11 I I IIIRSCH

Managing EditorDAVID STEIN

Associate Editor Associate Art DirectorKEN RICHARDSON ANI)It F W THOMPSON

Popular Music Editor Classical Music EditorSTEVE SIMELS ROBERT RIPPS

Assistant EditorJAF SEGARRA

Editor at LargeWILLIAM LIVINGSTONE

Contributors: Robert Ackart. Chris Albenson.Rebecca Day. Richard Freed, Phyl Garland,

Ron Givens. David Hall. Bryan Harrell (Tokyo),Roy Hemming, Jamie James, George Jellinek,

Ian Masters. Peter Mitchell. Alanna Nash,Henry Pleasant, (London). Ken Pohlmann,

Parke Puterbaugh. Charles Rodrigues. Eric Salzman,Craig Stark. David Patrick Stearns

Vice President, Group PublisherTONY CATALANO

Consumer Electronics Group AdvertisingVP/Advertising Director

Scott Constantine

Regional VP/Ad Director. East Coast:Charles L. P. Watson. (212) 767-6038

Regional Account Managers. East Coast:Christine B. Forhez. (212) 767-602S

Penry Price. (212)767-6077

Midwest Advertising Manager:Jerry Stoeckigt. (312) 923-4804

Regional VP/Ad Director. West Coast:Robert Meth. (213) 954-4831

Western Advertising Manager:Paula Mayeri. (2131954-4830Sales Assistant: Nikki Parker

National Record Label Sales Representatives:The Mitchell Advertising Group (MAG Inc.)

Mitch Herskowitz. (212) 490-1715Steve Gross. (212)490-1895

Assistant to the Publisher: Aline J. PulleyPromotion Coordinator: Dominique A. Leupi

Operations Manager: Sylvia CorreaAdvertising Coordinator: Linda Neuweiler

Sales Assistant: Yvonne TelesfordClassified Advertising: (80))445-6066

Production Manager: Vicki L. FeinmelProduction Director: Patti Burns

Business Manager: Christine Z. MailletGeneral Manager: Greg Roperti

tiChet e Stereo Review is publishedll hce i by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. Inc.

zinesChairman: Daniel Filipacchi

President. CEO. and COO: David J. PeckerExecutive VP and Editorial Director: Jean-Louis Ginibre

Senior VP. Global Advertising: Paul DuChanneSenior VP. Director of Corporate Sales: Nicholas Matarazzo

Senior VP. CEO & New Business Development:Paul DeBenedictis

VP. General Counsel: Catherine FlickingerVP. Manufacturing & Distribution: Anthony Romano

VP. Circulation: David W. LeckeyVP. Research & Marketing Services: Susan Smollens

VP. Communications & Special Projects: Keith EstabrookVP. Magazine Development: Marcia Sachar

VP. Director of Creative Services, Corporate Sales:Lynn Chaiken

';:"

MITSUBISHI DIAMOND VISION

in a 40" model.INTRODUCING THE WORLD'S FIRST 40 -INCH PICTURE TUBE.

In 1980, Diamond Vision madeits stunning debut at America'sballparks. Today, Diamond Visionis the industry standard in bright,well-defined large-scale video.

Now large-scale DiamondVision technology has found itsway into your home. Mitsubishi'snew 40 -inch TV is a one -of -a -kind

video tour de force, availableonly from your Mitsubishi dealer.No other company offersconsumers a bright, sharppicture tube this big.

For the location of anAuthorized Mitsubishi dealer inyour area, call :1-800-937-0000, ext. 515.

mt MITSUBIsh*tHE BIG SCREEN COMPANY

CIRCLE NO. 52 ON READER SERVICE CARD

fir'', -4TECHNOLOGYWITHOUT THEHIGH ANXIETY

How To BRING HomE THE RI

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HELItgINN- LEu,L

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IOch- C. -

On -screen displaysguide operations.including a helpbutton that canpinpoint a problemand offer a solutionright on your screen.

dassil#The Class H+ amp sends equal

power to all channels with2 dB dynamic headroom.

f,,..

POWER

HOME TH < CONTROL RECEIVER SA-TX1010

DIRECT TUNING

SPEAKERS

INTRODUCING THE ULTIMATE IN

HOME THEATER SOUND - THE NEW

TECHNICS SA-TXIOIO HOME THX

RECEIVER. NOT ONLY DOES IT MEET

LUCASFILM'S STRINGENT STANDARDS

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The remote controls otherTechnics audio compo-nents and most brand

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Sound StageImaging delivers

realistic surroundeffects even withstereo sources.

When using video tape. laser disc or broadcast which is encoded with Dolby Surround. Dolby and the double -D symbol are trademarks of DolbyLaboratories Licensing Corp

AL.

To speak to your nearest Technics

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Imagine seeing sound. If you could,

choosing the best speakers would

be simple.

You'd see how conventional speak-

ers send their sound directly into the

room, straight out from each enclosure.

But with Bose Direct/Reflecting

speakers, the sound pattern

The 901. Direct/Reflecting - speaker

system. The most highly acclaimed speakers

ever. Other DirectlRellecting models share

this technology. and are available to fit

your needs and your budget.

looks more Ike that of a concert hall.

At a concert, most of what you hear

reflects off the walls, floor and ceiling

before it reaches your ears, giving live

music much of its character.

Direct/Reflecting speakers use the

walls of your room in a similar

way, providing

many of the lifelike,

spacious qualities

that make live

music so enjoyable.

And you can experience that sound

right in your home, everyday, just by

turning on your stereo.

So although you can't see sound, we

believe You'll clearly hear the difference

Direct/Reflecting speakers make. Call

for the names of Bose retailers near

you. And listen. Bose speakers will

speak for themselves.

Call 1-800-444-BOSE, Ext. 571.

DOSEBetter sound through research

LETTERSMore Home ImprovementsThanks for Daniel Kumin's informative"Home Improvement" in July. I would liketo add a few no -cost or low-cost sugges-tions for further improving an A/V system:

I. Keep your TV screen clean. Anycharged surface is a dust collector.

2. Check your cable -TV point of entryand room wiring. How many splitters andwhat size taps have the "caring technicians"installed? If possible. use a separate splitterto your main screen before the main housefeed. Are the splitters that were used top-quality? Maybe a few dollars for betterones would bring visible improvements.

3. Ask your cable company to measurethe signal level at the area feed and to cor-rect it it necessary.

4. Do not run your audio and video ca-bles parallel with your power cords. Also,keep your speaker lines as short as possibleand never loop the excess.

5. Finally, just in case, get a good surgeprotector, and document your equipmentwith serial numbers and photos.

WARREN EPHRAIMFairfield. CT

None of the articles I have read recentlyabout setting up or upgrading home theatersystems. including the very good article byDaniel Kumin in your July issue, mentionsadding a subwoofer to the center channeland operating the Dolby Pro Logic circuitin the Wide mode. To me, this is one of thebest improvements I've made to my sys-tem. Also, nonsurround TV fare comesmostly through the center channel in DolbyPro Logic. and I get the full range of sound.commercials and all. I used an impedance -matching transformer to wire my sub to myreceiver, which has only one set of center -speaker outputs. MILL REINGOLD

Salmon. ID

AR MonitoriesJulian Hirsch's June comparison of theAcoustic Research AR 303 with the oldAR -3a brought hack memories. Shortly af-ter I joined AR in 1965. Roy Allison andEd Villchur assigned me the task of design-ing new drivers and crossovers for the AR -3. The AR -3 had 2 -inch midrange and I3/s-inch high -frequency phenolic drivers, not11/2 and 3/4 inches as Mr. Hirsch stated.Working the 11 -inch woofers out to I kHzcompromised the midrange because of thewoofer -dispersion performance.

It was determined that new midrange andhigh -frequency drivers would he needed.Accordingly. I designed a 11/2 -inch soft -dome midrange and a -1/4-inch impregnated -paper -dome tweeter. The new midrangecould be crossed over at 575 Hz. thus elimi-nating the woofer -dispersion problem. Thenew -1/4-inch tweeter had superior disper-sion hut at some sacrifice in efficiency.

The new speaker was temporarily desig-nated the AR -3x. It had a somewhat "laid-back" quality some called the "New Eng-land sound." In reality the effect was theresult of the tweeter's compromised effi-ciency. Ultimately Roy Allison designedthe AR-LST, which used arrays of the newdrivers operating with automatic transform-ers compensating for the disparate efficien-cies. One might say that, like politics, loud-speaker design is "the art of the possible."

CHARLES MCSHANEMt. Prospect, IL

Caption ContestantswasI surprised when I wasn't selected as

the winner of the I Ith Annual RodriguesCartoon Caption Contest (July).

My friends had warned me that my clas-sic entry - "Woofer?! Hell, I hardly evenknow her!" - might be a little risque forSTEREO REVIEW. But clearly my entry isno more sexually suggestive than the win-ning selection (which is, by the way, quiteclever and witty).

So. like the couple shown in the cartoon,I am baffled. WYNN MARTIN

Houston, TX

No doubt your obsession with winningstems .from your first name. Please consultyour therapist.

Unfortunately. I saw your Cartoon CaptionContest too late to enter. Otherwise. mycaption would have certainly won:

"Hi, Good Neighbor! I'm Harman Kar-don from the planet Cerwin-Vega in a

galaxy almost Infinity miles from here. Wesure do love the Pioneer life here in Aiwa."

STEPHEN J. LOSBENMeadowbrook. PA

No doubt your obsession with winningstems from your surname. an anagram"N.B.: Lose." Please consult your therapist.

CD GoofsJune -Bulk tin- described the "unforget-table" experience of a mislabeled Nat KingCole CD on Capitol. But Capitol is not theonly label to have produced a few surprises.not by a long shot.

I began buying CD's in January 1985,and among my early purchases that yearwas the Dream Academy's debut album onWarner Bros., featuring their popular hit,Life in a Northern Town. Imagine my sur-prise when the player registered twelvetracks instead of the listed ten and organmusic greeted me. "This is not the Life in aNorthern Town I've been hearing on the ra-dio." I thought. Epic had a similar goofwith the Heart album "Passionworks." Thebooklet and case insert were correct. hutthe CD itself was Heart's "Greatest Hits"

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 11

HearThe BoseDifference.Then MakeYour Call.

Go ahead. Hear Bose

Direct/Reflecting' speakers.

It's fun. Takes just about 10

minutes. And in exchange

for your time, you'll get 10

minutes of FREE long distance

phone time on a Bose

( ,illing Card.

-Then, if you decide to

ke Direct/Reflecting'

speakers home, you can

get more free phone time ...

between 20 and 150 extra

minutes, depending on which

speakers you buy. But you must

soon. For the names of par -

'rig Bose retailers near

y1-8

Limited-

August 20ctober 1, 1

OSE Ext. 571.

You're gonzoabout movies.

But you've held offinvesting in home the-

ater until you can affOrdthe system of your dreams.

Now you can, thanks to thenew Rotel RB985.This THX"-certified, 5 -channel

amp delivers 100 watts of pure,unadulterated power to each of' five

speakers. That's more than enough to feel thefloor -shaking aftershocks of an on -screen earth-

quake. Or experience the crystal -shattering roar ofF-15 fighters flying overhead.

Plus, because it's a Rotel, the RB985 is filledwith features normally found only in more expensive amps.

Like toroidal transformers that capture all the dynamics andnuances of your movie soundtrack. There is even a db-25 port to

make an easy connection with other home theater products.We invite you to visit your Rotel dealerand audition the Rotel RB985. It's proofthat you can get more bang for yourbuck-even in real life.

ROTEL OF AMERICA

PERFORMANCE BEYOND YOUR WILDEST EXPECTATIONS.

album. At least the labeling on that CD wasconsistent with the MUSIC. KENT RADEK

Bellevue, NE

Looking for MagicI have just read Rebecca Day's July articleabout Digital Music Express (DMX), inwhich she refers to a product called theMondial Antenna Ground Isolation Circuit,or Magic, which breaks ground loops asso-ciated with the connection of coaxial cableantennas (from cable -TV companies) andaudio/video systems. It sounds like justwhat I need! Please tell me where I can ob-tain this product and/or how to contactMondial Designs. BRENT A. DAVIS

Wichita, KS

You can reach Mondial at 20 LivingstoneAve., Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522; phone 914-693-8008. fax 914-693-7199.

The Fate of LasordiscsI recently purchased a laserdisc player, butwith the news over the past few monthsabout the coming digital videodisc (DVD),I am justifiably concerned about my invest-ment. In "Digital Surround Comes Home"in May, Michael Riggs states that the DVDformat uses a red laser to read the discs, asopposed to the longer -wavelength infraredlaser used in CD/laserdisc players. Is it con-ceivable to upgrade a current laserdisc play-er with a red laser so that it could read theDVD-formatted discs, or will the laserdiscformat eventually be phased out completely?

RALPH CALABRIAEast Brunswick, NJ

Modifying an existing laserdisc player tohandle DVD's as well would be impracti-cal. There are simply too many differencesbetween the formats, sarting with the factthat the video on DVD will be in compresseddigital form, whereas he video on laser -discs is frequency -modulated analog. It cer-tainly would be possible to build a combi-nation player that would handle DVD aswell as CD and laserdisc, however, andsuch players might be produced in the fu-ture. DVD will probably supplant laserdisceventually, though the process will no doubttake a number of years, particularly withregard to the production of the discs them-selves, as there is already a large installedbase of laserdisc players.

CorrectionsThe July cover photo should have beencredited to Christopher Gould. In the Au-gust test report on the Carver A -400X pow-er amplifier, the measurement given for dy-namic power into 8 ohms should have read332 watts. We regret these errors.

We welcome your letters. Please addresscorrespondence to Editor, Stereo Review,1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.You should include your address andtelephone number for verification. Lettersmay be edited for clarity and length.

Rotel of America, 54 Concord Street, North Reading, MA 01864-2699 tel 1-800-370-3741 fax 508-664-4109THX is a registered trademark of Lxcaafilm Ltd.

CIRCLE NO. 18 ON READER SERVICE CARD

GIVE YOUR KIDS

SOMETHING MORE

INTERESTING

TO LOOK AT

THAN THE BACK

OF YOUR HEAD.

Famil es are once again spending their

vacations lumbering down the majestic

highways of this amazing country by car. In

order to keep everyone entertained long after

you back out cf the driveway and t thwart those boredom cries of

"Are we there yet?", we suggest our car multimedia system. It

includes a 6" color LCD TV that can be

hooked up to any 12 volt VG? or video game

player. So even when you're

miles away from your cozy three Pc_

position recliner you can st II enjcy a ball game or your favorite

show. That is, If your kids will let you watch it. Visit your nearest

Clarion Dealer or call 1 -800 -G0 -CLARION for more information.

clarionCAA AUDIO BEYOND

,iAk.vvekrefliNkork

INTRODUCING THE WORLD'S FIRST CAR MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM

'/995 Clarion Sales Corp , 661 West Redondo Beach Boulevard, Gardena, CA 90247. 1 -800 -GO -CLARION. Clarion Canada. Incorporated 2239 Winstcn Park Drive. Oakville. Ontario LOH 591 Canada. (905)829-4600

Subwoofer of the ear, '91, '92, '93 & '94, Audio Video International

,"",%""'. A.4 W

Velodyne is the king of subwoofers. In fact, we'rethe only one that can honestly claim distortion of

less than one percent.Every Velodyne product is testament to the genius

of president and founder David Hall, who virtually re-invented the modern loudspeaker. His patented servo -controlled woofers and innovative designs mean you'll

hear dearer sound - you'll feel it - all the way down to I8Hz.You'll get more com enience, too, thanks to the

handy remote provided with the F -1500R. It puts all thepower of a Velodyne right at your fingertips.

Make the Velodyne F -1500R Powered Subwooferpart of your home entertainment system, and feel thebass. It'll make you proud you've chosen the very best.

Beyond Servo: Velodyne's patented anti -distortion circuit samples the woofer's response 3,500 times each second,ensuring that only the audio signal is reproduced. \\ i t h Velodyne the music comes through, error -free.

Velodyne®

The Bottom Line In BasS" CIRCLE NO 61 ON READER SERVICE CARD\ clod, nc I Irt t, mum., 1,11 l "ne I n 1 9 9,112 ,1 ,.-7:47k) or (6e 1906 Velody r, Aoistic, Inc II rights re.ersed. nt.,,a regi-aered trademark

wt.:, \-4 ';;;;;:i.,: - ,111

'441 kii` .i:7"14/:. 744416. -

NEW PRODUCTS

A PIONEERPioneer's Elite Series SP -990

digital processor performs

Dolby Pro Logic and six -channel

Dolby Surround AC -3 decoding.

In addition to an AC -3 input, the

unit provides coaxial and optical

digital inputs, eight analog

outputs (including dual center and

subwoofer outputs), 18 -bit

digital -to -analog (D/A)

conversion circuitry, and three

ambience modes for music

and non -surround -encoded

programs. Finish is gloss black

with rosewood side panels.

Price: $1,530. Pioneer Electronics,

Dept. SR, 2265 E. 220th St.,

Long Beach, CA 90810-1639.

A CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKSThe Cambridge SoundWorks

Ensemble IV home theater

speaker system comprises five

4 -inch -square satellites,

each sporting a suede -textured

charcoal finish and housing a

3 -inch driver rated to play

down to 150 Hz, and a 61/2 x 8

x 12 -inch dual -chamber bass

module with a 53/4 -inch dual -

voice -coil woofer and a black

vinyl finish. A 100 -toot

spool of speaker wire and a

wire stripper/cutter are included.

The Ensemble IV is available

factory -direct for $380 (plus

shipping) with a thirty -day money -

back guarantee. Cambridge

Sound Works, Dept. SR, 311

Needham St., Newton, MA 02164-

9979; phone, 1-800-367-4434.

Circle 121 on reader service ca'd

ENERGY The least expensive speaker in

Energy's four -model Connoisseur

Series, the C-2 (shown with the

SST -21 stand, $120 a pair)

combines a 1 -inch aluminum -

dome tweeter and a 61/2 -inch

woofer in a 173/4 -inch -tall vented

enclosure with biamp terminals.

Frequency response is given as

40 Hz to 25 kHz ±3 dB, sensitivity

as 88 dB, and maximum

power -handling capacity as

130 watts. Price: $500 a pair in

black -ash laminate (shown);

$600 in high -gloss black or

rosewood. Energy Loudspeakers

Dept. SR, 3641 McNicoll Ave.,

Scarborough, Ontario M1X 1G5.

Circle 120 on reader service card

SONYOne of three Digital Satellite

System (DSS) packages from

Sony, the entry-level SAS-BS1

includes an 18 -inch single -

output dish with a Signal Seeker

LED that simplifies positioning

the dish during installation.

The satellite receiver, which is

equipped with two sets of

AN outputs and a standard

antenna input, has a 32 -bit

microprocessor that supports a

"fast" multi -mode on -screen

channel-guide/menu system. The

SAS-BS1 satellite package also

includes a remote control.

Price: $749. Sony, Dept. SR,

1 Sony Dr., Park Ridge, NJ 07656.

PARASOUNDThe C/DC-1500, Parasound's first

CD changer, handles five discs

and employs a hybrid 1 -bit/

18 -bit digital -to -analog

converter. It has a shuffle -play

mode, a coaxial digital output,

gold-plated Tiffany -style RCA

jacks, and a remote control.

Price: $650. The user -installable

ARCAM Arcam's Xeta One AN integrated

amplifier offers Dolby Pro Logic

surround -sound decoding

and is rated to deliver 60 watts

each to the three front channels

and 20 watts each to the surround

channels. It has eight audio

inputs, four composite and two

S -VHS video inputs, five line -level

POLK AUDIODesigned to occupy a minimum

of floor space, Polk's 363/4 -inch -

tall RT12 speaker has a footprint

of only 83/8 x 121/2 inches. The

magnetically shielded speaker

combines a 1 -inch dome tweeter

and two 61/2 -inch woofers in a

ported cabinet finished in either

black ash or oak woodgrain vinyl.

Low -frequency limit (at -3 dB)

is given as 42 Hz, sensitivity as

90 dB, and maximum power -

handling capacity as 250

watts. Price: $799 a pair. Polk

Audio, Dept. SR, 5601 Metro Dr.,

Baltimore, MD 21215.

Advanced Digital Adapter

Module (not shown), available

as a $225 option, adds a

glass -fiber optical output and a

balanced AES/EBU output

with an XLR connector.

Parasound, Dept. SR, 950 Battery

St., San Francisco, CA 94111.

Circle 123 on reader service card

outputs (including one for a

subwoofer), a Cinema EQ

setting to tame overly bright film

soundtracks, and a Hall

mode for music. Price: $1,900.

Arcam, distributed by Audio

Influx, Dept. SR, P.O. Box 381,

Highland Lakes, NJ 07422-0381.

Circle 125 on reader service card

In S'ITREO SFr' EMBFR 1995

ALPHASONIK AOne of the first car amplifiers

produced under a joint venture

with Zed Audio, Alphasonik's

HBX-2150 is rated to deliver

150 watts per channel into 4 ohms

and 250 watts into 2 ohms. In

bridged mono mode, it's rated

to kick out 500 watts into

PHASE TECHNOLOGY APhase Technology's Octave

1.0 powered subwoofer has a

15 -inch woofer, a 243 -watt

amplifier, and a two-way active

crossover (with 100- 80-, and 60 -

Hz cutoff points), all in a cabinet

measuring 18 x 21 x 20 inches

and finished in black laminate.

4 ohms. Highlights include

a defeatable 80 -Hz low-pass

filter and a direct mode that

bypasses the amplifier's op -amp

stage. Price: $599. Alphasonik,

Dept. SR, 701 Heinz Ave.,

Berkeley, CA 94710.

Circle 122 on reader service card

It features auto -on and soft -

clipping circuits, line -level and

high-level inputs, a phase switch,

and a level control. Price: $949.

Phase Technology, Dept. SR,

6400 Youngerman Circle,

Jacksonville, FL 32244.

Circle 124 on reader service card

We couldn't havesaidit better o elves.

- excerpts from Audio Magazine, by Anthony H. Cordesman

"...this is a product thatdeserves attention. 1,

"You may besurprised to findout how goodyour speakers arewhen you first tryan amplifier ofthis quality. yy

"It does everythingexceptionally well forits price, and its uppermidrange and treble andoverall musicality arehard to find in any ampli-fier not costing at leasttwice its price range. yy

"This is the kind ofproduct that showsthe best of the highend can be madetruly affordable.,,

itThe imaging, soundstage,dynamics and transparency ofthe Adcom GFA-5800 had thekind of realism and integrationI only expect to find in far moreexpensive products. yy

"In short, theAdcom GFA-5800stands out even in aworld where almostall amplifiers nowsound good. pp

"It is also a little difficult tobelieve that this amplifier is inthe $1500 price range. py

"Just as Adcom oncechanged the standards of thepower amplifier market withthe 555, it has introduced anew product that may similarlychange the market again. yy

The Adcom GFA-5800 amplifier is quite possibly the best amplifier you may ever hear.We know it sounds better than others selling for more than twice its price. Delivering 250watts continuous per channel into 8 ohms between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, its circuit design andcomponent specifications are in a class by itself.

But you don't have to take our word for it. Send us your name and address and we willsend you a reprint of Audio's review as well as detailed literature. Or better yet, simply ask tolisten to the GFA-5800. Your ears will tell youall you need to know. Send me Audio's review and detailed literature on the

Adcom GFA-5800.

Name

Address

City State Zip

Xi Mail to: Adcom. I I Elkins Road. East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A.

ADCOM®details you can hear

11 Elkins Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816 U.S.A. (908) 390.1130.Distributed in Canada by PRO ACOUSTICS INC. Montreal. Quebec (514) 344-1226

CIRCLE NO. 1 ON READER SERVICE CARD

PliglACTS

LEADSINGERInstant karaoke: Electrosales'

Leadsinger wireless microphone

and MIDI sequencer - a.k.a. the

Band in Your Hand - broadcasts

your voice and an instrumental

accompaniment to any FM radio.

Just pop a Song Chip into the

mike. select a tune. and start

crooning. It even has echo and

CD Repair Kit

SONANCESonance's MRC100 source

switcher uses hierarchic signal

sensing to route selected audio

and video sources automatically

to a whole -house music system or

a home theater. It has three audio

and three AN inputs. Whichever

audio source is active is routed to

the audio zone. When a VCR or

pitch controls. Song Chips

containing MIDI computer files of

thirty songs are available for

$49 each and come with books of

lyrics. Price: $199 to $249

(includes one Song Chip).

Electrosales Co., Dept. SR, 13 W.

28th St., New York, NY 10001.

Circle 126 on reader service card

ALLSOPAllsop's "one-step" CD Repair

Kit includes a 1 -ounce bottle

of a mildly abrasive water -based

solution that's said to remove

light scratches from the surface of

a CD, four cotton cloths, and a

DiscGrip base that holds the

disc while it's being polished.

Price: $11.99. Allsop. Dept. SR.

P.O. Box 23. Bellingham,

WA 98227-0023.

Circle 128 on reader service card

Megadeth: Youthanasia)0,): ,roll 06272

Barbra Streisand:Hello Dolly Philips) 06314

Arthur Fiedler and TheBoston Pops Orchestra:Salute to Disney )DG) 06329

Vanessa Williams.The Sweetest Days(Mercury) 06335

TLC: CrarySexyCool(LaFace/Ansta) 06352

Mary J. Bilge: My Life(MCA) 06362

The UnpluggedU Vol.1 (Warner Bros.) 06393

Too Short co*cktails(Jive/ Dangerous Music)

The Very Best OfOtis Redding Bnrno) 08756 rBeethoven. SymphoniesNos. 5 8 6 -Pastorale (DG

Kara)an Goidll 03127

The Crow/Sdtrk.(Atlantic) 09173

The Joy Of BernsteinIDG: 03212

The Who: Tommy(MCA) 03223

Jon Secada:Heart, Soul .5 A VoicetSBK: 03323

Tracy Byrd: No Ordinary Man(MCA) 03339

Vince Gill:When Love Finds You(MCA) 03350

Carpenters: The Singles1969-1973 (A8M) 04393

The Best Of Aretha FranklinAtlantic: 20076

John Mellencamp: DanceNaked )Mercury) 04906

BLACKstreetnIorscrs r, 04922

Cecilia Barton MozartPortraits ) 04923

Dazed And Confusedrodtrk.-i),ir.t Winner Bros 04944

Soundgarden:Badmolortinger(ABM) 05637

The Tractors (Arista) 05721

Van ClIbum In Moscow(RCA Victor Red Seal) 05748

063851

A43 Dias fifRBY412/fieEISERVICEN

FOR THE PRICE OF

Hoolie 8 The Blowfish:Cracked Rear ViewlAtIsnlic: 05872

N rvana, Unplugged InNew York DGC 06284

Madonna: Bedtime Stories(Mavenck/Sire) 06356

ZZ Top: One Foot in theBlues (Warner Bros 06401

Alicia de Larrocha: Mompou,

AVictor) 06469Songs and Dances

(

Bryan Adams:Live) Lim! Live! (MM) 06497

Feel McCoy: Another Night(Ans al 06500

Boys On The SicieSdtrk(Ans, 06893

arch

Garth BrILrbrh

The Best Of Sting1964-1994: Fields 01 Gold(ABM( 06357

Neal McCoy: You GottaLove That! Atlantic) 06904

Shama Twain:The Woman In Ile(Mercury Nashville) 06935

Bashes (Geffen) 08073

Trisha Yeanvood) Thinkin'About You (MCA) 08043

Belly. King(Reprise/Sire) 08122

Soul For Reap. Candy Ram(UptcwrxMCA 08126

Collective Soul(Abaiticl 08133

*tilde1.,.....r KinglSdirk.

Irl lit Rai

Sheryl Crow:Tuesday Night Music Club(ABM) 03061

ks /the hits

Pulp Fiction/Sdtrk.(MCA; 063%1The Best Of New Order(OwestVfamer Bros.) 06153

Matthew Sweet 100% Fun(Zoo Entertainment) 06166

Memel Gaye: 15 Grielsel 141&(Motown) 53534

Skid goer Subhuman Race)Atlartic) 06252

Linda Ronstedt Feels LikeHome (Elektra) 08255

Channel Live: StationIdentification Capitol) 08283

E-40. In A Mayor Way,Joe, 08455 1

BUSINESS REPLY MAILFIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO 5071 INDIANAPOLIS IN

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BMG MUSIC SERVICEPO BOX 91300INDIANAPOLIS IN 46209-9254

1,1..1.111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11,1..1

The Chieftains: The LongBlack Veil (RCA Victor) 06408

Music Inspired By The LionKing: Rhythm 01 The PrideLands (Walt Disney) 08.318

Adina Howard:Do You Wenna Ride(EastWest) 08354

Or Dirty Bastard: Return ToThe 36 Chambers: The DirtyVersion (Elektral 08447

Kut Klose: Surrender(KekVElektral 08456

Robert Cray: Some RainyMorning (Mercury: 08566

PantherNdtrk.(MercuryL 08568*

The Big ChilffSdtrk.iMotown) 33970

Blessid Union 01 Souls:Home (EMI) 08604

Classic Disney, 60 Years OfMusical Magic Vol I

,Wall Disneri 08692

NO POSTAGENECESSARY

IF MAILEDIN THE

UNITED STATES

Dave Matthews Band:Under The Table AndDreaming .1i A 05998

Stevie Wonder:Conversation Peace(Motown) 08069

David Bowie: ZIggyStarduet (RykedSci 10803

yx II Men:harmony

owns 10930

kson Browneining On Empty

11056

r Gabriel: ShakingTree -16 GoldenIts (Geffeh) 11089

Strait: Lead OnNashville) 15841

Brown:Time Greatest Hits

01342

the Get A Grip20814

Charles: The Best 01Atlantic Years

05755

Isley Brothers:Complete UA Sessions

25077

key Robinson 8 Thecies: 18 Greatest Hitstoot:. 33878

Clapton: UnpluggedVyarner Bros i _23690

Barry White:All -Time Greatest Hits!Mercury) 05866

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours(Warner Bros) 24025

Bombe Boys:III Communication(Capitol) 24717 I

The Bed Of The Commode's(Motown) 06875 ,

Stone Temple Pilots: PurplelAtlant, 24738

Gin Blossoms:New Miserable ExperienceI ABM 24884

Traffic: The Low Spark OfHigh Heeled Boys(Island: 25169

Elton John: Made In England(Pocket PRI, 08583

Luciano Pavarotti:Pavarotti In Central Park

06096

Supertramp.Breakfast In America(AWL_ 25246

The Temptations:17 Greatest Hits

1, 53410

Diana Ross 8The Supreme, Anthology

02055

Steve Winwood: Chronicles(Island) 34501

Alan Jackson: Who I Am(Arista) 34793

Carreras, Domingo 8Pavarotti: The 3 Tenors InConcert (London) 35078

The Rodgers 8Hammerstein Collection(MLA 40015

Motley Crue.Decade Of Decadence

40298

Enya. Shepherd Moons53190

alla1111AMelissa Etheridge'Yes I Am(Islandt 35501

Encomium:A Tribute To Led Zeppelin(Atlantic) 06135

U2: The Joshua Tree(Island) 53501

Bob Marley: Legend(Island) 53521

John MichaelMontgomery(Atlantic) 06251

WhitneyHouston: TheBodyguard/Sdtrk

54213

HarryBelafonte:

All -TimeGreatest Hits

(RCA) 54508

En Vogue Funky Divas(East it_st 61717

il (Capitol) 63340'th: Countdown To

Extinction

E-40 In A Malor Way08455 I

Come Together AmericaSalutes The Beatles

08310

22 Top. Greatest Hits83411

Best Of The Grateful Dead.Skeleton; From The Closet

83892

Ned Diamond'12 ;realest Hits

84050

Nirvana. 'n Utero90124*

Garth Brunk, In Pieces93710

Allman Ekothers Band:The Fillrrrdre Concerts

01159

Van Hales Live.

Right Here. Right Now0116510

Rana The Last Waltz01636 o

and' Judy Ati_aineye Will i:dpitoii 01782 o

Windhaiii Hilt The First TenYears .. rf,arrr, H.d. 02628 o

Puccini. La Boheme05615 o

Woodstock 94Aof.' 06315 $o

FantasiaJEidtrk(Wahl: 17060 o

Saturday /light Fever/Sdtrk.drr 34687

The Donn e SummerAnthology iCasadarcai 43507

Madonna: The ImmaculateCollection fSire) 54164

Pnnce: The Hits 1(W&Paisley Park) 02228

lens Horne: StormyWeather: The LegendaryLaw (1941 1958) :RCA) 01784

The Neville Brothers: LiveOn Planet Earth ,A81A)03065

Huey Lewis 8 The News:Four Chords & SeveralYears Ago ,Fii-i/fra 03274

Collective Soul: Hints.Allegations & Things LeftUnsaid At Arrt 03309

The Infamous Mobb Deep'Loud RPM'', is. 08606 1

Neil Young 8 Crazy Morse:Sleeps With AngelsReptIse 05880

Gerald Levert: Groove On'Fast 05986

Buddy Guy: Slippm. In(Sdvertone) 06171

Black Sheep: Non Fiction(Mercury) 06273 I

The Essential Charlie Parker00902

Incognito' Positivity(Verve P,.recast 02989

Norman Brown: Atter TheStorm MoJazzi 03282

Louis Armstrong. All TimeGreatest Hits MCA 03399 Pat Metheny Group

We Live Here IGO., 06938

Spyro Gyre.Love Ili Other Obsessions(GRP) 08224

Yellowlackets: Collection08225

Bella Fleck. Tales From TheAcoustic Planet

Aaron Neville TheTattooed Heart Jii,M 16655

Extreme. Waiting For ThePunchlme AMA' 06869

ABBA: Gold -Greatest Hits(Poiydori 20679

The Mantovani Orchestra.Golden Hits .Bact,,doe 24806

The Best Of Muddy Waterst Chen. 33502

Ella Fitzgerald:The Best 01 The Songbooks:The Ballads .Ldirvu 05713

Joshua Redman: MoodSwing N. rr- er Ft, 05845

The Rippingtons. SaharatGRPI 06008

NAL Share My World(EA') 06141

The Manhattan TransferTonlit 06175

Acoustic Alchemy. AgainstThe Grain fGHP, 06270

The Best of David Sanborn/Revise, 06274

Jeff Lorber: West SideStories ve-L, 06330

GRP All -Star Big Band. AllBlues 'GRP. 06846

Christian McBride:Gettin. Toll (Verve) °see,George Duke: Illusions(Warner Bros.) 06926

Tom Scott: Night Creatures1/1/if'. 06928

08348

Larry CoryellI II Be Over You I, 08835

The Best Of Miles Davis -The Capitol/ Blue Note YearsLlii,/ 11000

John Coltrane: Giant StepsAtlantic 34589

Fourplay:Between The SheetstNa_men Bros I 36074

Kenny 0: Breathless(Anstal 54317

The George BensonCollectionWarner 01858

7 2 10Start with Buy only 1 at the

7 FREE regular Club priceCDs now. within a year.

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WITH NOTHING MORE TO BUY, EVER!The Cars: Greatest Hits(Elektra) 53702

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Van Mornson Moondance(Warne, 0,S 64585

Frank Sinatra: SinatraReprise: The Very GoodTears (Reprise 80304

Jimmy Bufsett. Fruitcakesm A 03336

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5 Cl CLASSICALIrI 6 C] JAZZ 7 E METAL 8 Cl A&B/DANCE 9 CI ALTERNATIVELuciano Pavarolb Pat Metheny Megade8r Boyz II Men TbeCiwesnesJames Gahicay Joshua Redman Testament Mary J Bbge Green Day

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ill Members who choose CLASSICAL as their listening interest will be serviced by the MG Classical Music Service We reserve theright to request additional information reject any application or cancel any membership Limited to new members Local taxes it any.will be added Offer available in continental USA and under special arrangement in Alaska and Hawaii Otter not available in PuertoRico. APO or FPO Offer and product selection may vary in Canada

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Dog and horn are traderldreS of General ElectneCoffman) USA 7ne BUG fog° is a trademarkur BMG Music :)trier tradernarkS used in theadvedrsem*nt are the proved, of varrous trademarkowners BMG MUSK Service6550 E. MO St_ Indianapolis Ile 4621911340199581AG Oined

MUSICSERVICE=

TEST REPORTSare binding posts that take dual or sin-gle banana plugs or stripped wires,while the center and surround speakeroutputs are spring connectors. Con-nections for external sources are allphono connectors deployed horizon-tally across the bottom of the rear pan-el, with the video connections of A/Vsources conveniently located directlyabove the corresponding audio jacks.Other rear -panel facilities include anF -connector FM antenna terminal,spring -connector AM antenna termi-nals, two switched AC convenienceoutlets, and a full set of line -level sur-round -decoder outputs, one of whichis designated for subwoofer hookup.

Overall, the RX-V590's lab -test per-formance was considerably better thanaverage, aided in no small measure bythe ample output power, which re-mained strong even into 4 -ohm loads.The FM tuner also produced uniform-ly good numbers. The only disappoint-ing figures were AM frequency re-sponse, which was, as usual, dismal,and front left- and right -channel fre-quency response, which exhibited de-viations at the extremes of the audiorange caused by slight offsets in thetone -control circuits, something we'reseeing more of nowadays than wewould like to (or used to).

Although not affected by the tonecontrols, the center channel showedslightly more rolloff than the otherfront channels, whereas the surroundchannel's response fell more slowlyabove 7 kHz than usual. All the otherDolby Pro Logic figures representvery good performance, especiallychannel separation, which was betterthan we usually see from Pro Logicdecoders that use analog circuits ratherthan the digital ones in the RX-V590.Impulse testing revealed that all thereflections for the non -Pro Logic DSPmodes occur within, at most, a 400 -millisecond "window" after the origi-nal sound; there is no sound recircula-tion or added reverberation.

With a single big exception, the re-ceiver was easy to operate. I liked theseparate -button access to each of thesurround -sound modes, enabling rapidchanges between them. I also liked theon/off button for the surround process-ing, again because it enabled swiftcomparison between processed and un-processed sound. The remote is nicelylaid out and especially well labeledfor receiver -only operation; those whotake advantage of its code -learning ca-pabilities may get lost in the too -regu-lar layout of the additional controls.

Now for the exception, which ap-plies to all the surround modes exceptplain Dolby Pro Logic. The RX-V590is the first Yamaha DSP product wehave encountered to leave out what Iconsider an indispensable feature: theability to reduce or remove the DSP-generated reflections from the frontspeakers. Although the added reflec-tions may produce an effective show-room demonstration - if only bymaking the receiver sound obviouslydifferent from its competition - inour tests the digital echoes, dependingon the mode selected, produced

changes in the frontal sound qualityranging from a slight hollowness to adialogue -obscuring spaciness in DolbyPro Logic Enhanced.

In previous Yamaha DSP productsI've reviewed, there has always been away to reduce or eliminate those ef-fects, either by turning the frontal re-flections down or even off (with a"front -effect" level control) or, better,by feeding them to separate front am-bience speakers placed apart from themain front left and right speakers sothat the "reflections" and the mainfront -channel sound come from differ-ent directions. With the RX-V590, youare stuck with Yamaha's factory set-tings for the front -effect level, which Ifeel are too high. This is particularlydisappointing because previous Yama-ha components with DSP-based ambi-ence enhancement (which the compa-ny pioneered) have consistently sound-ed more realistic than those of most ofits competitors and have usually beeneasier to adjust for optimum perfor-mance as well.

On the other hand, how you respondto the sound of the processing will at

NoSubikpofers0,4A7 ed!

Introducing the new AP -.7

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TEST REPORTSleast to some degree be a matter oftaste, which means it is possible thatyou will find the RX-V590's ambi-ence -enhancement modes more ap-pealing and useful than I did. And fewother receivers even try, much lesssucceed, to offer anything as sophisti-cated in this vein as the RX-V590, soyou won't necessarily find competingmodels superior in the ways they han-dle modes other than Dolby Pro Log-ic. As for unenhanced Dolby Pro Log-ic, you can take heart in the fact thatthe RX-V590's implementation of that

most critical processing mode per-formed exceptionally well, decodingDolby Surround soundtracks cleanlyand accurately. And the RX-V590 hasample power reserves for all but themost insensitive speakers or thelargest of listening rooms. The RX-V590 is likewise a worthy contender,for its price class, in terms of featuresand ease of operation. If the additionalprocessing modes are very importantto you, then, as usual with that sortof thing, listen before you buy andchoose accordingly.

MEASU RAMPLIFIER SECTIONExcept as noted, all data are for two -channelstereo operation

OUTPUT AT CLIPPING iat I kHz)trout lett and right (8 ohms) 100 wattsfront left and right (4 ohms) 150 wattscenter (8 ohms) 120 wattssurround (8 ohms) 29 watts

CLIPPING HEADROOM (re rated output)8 ohms 1 25 dB

DYNAMIC POWER (8 ohms) 120 watts

DYNAMIC HEADROOM (re rated output)8 ohms 2 0 dB

DISTORTION AT RATED POWER(75 watts, I kHz) 0 009%

SENSITIVITY (for 1 -watt output into 8 ohms)CD 18 mVphono 0 3 inNOISE (re I watt, A-wtd)CD -83.6 dBphono -80 dB

PHONO-INPUT OVERLOAD(1 -kHz equivalent levels)20 Hz 120 mVI kHz 116.5 mV20 kHz 112 mV

PHONO-INPUT IMPEDANCE50 000 ohms in parallel with 175 pF

RIAA PHONO-EQUALIZATION ERROR20 Hz to 20 kHz ±0.2 dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE (tone controlscentered) . 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0.4, -0.8 dB

TONE -CONTROL RANGE100 Hz ±8 dB10 kHz ±8 dB

TUNER SECTIONAll data are for FM only except frequencyresponse

SENSITIVITY (50 -dB quieting)mono 15 dBfstereo 37 dBf

NOISE (at 65 dBf)mono -79.2 dBstereo -72.3 dB

DISTORTION (THD+N at 65 dBf)monostereo

0 16%047%

EMENTSCAPTURE RATIO at 65 dBf) 1 2 dB

AM REJECTION 70 dB

SELECTIVITY

alternate -channel 92 dBadjacent -channel 7 8 dB

PILOT -CARRIER LEAKAGEI9 -kHz -79 dB38-khz -76 dB

HUM (120 Hz) -82 dB

CHANNEL SEPARATION100 Hz 36 dB1 kHz 45 dB10 kHz 42.5 dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSEFM 20 Hz to 15 kHz +1.4, -0.35 dBAM 28 to 2.3 kHz +1.5, -6 dB

DOLBY PRO LOGICPERFORMANCE

FREQUENCY RESPONSE(tone controls centered)left, right 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0, -0.74 dBcenter 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0, -1.04 dBsurround 51 Hz to 8 kHz +0, -3 dB

NOISE (re I -watt output. A-wtd)left, right -74.7 dBcenter -79.7 dBsurround -71.5 dB

DISTORTION (THD+N, I kHz, 1 -watt output)left, right 0.043%center 0 049%surround 0 14%

SURROUND DECODER INPUT -OVERLOADMARGINS (at I kHz)left, right (re 2 -volt input) 138 dBcenter (re 1.414 -volt input) 4 0 dBsurround (re 1.414 -volt input) 125 dB

SURROUND -CHANNEL NOISE -REDUCTIONCALIBRATION ERRORre Dolhv level (247.5 mV) 0 dB

CHANNEL SEPARATION (100 Hz to 7 kHz)left output, right driven >43 dBleft output, center driven >43 dBleft output, surround driven >33 dBcenter output, left driven >51 dBcenter output, surround driven >52 dBsurround output, left driven >55 dBsurround output, center driven >50 dB

Crutchneld Park. Dept. SR. thal lttc, (Ile, \ A 22906i

CIRCLE NO. 12 ON READER SERVICE CARD

38 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

Introducing The Bose° 301® Sonata Limited Edition Speakers.

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TEST REPORTS

JBL J820 VILoudspeaker SystemJULIAN HIRSCH HIRSCH-HOUCK

jBL says that its new J Seriesof loudspeakers has been de-signed to provide exceptionallyaccurate, uncolored, and bal-

anced sound at affordable prices. Theline consists of five "bookshelf"speakers and two larger "tower" mod-els, plus a center -channel speakerspecifically for home theater applica-tions (the others are equally usable inconventional music systems or hometheater).

The J820M falls in the middle of theline in size and price. It is a two-waysystem suitable for shelf or stand in-stallation. Its 8 -inch woofer, which hasa polymer -fiber cone, operates in avented enclosure. The crossover, at 3.5kHz, is to a 14 -millimeter (approxi-mately 1/2 -inch) titanium -dome tweet-er. The rated system response, at the-6 -dB points, is 50 Hz to 20 kHz. Sen-sitivity of the nominally 8 -ohm systemis specified as 90 dB, and it is recom-mended for use with amplifiers ratedbetween 10 and 125 watts output.

The speaker's port opening is on itsfront panel, simplifying its installation

LABORATORIES

against a wall if desired. For listeningand most measurements, however, weplaced the speakers on 25 -inch standsseveral feet from the room walls. Theterminals, on the rear panel, are springclips that accept stripped wire ends.Unlike most such connectors, they are3/4 inch apart and would also acceptdual banana -plug connectors (thoughnot as easily as connectors designedfor that purpose).

Beginning with this speaker, wehave slightly modified the room -re-sponse measurement technique wehave used for many years. Previously.a frequency -sweeping signal generatorand a synchronized chart recorder

DIMENSIONS: 10 inches wide, 191/4 incheshigh, 10 inches deep

WEIGHT: 18 pounds

FINISH: Black woodgrain

PRICE: $300 a pair

MANUFACTURER: JBL, Dept. SR, 80Crossways Park W., Woodbury, NY 11797

plotted the speaker's frequency re-sponse on graph paper. The purpose ofthis measurement was to establish theeffective frequency response of a pairof speakers in a fixed "real -room" en-vironment, under physical and acous-tic conditions that are maintained asnearly identical as possible for allspeakers tested. That process remainsfundamentally unchanged, except thatwe now use our Audio Precision Sys-tem One to generate the test signalsand digitally process the output re-turned by the Bruel & Kjaer 4133measurement microphone. By measur-ing the speakers' room response underidentical conditions in the same envi-ronment with both types of instrumen-tation, we have established that the re-sults from the new procedure are verysimilar to those obtained with the old,with the advantage that the new proce-dure is considerably faster and moreconvenient to perform.

The room -response curve for theJBL J820M speakers (the average ofthe left and right speakers' outputs,smoothed and corrected for the knownhigh -frequency absorption characteris-tics of the room) was basically verysimilar for the two measurement meth-ods. It was very flat, with relativelylittle response variation over most ofthe audio range (our averaging andsmoothing process minimizes the ef-fects of the unavoidable room stand-ing -wave patterns). Since the smooth-ing function provided by the AudioPrecision system is not identical tothat of our former instrumentation,there were numerous minor differ-ences between the results of the twotests, but their graphical characteristicswere strikingly similar.

Essentially, the response curve hadtwo relatively flat plateaus, each cov-ering about half the spectrum. Be-tween approximately 100 Hz and I

kHz the smoothed output varied over a±1 -dB range. There was a distinct 4 -dB drop between 1 and 1.5 kHz and astrikingly flat response (less than 1 dBoverall variation) from 1.5 to 10 kHz.Applying the high -frequency roomcorrection (which we have been usingon all speaker measurements for abouttwenty-five years) extended the flathigh -frequency response to 20 kHz. Itwas interesting (and gratifying) to findthat our former measurement methodproduced the same basic curve shapeas our new procedure, though withslightly more variation and departurefrom uniformity.

A close-miked woofer -response

40 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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TEST REPORTSmeasurement indicated maximum out-put at 135 Hz, falling by 6 dB at 80Hz. The port radiation dominated atfrequencies below about 90 Hz. Sucha measurement is inherently less am-biguous than the room measurements,since it is essentially free of room in-teraction. Unfortunately, it is not al-ways easy to splice such a bass curveto a room curve in a meaningful man-ner. Nevertheless, there was no doubtthat the J820M easily met its responsespecification of 50 Hz to 20 kHz atthe -6 -dB points. The actual lowerlimit is hard to determine precisely be-cause of room -boundary effects, butlistening tests indicated that it wassomewhere between 40 and 50 Hz.Overall, the J820M's composite mea-sured response was admirably smoothand extended for a speaker of its size.

Quasi-anechoic MLS response mea-surements confirmed the impressiveflatness of the speaker's output. Theaxial 2 -meter response was flat within±3 dB from 300 Hz to 13 kHz, with atweeter -resonance peak of 8 dB at 15kHz. This measurement also showed apronounced notch at 3.8 kHz, appar-ently due to the crossover (the notchdid not appear in room measurementsand was not audible).

The J820M's measured sensitivitywith a 2.83 -volt input was 93 dBsound -pressure level (SPL), somewhathigher than rated. At a constant inputof 2 volts, equivalent to a 90 -dB SPLoutput, distortion was between 0.7 and

1 percent from 100 Hz to 2 kHz. Itrose at lower frequencies, reaching 3.7percent at the rated low -frequencylimit of 50 Hz. Below that point the

output dropped off fairly steeply, al-though the distortion did not exceed10 percent down to 20 Hz.

Those results suggested that at rea-sonable average levels, driving theJ820M moderately hard at low -bassfrequencies would not cause the soundto muddy up with distortion, and thatwas confirmed in listening tests. Theaudible bass output decreases as thefrequency drops below 50 or 60 Hzbut remains reasonably clean in theprocess.

Taken as a whole, the JBL T820Mis a very good small speaker. We lis-tened to it at length before making anymeasurements and were immediatelyimpressed by its smoothness and bal-ance across the audible spectrum. Asit happened, the only other speakersavailable for comparison were consid-erably larger and more expensive thanthe JBL's, and correspondingly goodin their performance. A comparisonbetween them and the J820M's wasinevitable, and it produced surprisingresults.

In its balanced, uncolored sound,the J820M easily held its own in thecomparison. The larger speakers had aclear advantage in the low bass, butthe J820M had a more extended high -frequency response and greater per-ceived airiness. Teamed with a sub -woofer, it could be a worthy competi-tor to the larger system.

Bottom line, the JBL J820M is anextraordinarily fine -sounding speakerat a bargain -basem*nt price. It de-serves a careful audition if you are inthe market for a compact, inexpensive,and thoroughly satisfying speaker. o

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42 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

®!

TEST REPORTS

Pioneer CLD-D704CD/Laserdisc Combi-PlayerDAVID RANADA TECHNICAL EDITOR

Acouple of important laser -disc mileposts have beenpassed in the nearly twoyears since we last tested a

Pioneer CD/laserdisc combi-player,the CLD-97 (December 1993), onlyvery recently superseded by the CLD-99 at the top of the company's premi-um Elite line. The first was the intro-duction of the Dolby Surround AC -3encoding system for discrete "5.1 -channel" digital surround sound intothe laserdisc medium, where it re-places, on selected recent laserdiscs,the right channel of the analog FM -au-dio soundtrack. The second was theintroduction of laserdisc players capa-ble of supplying the encoded AC -3signal for outboard decoding, of whichthe CLD-D704 - the new top of Pio-neer's regular line, replacing the CLD-D703 - is one of the first.

As in other current AC -3 -compati-ble laserdisc players, the CLD-D704'sAC -3 output, a phono connector onthe back panel, doesn't feed out AC -3data in standard digital format. In-stead, it passes a "radio frequency"(RF) signal, raw from the laser pickup,that carries the AC -3 signal in modu-lated form. It is intended to be con-

nected to an AC -3 RF input on a suit-able surround decoder, either separateor built into an A/V amplifier or re-ceiver (such decoders are becomingavailable even as you read this). A de-modulator in the decoder will extractthe actual AC -3 digital signal, whichwill then be decoded into the sixspeaker channels (three front, two sur-round, one subwoofer). To play stan-dard digital or analog laserdisc sound-tracks you will also have to make theusual connections from the CLD-D704's line -level stereo audio outputs.Another option for the digital sound-track is to connect one of the player'sdigital audio outputs to an externaldigital -to -analog (D/A) converter -both coaxial and optical connectorsare provided. These outputs carry dataonly from standard laserdisc digital

DIMENSIONS: 16% inches wide, 51/2 incheshigh, 171/4 inches deep

WEIGHT: 18 1/2 pounds

PRICE: $1,235

MANUFACTURER: Pioneer Electronics(USA), Inc., Dept. SR, P.O. Box 1540, LongBeach, CA 90801-1540

soundtracks, not AC -3 soundtracks,and from CD's.

AC -3 capability, though it is theplayer's most important new feature,isn't the whole story, however. TheCLD-D704 boasts other advanced fea-tures, some of such importance that inthemselves they render obsolete evenso distinguished a player as the CLD-97. One such innovation is a switch -able video noise -reduction systemwhose effects on the luminance (black -and -white) and chrominance (color)portions of a video signal are indepen-dently adjustable. A Film Mode but-ton, only on the front panel, switchesoff what was one of the CLD-97's sil-liest features: display of a still frame,seemingly selected at random from thecurrent side, as the player switches tothe other side. Film Mode also turnsoff the on -screen displays, however,which are useful for rapid cueing. Itwould be nice to have separate switch-es for these two features.

The CLD-D704 has a front -panelheadphone output and enables remotecontrol of volume for the headphoneand rear -panel line outputs when play-ing CD's or standard digital laserdiscsoundtracks. It also provides automat-ic side -changing for laserdiscs, a framememory that makes the full panoply oflaserdisc tricks (freeze, slow-motion,and so forth) available with CLV aswell as CAV laserdiscs, and a pair eachof composite- and S -video outputs.

We were surprised to find, as it ismentioned neither in the manual nor inthe product literature we've seen, that

44 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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TEST REPORTSthe CLD-D704 also includes Pioneer'sLegato Link digital -audio processing(which we had thought to be exclusiveto the Elite line). This system wasclaimed, in literature for the CLD-97,to reconstitute "'lost' frequencies[above 20 kHz] that are eliminatedwith existing CD player models" -aperformance feature of dubious valuegiven that those frequencies are ultra-sonic. We found, through spectrumanalysis of the new player's outputswhen playing high -frequency (above10 kHz) CD test tones, that the CLD-D704 did produce substantial ultrason-ic output. But, as we also found withthe CLD-97, the additional output wasquite unnatural in that it was not har-monically related to the original sig-nals: The most prominent componentsactually moved down in frequency astheir fundamentals moved up, andtheir frequencies were not even closeto being integral multiples of the fun-damentals. Fortunately, "ultrasonic"almost by definition means inaudible,and the extraneous high frequenciesthe CLD-D704 generated didn't hurtit* overall sound quality, though theydid tend to produce alarming harmon-ic -distortion readings with high -fre-quency test tones.

The CLD-D704's digital audio per-formance was, in fact, very high, asevidenced by both listening tests andlab measurements. Aside from the dis-tortion figure, which was heavily in-fluenced by Legato Link, all the testresults were good to excellent. Thelow-level linearity was especiallygood, with a 1 -dB -deviation point

MEASUREMENTSDIGITAL AUDIOAll figures are for both CD and laserdiscplayback except as noted

MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL 2 24 volts

DOLBY CALIBRATION ERRORIre 2.0 \ oils) +1 dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE (20 Hz to 20 kHz)dc -emphasis off +0, -2.15 dBde -emphasis on +0, -2.88 dB

CHANNEL SEPARATION125 Hr 127 dBI kHz 132 dB16 kHz 115 dB

CHANNEL IMBALANCE (I kHz).... -0.13 dB

SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO (A-wtd)dc -emphasis off 126.1 dBde -emphasis on 127.3 dB

SIGNAL -TO -DITHER RATIO ( A-wtd).. 95.5 dB

DYNAMIC RANGE (EIAJ) 95.1 dB

DISTORTION (111D+N at 0 dB, 20 Hz to 20kHz) <8.5% (see text)

LINEARITY ERROR1 -dB -error point -116 dB

DEFECT TRACKING (CD only, Pierre Verany#2 test disc I I 000 pm

IMPACT RESISTANCE (CD, top and sides) .. A

CUEING ACCURACY (CD) A

SLEWING TIME (CD) 3 seconds

ATM AUDIOAll figures are for laserdisc only; all datataken with REF-EA1 test disc

MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVELleft/right 0 42/0.45 volt

FREQUENCY RESPONSE20 II/ to 20 kHz +2.1, -3.4 dB

CHANNEL SEPARATION (at I kHz) .. 68.3 dB

CHANNEL IMBALANCE 0 72 dB

SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO A-wtd) .. 74.8 dB

DISTORTION (THD+N at 1 kHz) 0 26%

VIDEO

All data taken with REF -EA I test disc

VIDEO OUTPUT -LEVEL ERROR <I % high

HORIZONTAL LUMINANCE RESOLUTIONwedge test pattern 430 lines

HORIZONTAL LUMINANCE BANDWIDTH-1 dB al 4 MHz

CHROMA ERRORSgain ±<2.5%phase ±<2.5°

CHROMA DIFFERENTIAL GAIN 12%

CHROMA DIFFERENTIAL PHASE 2°

SIDE -CHANGE TIME I I to 12 seconds

among the lowest we've measured andan impressive improvement over thealready excellent performance turnedin by the CLD-97.

The signal-to-noise ratios as deter-mined by playback of a standard zero -signal track were, as often happens,too good to be true, however, and donot reflect the noise levels obtainablewith a music CD or a digital laserdiscsoundtrack. Fortunately, the more rep-resentative signal -to -dither ratio wasalso good. The 8.9 -dB reduction innoise at 3.5 kHz when we played anoise -shaped dither signal was alsoencouraging, showing that the CLD-D704 will actually deliver much of thepromise of so-called "20 -bit" CD'smastered from 20 -bit recordings byway of techniques like Sony's SuperBit Mapping.

The player's deviation from flat fre-quency response was due entirely to arolloff that started above 10 kHz,reaching 1 dB down at 16 kHz, andwhich therefore had a negligible effecton sound quality. Measured analogAFM audio performance was typical,but with unusually low distortion -which is to say that it was totally out-classed by the player's digital audioperformance.

Although the CLD-D704 is not partof Pioneer's high -end Elite line, it ful-ly equaled the Elite CLD-97 in videoperformance. In fact, when the videonoise reduction was engaged, the newmodel produced a superior picture.The processing yielded a very distinctimprovement, especially in colornoise, that was visible both in thegreater steadiness of the signal on testinstruments and, more important, in areduction of visible on -screen noise.The changes were subtle, even withthe controls turned full up, and weremost easily seen with noisy programmaterial, such as movies masteredfrom grainy films. Even Pioneer'smanual admits that the effect "may bedifficult to see depending on the discsor scenes." The only noticeable sideeffect of the process was a slightlymore visible scan -line structure onhorizontally moving vertical edges(common in camera pans). There wasno blurring or smearing such as wehave seen with other video noise -re-duction systems.

The noise reduction is turned on viaa set of three front -panel buttons thatselect among standard settings, user -adjustable settings, and no noise re-duction; the remote control has a sin-gle button that cycles through the

46 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

three options. Adjustments are madeby turning the jog dial for chromi-nance and the shuttle ring for lumi-nance. Since the shuttle ring is alsoused to adjust volume, the jog/shuttlecombo has two possible uses beyondits original precision -cueing function.The remote has a different set ofjog/shuttle function -switching buttonsfrom the front panel, however, so aconsiderable amount of mental reori-entation is necessary when moving be-tween the two.

That bit of operational clumsiness isexacerbated by other slight discrepan-cies between the remote and the front

In addition to providing a

Dolby AC -3 output, the

Pioneer CLD-D704 features

a very effective video

noise -reduction system.

panel. You can't put the player intopause from the front panel until a trackis actually cued up, because there isno separate pause button on the frontpanel. But from the remote you canpress play and then immediately pressa pause button (not easy to find), andthe player will catch up with you. Youcan't operate the line -level volumecontrol from the front panel, and youcan't toggle the Film Mode from theremote. Unlike the front panel, the re-mote uses a single button for both stopand eject. The remote's numericalkeypad operates differently dependingon what kind of cueing you are per-forming, and its side -change buttonsare far too easy to hit accidentally. Fi-nally, and most annoyingly, the remotestill has a useless and inconvenienton/off button for the jog dial. WhyPioneer insists on its inclusion whenother companies have managed to pro-duce workable jog/shuttle controlswithout such a button is beyond me.

It's unfortunate that such ergonomicflaws continue to afflict Pioneer's la-serdisc players when so many of themwould be relatively easy to eliminate.The frustration is all the more acute inthe case of the CLD-D704, which of-fers such high audio and, especially.video quality, not to mention that verydesirable AC -3 output. Still, if it's la-serdisc performance you want, youcan't beat the CLD-D704.

"...MIS HAS TOBE ONE OF MEGR 7 BUYS UPI

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Sennheiser HD565 OvationStereo HeadphonesJULIAN HIRSCH HIRSCH-HOUCK LABORATORIES

5 ennheiser manufactures a com-prehensive line of headphonesand microphones, rangingfrom inexpensive consumer

products to the finest professionalcomponents. One of the company'slatest consumer stereo headphones isthe HD565 Ovation, a high -quality de-sign that boasts a number of advancedfeatures.

There are two major classes ofheadphones: those whose transducersare in sealed earcups that exclude am-bient sound from the wearer's ears,and the open-air variety, whose trans-ducer diaphragms radiate sound fromthe backs of the earcups as well as intothe wearer's ears. Open-air phones areusually lighter and more comfortableto wear and are widely used for homehi-fi listening.

Although the HD565 is of the open-air type, it looks somewhat bulky, withlarge earcups that fully enclose theears. Instead of the usual rubber orplastic ear cushions, the HD565'scushions are made of a velvet-likecloth, and its spring -type headband ispadded with a foam strip.

48 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

Unlike most other headphones wehave used, the HD565 is designed foreasy user replacement of all parts thatare likely to wear out or could be dam-aged in normal use. These include the3 -meter (about 10 -foot) connectingcord and phone -plug assembly, whichis fitted with polarized connectors, andthe ear cushions, whose plastic rimssnap into the earcups.

The warranty booklet supplied withthe phones also contains informativematerial (in five languages) on themeaning of the various applicablespecifications and on the significanceof the phones' design features. Thespecs are based on the German DIN45500 standard, however, and are noteasily interpreted in terms familiarhere. The frequency response is givenas 16 Hz to 30 kHz, and the distortion

WEIGHT: 9 ounces

PRICE: $279

MANUFACTURER: Sennheiser ElectronicCorp., Dept. SR.P.O. Box 987, Old Lyme, CT 06371

,....1115 SU1111 1111111111MSSISas less than 0.15 percent, without fur-ther elaboration.

The HD565 is an exceptionallycomfortable headset to wear. The ear-pieces cover the ears without impart-ing a sense of pressure. And despitetheir massive appearance, they are lightin weight and essentially transparentto sound. The slender connecting ca-ble is light and unobtrusive.

We measured the HD565's frequen-cy response on an ASA-standard head-phone coupler. From a maximum out-put at 100 Hz, the response slopeddownward smoothly to a minimum at10 kHz and rose about 2 dB from 10to 20 kHz. The overall response of ±4dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz was excel -

The Sennheiser HD565

is designed for easy user

replacement of all parts

likely to wear out or be

damaged in normal use.

lent (we have yet to find a loudspeakerthat could match it).

Distortion at 1 kHz (measured byspectrum analysis to exclude noise)was in the neighborhood of 0.1 per-cent (-57 to -62 dB) at inputs of 1 and5 volts. It was almost all third -har-monic, with the fourth and fifth har-monics being in the vicinity of 0.01percent. The impedance of each chan-nel measured between 140 and 210ohms over the audio frequency range.

Listening to the Sennheiser HD565hPRAIIIInnee _c

BIMMOS

11116 RS POW- Corey Greenberg, Have Theater Technology, Volume 2, Na 7

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LOUDSPEAKERHow to go

about selecting

speakers you can

live with

Mission's 121/2 -inch -tall

Model 731 ($249 a pair, above and at

right on optional stand) features a

patented isolated -driver design that

is said to improve clarity.

possible. For one

No part of assembling a high-fidelity music system is as

important as choosing the loudspeakers. Everything you hear from an audio system

comes from the speakers, and normally they are the only components in a system

that directly affect the way it sounds (assuming that all the equipment is functioning

properly). 0 Does that mean that everything else in the system is unimportant?

Absolutely not - all of it is needed to produce sound, and if any component does not

perform adequately there will be some degree

of audible degradation. But practically speak-

ing, the quality of the sound you hear in a good

modem hi-fi system is determined by the pro-

gram source (nowadays typically a CD) and

the combination of loudspeaker and room char-

acteristics, which interact very strongly. The

acoustic treatment of the listening room and the

placement in the room of the furnishings and

speakers, as well as the listeners, can (and usu-

ally do) have a major effect on what you hear.

What we're concerned with here, however, are

the loudspeakers themselves. 0 I wish Icould tell each of you which loudspeaker

to buy (or not buy). Unfortunately, that is not

thing, there are hundreds of speaker manufacturers and literally

thousands of models to choose from, and the cast of players changes daily. I probably

have tested as many speakers as anyone (well over 600), and it is a fact that most

of them, while acquitting themselves well, have failed to achieve any sort of universal-

ly accepted classic status. Only a handful of exceptions come to mind, such as the

Klipschorn, AR -1, and Quad Electrostatic, each of which represented a milestone in

the speaker art. 0 But you are facing the problem of choosing from among

BY JULIAN HIRSCH

1 n1'.1:11511411.Yir

One beauty of three-piece systems

like the Bose Acoustimass 5 Series II ($799)

is that you can put the bass module in

an inconspicuous location.

today's speakers, not the classics ofthe past. Where do you start? This is agood time to point out the often over-looked fact that loudspeaker selectionis as personal and subjective a processas choosing a car, clothing, or the foodyou eat. Although there certainly areobjective criteria for the performanceof speakers intended for reproducingmusic in the home, personal prefer-ence plays an enormous role in mak-ing the final purchase decision.

As a rule of thumb, I suggest thatyour investment in speakers should beat least 40 or 50 percent of the totalcost of your system. That is a flexiblefigure, subject to considerable varia-tion according to the complexity of thesystem and its total cost, but it is apretty good estimate for a moderatelypriced basic stereo setup. Just remem-ber that no matter how fine the rest ofthe components in your system, play-ing them through $100 -a -pair speakerswill probably make the whole thingsound like something you picked up ata bargain sale. On the other hand, agood $3,000 speaker will usuallysound first-rate even when driven by areceiver selling for a small fraction ofthat price. Those are extreme exam-ples, of course, but they nonethelessillustrate an almost universal verity.

Disregarding price for the moment,let's look at your options. The end useis an important factor. A system for abedroom or another secondary systemwill probably be perfectly satisfactorywith a pair of inexpensive bookshelfspeakers. Almost any reputable recog-nized brand will do the job.

But for a system intended for seri-ous listening, your standards are likelyto be more rigorous in almost everyrespect. Often such a system is in-stalled in a family living room, where

Martin-Logan's 55 -inch -tall Aerius

($2.095 a pair with oak trim) has an 8 -inch

woofer and uses an electrostatic panel to

reproduce high frequencies.

it may be highly visible (as well as au-dible). Speakers differ greatly in size,weight, appearance, and placement re-quirements, all of which should beevaluated in making a choice.

One of the most common speakerconfigurations is a simple rectangularbox, sometimes small enough andlight enough to be placed on a sturdyshelf, but often best suited to floor orstand placement. Especially in the lowprice range (but by no means limitedto that), such speakers are usually two-way systems (woofer and tweeter) in aclosed or vented box.

Despite their "bookshelf" format.these speakers often sound their bestwhen placed on a stand a few feetfrom a wall. That may be inconvenientin small rooms, so take it into consid-eration when shopping. Try to listen tothe speakers placed more or less theway they will be in your home.

An increasingly popular speakerconfiguration is the "three-piece" sys-tem. As the name suggests, it consistsof two small "satellite" speakers and aseparate bass module (often optimisti-cally referred to as a "subwoofer,"though in fact it is serving the functionof the woofers in conventional speak-ers and rarely delivers deeper bass). Agood three-piece system, though notnecessarily inexpensive, meets a gen-uine need in many cases. The format

The C700i/r ($749 a pair) and C500i/r

($649 a pair) in -wall speakers from ADS

combine a ribbon tweeter with an 8 -inch

and a 61/2 -inch woofer, respectively.

lends itself to inconspicuous installa-tion and can be almost invisible (I usesuch a system in our TV room, whereit does an excellent job). The soundquality of a three-piece speaker sys-tem can be surprisingly good, thoughnot always the equal of some compa-rably priced conventional systems.

Large floor -standing speakers, al-though often of two-way design, aremore likely to be three-way systems,with separate bass, midrange, and tre-ble drivers. That does not, in itself,make a speaker better than a two-waydesign. In fact, some very expensive(and high -quality) speakers are two-way systems. But it may enable thesystem to use a larger woofer thanwould otherwise be practical, increas-ing the total amount of acoustical en-ergy the speaker can produce.

The most fundamental advantage ofa large speaker enclosure is its poten-tial for an extended bass response. Ifefficiency and woofer size are heldconstant, increasing the enclosure vol-ume will lower the frequency at whichthe bass response begins to fall off. In-creasing the size of the woofer cone,on the other hand, will tend to raisethe low -frequency cutoff unless effi-ciency is reduced or enclosure size in-creased to compensate. By the sametoken, reducing the size of the wooferwill diminish the enclosure volume re-quired to achieve a given efficiencyand low -frequency cutoff, at the ex-pense of a lower maximum output lev-el at the bottom end. So if you're anorgan or synthesizer buff seeking ex-tremely deep bass, don't assume thatyou will get it just by buying a speakerwith a huge woofer. Depending onother design characteristics, that mayactually work against you!

The number of drivers and their

52 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

sizes are not, per se, indicators ofquality in a speaker. Some excellentspeakers, selling for several thousanddollars, have only a 6 -inch cone driverand a small tweeter, for example. Allelse being equal (which it rarely is), alarger radiating surface will put out agreater quantity of bass, but there is,or should be, more than that to goodsound.

A number of speakers now featurebipolar configuration. That involveshaving two identical sets of drivers,normally facing front and rear, whichcan produce a distinctive and pleasant-ly spacious sound quality. Thesespeakers should be placed a few feetin front of a wall to produce the in-tended effect, so they may require alarger room for best results. They areavailable over a wide range of pricesfrom several manufacturers.

At this point, you may well ask"How do I go about making an intelli-gent selection from this confusing andoverwhelming set of possibilities?" Agood beginning would be to visit adealer with a well-equipped demon-stration room and present him withyour problem. He should be able tomake suggestions from any suitablebrands that he carries. Have himdemonstrate them, using electroniccomponents that are comparable inprice range and power ratings to yourplanned or present components. Takealong some recordings, preferably onCD, with which you are thoroughlyfamiliar. The reason for carrying your

Shown on optional stands. Paradigm's

13 -inch Mini-Mk3 ($329 a pair) and 20 -inch

3seMk3 ($399 a pair) are rated down to

40 and 36 Hz. Finish is black oak vinyl.

Your investment in

speakers should be at

least 40 or 50 percent of

the total cost of your

audio system.

Oown recordings is to help you makecomparisons of speakers in the store.Don't expect, however, that you canmake a good comparison betweenspeakers in the store and the ones youhave at home without having them inthe same place at the same time. Youmay be able to get a rough idea, butacoustic memory is surprisingly short.

If you find speakers whose soundand price are to your liking, perhapsyou can take them home for a trial. Al-ternatively, you may be able to buythem with an option to return for cred-it or refund. The ideal way to choose anew speaker (if you already have afunctioning music system) is to com-pare it side by side, in your own home,with your older speakers, using yourown familiar program material. Re-member, the room dimensions, fur-nishings, and acoustic treatment havea profound effect on the sound.

If any of your possible choices arespeakers that we have tested and re-viewed in STEREO REVIEW, you canalso use the published reports as aguide to making a selection. Almostany one we bother to review will beof at least average quality, and the listincludes speakers spanning a widerange of size, price, and performance.Even if the reviewed model is nolonger available, as a general rulespeaker manufacturers maintain theirown standards carefully and apply the

Designed for side- or rear -wall mounting in

a surround -sound setup. The Surround

($400 a pair) from Cambridge SoundWorks

features a dipole driver configuration.

same basic principles of quality andperformance across a product line.

Another obvious source of (some-times) useful information and adviceon speakers is from friends and ac-quaintances who happen to be audioenthusiasts. For example, if a friend'ssystem sounds great to you, there is agood chance (though no guarantee)that it would do well in your hometoo. If his speakers are reasonablysmall and light, perhaps you couldborrow them for a couple of hours. Aless satisfactory alternative might beto take your CD's to his house andhear them on his equipment. Just bearin mind that the speakers may sounddifferent in your own home.

A related question may arise in thissort of evaluation with regard to thecontributions of the other componentsin the system. Suppose, for example,that your friend's amplifier is consid-erably more expensive than the one inyour more plebeian system. If his sys-tem is clearly better -sounding thanyours, where does the credit go? Tothe speaker? To the amplifier? Possi-bly to the room itself or some other as-pect of the system?

Now, I am not saying that there can-not be sonic differences between am-plifiers (although they are much lesscommon than some would have youbelieve); the choice of amplifier mayaffect basic sound quality (that is, atlevels below overload) in some rareinstances. But the audible effects ofthe speaker/room portion of the sys-

-he Klipsch KG 5.5 ($1.000 a pair)

teams the company's trademark horn tweeter

with :wo 10 -inch woofers in a 37'/2 -inch -tall

black wood -veneered cabinet.

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 53

tem an. so many orders of magnitudegreater than those of any properlyfunctioning amplifier that it would hefoolish to look first to the amplifier asthe source of any differences in soundquality.

If space is limited, your choice willmost likely have to he one of the manyavailable compact speakers. Although

we've all heard of the dyed-in-the-wool audiophile who's stuffed a pai7of lao4e speakers, plus numerous elec-tronic components, into a 9 x 12 -footroom, it hears repeating that the onlyreason for a large enclosure is to holdthe drivers that propagate the lowerbass frequencies. If your musicaltastes run to lighter fare, a well -de-

signed. well -made small speaker maymeet all your needs.

Finally, keep in mind that nothing inlife is perfect. and some compromiseis always necessary. If your room isodd -shaped. and the speakers have togo in unorthodox places, don't heafraid to experiment. You might hepleasantly surprised with the results!

STEPPING UP TO SURROUND SOUND

0 ne of the things anyone puttingtogether a home theater systemhas to come to grips with is the

need for quite a few speakers - at leastfour and preferably five, plus, possibly, asubwoofer. Not only is there the ques-tion of how to fit them all in a room with-out making it look like a hi-fi showroom,but also of making sure that they all worktogether well sonically. Here are some ofthe things you need to think about whenselecting speakers for home theater.

PLACEMENT. Have a clear idea atthe outset of where speakersmust or can go. That will bedictated in large part by TVplacement, since you will needleft and right front speakersflanking it as symmetrically aspossible and, ideally, a centerspeaker directly above or belowit. Choosing speakers that won'tfit that plan will cause problems.Placement of the two surroundspeakers is somewhat moreflexible, but they do need to beto the sides or rear of the listen-ing position. The best location isoften on the side walls some-what above ear level, but that'sby no means the only option.Just remember that you wantthe surround speakers to disappear son-ically as much as possible. They shouldcreate a diffuse, enveloping sound fieldand not stand out as distinct, localizablesound sources. Usually that means youdon't want them aiming directly at the lis-tening position.

MATCHING. Just as in two -channelstereo, the best results will be achievedif all the speakers in the system sound asmuch alike as possible. One way toachieve that is to use identical speakersall around. That's not always practical,however, and not necessarily desirable.For example, you may need relativelylarge front left and right speakers to getadequate low -frequency extension and

bass output but a relatively small centerspeaker to fit on top of the TV set. Andyou probably will find it beneficial to havesurround speakers with relatively diffuseradiation patterns, regardless of the frontspeakers.

Fortunately, manufacturers are makingthe choices easier by recognizing thesepotentially conflicting requirements anddesigning families of speakers to copewith them. So if you don't go with identi-cal speakers for all channels, narrowyour shopping list to models from corm

KEF's Reference Series Model 100 center speaker ($500)

panies that design speakers of differentsizes and configurations with the same"voicing',' or tonal balance. The left ancright front speakers should be the same.just as in a conventional stereo system.Similarly, the surrounds should be a pairof identical speakers, not necessarily thesame as the main front pair but having asimilar tonal balance, especially throughthe midrange and treble (extended low -frequency response is not necessary forthe surrounds). Finally, the center speak-er should match the tonal balance of thefront left and right speakers as closely aspossible down to at least 100 Hz. Youwant the sound across the front threespeakers, especially, to be seamless.

And in most cases you will want the cen-ter speaker to be magnetically "shield-ed," to prevent color distortion when it isplaced near a direct -view TV set.

BASS. Movie soundtracks often con-tain substantially more energy in the bot-tom octave, between 20 and 40 Hz,than is commonly found in music (mostmusic, in fact, doesn't go below about50 Hz). That means that you may wantmore extended bass response in a hometheater system than you would demandin one intended solely for music repro-

duction, and you will almost cer-tainly have to be more con-cerned about low -frequencypower -handling capacity. If youhave front left and right speak-ers with good low -frequency ca-pability you can simply directthe bass for all channels tothem. A more elegant and effec-tive solution, however, is to adda subwoofer to the system andsend all the deep bass to it in-

stead. Just be sure that you geta true subwoofer, capable of flatresponse down to at least 25 or30 Hz. Not only will you get bet-ter bass performance, but youwill also be free to use relativelycompact main, center, and sur-

round speakers.music VS. MOVIES. People of-

ten assume that speakers that work wellfor home theater will not be suitable formusic listening, or at least will not per-form as well in that function as "normal"speakers. Nothing could be further fromthe truth. The final acid test for anyspeakers you consider should be howthey sound playing high -quality music re-cordings. If they don't sound good onmusic, you can be sure that you coulddo better for soundtracks as well. Thefundamental requirements - smooth, ex-tended response, even dispersion overthe listening area, and low distortion -are the same for both. - Michael Riggs

5-1 STFREU REVIEW Si]'!FNIBER 1990

PatentedAcoustimass- bassmodule. Helps makea 60 -ton runawaytrain sound like,well, a 60 -ton run-away train. Hidesout of view.

Movie theater drama,concert hall excite-ment. Surroundsound from fiveVirtually Invisible"

cube speakers forleft, center, right,

and rear channels.Each about 6" high.

Home Theater Made Easy

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Lifestyle music center replacesan entire rack of components.Includes built-in CD player andAM/FM tuner. Technologyinside, simplicity outside.

Remote with realcontrol. Automaticallysets to surround soundfor movies and TV, ortwo -channel stereo formusic. Works rightthrough walls.

"You might call this product 'home theater in a box,' because everything is included and carefully thought

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The challenge was clear. Develop the best sounding, easiest to use home theater system ever. The result

is the Lifestyle' 12 system. Smaller. More convenient. With the kind of dramatic, lifelike performance

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.171515-E©I99 Row :orporanon JN9C708

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(y) PIONEERThe Art of Entertainment

Hunted for bugs on the road.Heard rock music.Admired clear sound.Got run over.

Heard harp music.

5C;D

er,

a.a.

LA_

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PIONEER CD CHANGERS. How else do you pass the time when you're drivin2down that varmint obstacle course known as the highway? Pioneer CD changers allowyou to play up to 12 CDs, and hear crystal-clear music for hours. And hooking one upto your existing FM stereo is so easy, even pea -brained road critters could do it. Wheknows, with a few more years of evolution, they might understand those signs that say

"Cross At Your Own Risk:' Call 1 -800 -PIONEER for a dealer near you.

1110 C0111011The inclusion of a center channel s easily -he most

intriguing aspect of modem home theater --3'stemsLike a topnodh NBA team - pe-baps a team witisomeone named Hakeem it the middle - 1 high-performance entertainment system with strength at

the center position truly ezcels by del_vering exceller_t souncquality for multiple listeners and listening positions.

Classic two -channel stereo has a tightly defined sweet spottypically limited to only one or two seats, because it relies on E."phantom" center image. decorate positionirg of soar& be-tween the main speakers can be maintained only as lorg as thelistener remains centered between the left and right speakersSince the most important information is usually smacK in themiddle of the stereo image, teat's a significant limitation.

The center channe. in a lime theater system supplies i-hard"source for that information, keeping it locked in place ev-.32 whenthe listener chooses a chair well off the center line. (It 1:so im-proves the tonal balance of centered sounds lb,/ eliminmng thelower -treble cancellation notch characteristic of phantom -centerstereo reproduction.) Once released frona the curse of sweat -spotlistening, it's hard to ge bacc.

A center -channel speaker carries a heavy performance burden,however. It must cover a wide radiating area, encompassing allseats in the room, and because it will car-ry most of the dialogue and solo vocals itmust provide high sound quality. Further,because it will be placed very' near the TVscreen, it must be magnetically shieldedto prevent video interference with direct -view sets. And it helps if tie speaker issmall and attractive (especially for usewith the popular 27 -itch screens).

Fortunately, manufacturers have beenhard at work on the problem, as witnessthe collection of center speakers assem-bled for this review. All are resigned to fitinto a home theater over or under the TVscreen. They are all nagnetcally shiekledto prevent color interference even whenplaced directly on a television. They all

:5 deliver good sound quality. And most ofi them are small and good -looting.

by TomNousaine

Nine (plus one) topcenter -channel

speakers go for thegold in home theater

1110 Center 011116 ACI1011

The performance goals of all goodspeakers are pretty much the same. Wewould like smooth response and highoutput capability at all listening anglesover the bandwidth the speakers willbe required to reproduce. Since virtu-ally all home theater systems providebass -management functions to divertthe power-hungry low bass (belowaround 100 Hz) to the front left andright speakers or a subwoofer, the cen-ter speaker normally has to work onlyfrom the upper bass or lower midrangeon up. It must, however, deliver thegoods evenly over a wide horizontalangle to reach seats that may be 45 de-grees off to the sides. That means thebest center speakers will producesmooth response over a 90 -degree arcin front of the screen - a Herculeantask for any speaker.

Test ProcedureTo evaluate the speakers in this groupI installed each one atop a 51 -inchrear -projection TV set in my hometheater system and drove it with a250 -watt power amplifier. That placedthe center of the speaker baffle ap-proximately 52 inches above the floor,about 421/2 inches out from and cen-tered on the short wall of a 12 x 221/4 -foot listening room with an 8 -footceiling. This placement met the instal -

ADS AVF 144

ENCLOSURE: matte -black aluminumwith perforated metal grille; sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two 4 -inchcopolymer woofers flanking a I -inchcopolymer -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequencyresponse, 70 Hz to 23 kHz ±3 dB;sensitivity, 89 dB SPL; impedance,8 ohms; crossover, 18 dB peroctave at 2.5 kHz; recommendedamplifier power, 10 to 100 watts

DIMENSIONS: 13 x 41/2 x 61/2 incheswithout bracket, 14 x 51/4 x 61/2 incheswith bracket (W x H x D)

WEIGHT: 71/2 pounds

WARRANTY: 3 years

PRICE: 5449

MANUFACTURER: ADS, Dept. SR, OneProgress Way, Wilmington, MA 01887

lation specifications for all the speak-ers tested.

I then made in -room frequency -re-sponse measurements at a height of37 inches, approximately matching aseated listener's ear height, and 2 me-ters from the speaker at angles match-ing those of three primary listeningpositions in my room: dead center, asin the middle of the main listeningcouch, approximately 30 degrees off -center at the right end of the samecouch, and 45 degrees off to the rightin a wing chair. The last position servesas a torture test to separate the merelyexcellent speakers from the world -class ones, but it is nonetheless a realseating position. The measurements doreflect the acoustical influences of myliving room and the TV screen, butthey are indicative of what you mightexpect in a typical system. If a speakeris placed against a wall, low -frequen-cy response will be somewhat moreextended than what I measured.

Then I listened, hard, at each of thethree main positions. Using a set ofspecially prepared voice and musictracks, movie soundtracks, and pinknoise, I checked out each speaker'sability to deliver flat, clean, detailedsound from the midrange up, payingspecial attention to male and femalevoices and the speaker's ability to pro-ject a sense of space or depth aroundthe performers.

Each speaker was evaluated individ-ually and compared directly with ananchor speaker, a high-performancetwo-way bookshelf speaker with an 8 -inch woofer, mounted on a standslightly to the left of the TV and aimedto provide a high -quality sonic bench-mark at each listening position. Theanchor is an excellent main or center -channel speaker in its own right, butit* vertical orientation and height dis-qualify it for center duty in most sur-round -sound applications.

program material includedthe campfire scene from In-diana Jones and the Templeof Doom; an anechoic re-

cording of a familiar male voice; fourpopular -music tracks with familiar andwell -recorded female vocals (solo andwith backup singers) accompanied byacoustic and electric instruments; ajazz trio of acoustic piano, drums, andbass; a big band; and full -bandwidthpink noise. If a center speaker can re-alistically reproduce acoustic instru-ments and vocals it will excel for bothmovies and music.

KEF MODEL 100

ENCLOSURE: gray; ported

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: 61/2 -inchwoofer with coincident -mounted I -inchfluid -cooled dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: bandwidth, 70Hz to 20 kHz; sensitivity, 90 dB SPL;impedance, 6 ohms; crossover,3 kHz; maximum output, 111 dB SPL;recommended amplifier power,25 to 175 watts into 4 ohms

DIMENSIONS: 181/2 x 61/2 x 65/8 inches(W x H x D)

WEIGHT: 111/2 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years

PRICE: ",,1111

MANUFACTURER: KEF, Dept. SR, 89Doug Brown Way, Holliston, MA 01746

Finally, playing a popular recordingwith electric bass, I slowly increasedthe input to each speaker to a levelthat would cause audible distress fromthe anchor speaker's woofer. AlthoughI wouldn't normally expect a centerspeaker to handle full -range bass, thistest told me whether the speaker wouldbe able to handle overload levels grace-fully (noiselessly), whether a usercould consider using it in Dolby ProLogic's full -range Wide center -chan-nel mode, and whether it was suitedfor systems with minispeaker mains.

The ContestantsDedicated center -channel speakersmostly come in one basic style - flatand wide to fit on top of a TV screen.The driver complement is typically apair of horizontally arrayed woofers(4, 51/4, or 61/2 inch) flanking a tweeter(or sometimes two). The usual prob-lem with such a driver layout is a ten-dency for response anomalies to be-come evident as the listener moves offthe forward axis, anomalies broughton by dispersion limitations or inter-ference between the outputs of the twowoofers. As a result, the speaker maysound great from the couch but not sogood from seats off to the sides. Theextent to which such anomalies areavoided or overcome is a good indexof the designer's skill.

60 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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In fact, past comparisons I've con-ducted with such speakers have almostalways revealed steadily deteriorating,if not downright awful, sound at ex-treme off -center seats. I was, there-fore, pleasantly surprised to find thatall of the seven speakers with horizon-tally arrayed drivers evaluated heremaintained consistent sound qualityover a ±30 -degree arc, providing thesame sound to all of the couch seats,and even the compromises evident atthe more extreme positions were man-

aged in a way that minimized theirsonic impact. This shows that manu-facturers have been improving theirdesigns over the past couple of years.

Another way to address the need forwide horizontal dispersion is throughcoincident or coaxial driver mounting.In a two-way coincident driver thetweeter is mounted at the center of thewoofer cone where the dust cap wouldnormally be located. Theoretically,launching all the sound from a single(coincident) point in space avoids the

interference effects that typically oc-cur with multiple spaced drivers, yield-ing uniform radiation in all directions.Two of the speakers in this group,from KEF and Vandersteen, use coin-cident drivers with excellent results.

ADS AVF 144The ADS Audio Video Focus 144 isan unusually compact acoustic -sus-pension center speaker with horizon-

MARTIN-LOGAN, ELECTROSTATICALLY SPEAKINGyou're a company that specializes

in electrostatic loudspeakers -

traditionally large. vertical panels -

what do you do about home theater?

In particular, what do you do for a

center -channel speaker? How do you

match the performance characteristics of your

other speakers in a package that will

integrate gracefully with a TV screen? One

answer (the only one we know of. in fact) is

the Martin -Logan Logos. which combines a

pair of horizontally deployed electrostatic

panels with a cone woofer and a dome

tweeter. The result is an exotic. complex,

and expensive loudspeaker with radically

distinctive styling - a center speaker geared

for those who refuse to walk with the crowd!

You know the Logos is something special

the instant you lay eyes on it. First. it is huge

by center -speaker standards - 62 pounds,

401/2 inches wide. 113/4 inches high, and

91,7 inches deep. Second, it is a three-way

speaker employing a 61/2 -inch cone woofer

(similar to the one used in the company's

Stylos speaker), two 17 x 9' 4 -inch curved

electrostatic midrange panels, and a 1 2 -inch

titanium -dome tweeter. Finally, there's the

price tag: $1.750. Not outrageous by the stan-

dards of its breed, but well above the prices

customary for conventional center -channel

speakers.

Inner works include a curved -fascia

support structure that holds the twin

elctrostatic panels. which are mounted on

either side of its face. The tweeter is

centrally mounted between the electrostatic

midrange panels, while the woofer resides in

a sealed cabinet formed behind the curved

face as an integral part of the enclosure.

The enclosure itself tit* into a heavy steel

mounting bracket with a machine bolt and

bushing at each end. The Logos is adjusted

vertically to aim directly at the listening

position and then secured in that orientation

by tightening the machine bolts with a

supplied Allen wrench. The bracket is

designed so tat the Logos can be placed

on a TV set or shelf or. if you prefer. mounted

on the floor or a wall. Be careful, however,

about securing a 62 -pound speaker to drywall

on 16 -inch studs with a bracket that has

mounting holes 19 inches apart.

The Logos comes packaged with spikes.

rubber feet. and screw -in drywall adaptors for

wall mounting. You also need a nearby AC

outlet, since the electrostatic panels require

a polarizing voltage.

The Logos exhibited a fairly constant

radiation pattern established primarily by

the two electrostatic panels, which operate

between 300 Hz and 3.5 kHz. That neans

roughly a ±5 5- to ±6 -dB envelope from

92 Hz to 16 kHz at all operating angles.

Response dropped off at 3 dB per octave

below 500 Kr, and an interference pattern

around the 3.5 -kHz crossover at couch -end

angles was joined by another at 1.5 kHz

at the 45 -degree wing -seat angle.

The Logos sounded rather hollow

directly on -axis. Voices were intelligible but

colored. percussion jangly. and the spatial

presentation pinched and narrow. Moving to

the sides, off -axis. ameliorated the

colorations. however: Voices becane fairly

neutral, and the speaker opened up spatially,

though the enter image tended to shift with

the listener. That worked okay for the couch

seats, just causing the main sound image to

center up directly in front of the listener

instead of perfectly middle -screen. Heard

from the wing seats. though, a center

soloist moved with the listener toward the

near -s de main speaker. making the

soundstage lopsided.

The Logos had excellent sensitivity for

an elckostatically based speaker. clocking in

at 89 dB SPL. The woofer cone bottomed

loudly when fed high-level electric bass.

however. Use Pro Logic's Narrow mode with

these babies. Low -frequency resonance for

the sealed -box woofer was at 56 Hz. and the

system reached its minimum impedance of

2.8 oh-ns at 2.9 kHz, just at the upper end

of the .lectrostatic panels' operating range.

Like an exotic car. the Martin -Logan Logos

is a product suited pretty much exclusively

to enttusiasts - people who will appreciate

it for what it is and be prepared to accept or

work around its quirks and eccentricities in

order to enjoy its strengths. Anyone with

electrostatic main speakers already probably

fits in -hat category, however, especially if he

is contemplating a home theater built around

them. Properly set up. the Logos can sound

very good provided you're willing to accept a

relatively small range of listening positions.

And among dedicated center -channel

speakers, it is probably the best match

availnle for Martin-Logan's other speakers

(all el.ictrostatics or hybrids like the Logos).

For electrostat buffs making the move to

home theater. the Logos fills a void. - TN.

Martir-Logan. Dept. SR. P.O. Box 707.

Lawrence. KS 66044

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 61

The cuter of Inc Action

NHT VS -2ENCLOSURE: gloss -black withremovable black cloth grille; sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two 51/4 -inchwoofers flanking a I -inchfluid -cooled soft -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response.75 Hz to 21 kHz; sensitivity, 88 dBSPL; impedance, 8 ohms nominal,4 ohms minimum; crossover, 2.3 kHz

DIMENSIONS: 19 x 73/4 x 8 inches(W x H x D)

WEIGHT: 17 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years

PRICE: ',450

MANUFACTURER: NHT, Dept. SR, 535,clty Ct Bldg. A, Benicia, CA 94510

tally deployed drivers. It comes with aC -bracket that can be used as an ad-justable stand or for wall or ceilingmounting. Amplifier connections arevia five -way binding posts.

Ergonomically, the AVF 144 led thepack. The stylish little speaker waseasily liftable with one hand, and itsstand/bracket enables you to positionit and direct its output optimally forvirtually any installation.

The AVF 144's measured in -room response was quitegood directly in front of thespeaker, with a bandwidth

of 100 Hz to 20 kHz tucked inside a±5 -dB window. There was a crossovernotch centered at 4 kHz that actuallynarrowed slightly at 30 degrees off -axis. The wing seat, however, wasgreeted by a wide trough from 600 Hzto 2 kHz, and the tweeter was prettymuch out of the picture at that angleby 10 kHz. Measured sensitivity was alittle lower than usual for this group at86 dB. The system's low -frequencyresonance was at 102 Hz, and the min-imum impedance was 6 ohms at 5.9kHz. We would agree with ADS'soverall impedance rating of 8 ohms.

Sonically the AVF 144 did a work-manlike job on dialogue and vocalsfrom all couch positions, limitedmainly by a sound field tightly boundto the enclosure. Spectrally, the system

had limited body and was a little hot-sounding overall. At the wing posi-tion, the overall tonal balance retainedits hot character, but vocals were stillremarkably natural. The speaker's tinywoofers crackled with pain when dri-ven hard, so it should be used with ProLogic's Normal mode.

KEF 11001100The Model 100 may not be the cheap-est center speaker on the block, but it'san awfully good one. Styling is taste-ful, with a modem high-tech flair, andthe construction quality appeared verygood. Like most of the other speakersin this roundup, the Model 100 isequipped with dual five -way bindingposts on the back for super -easy hook-up. It has two sets of them strapped to-gether with metal strips, which can beremoved for biwiring or biamplifica-tion. There are no user controls.

KEF's Uni-Q coaxial driver is per-fectly suited for center -channel duty.For starters, it produced fantastic in-room measurements, with virtually flatresponse (±3.0 dB) from 100 Hz to 14kHz, where the tweeter starts to rolloff. Moving to the end of the couchproduced nearly identical perfor-mance, 97 Hz to 12 kHz ±3.0 dB, andeven at the far right the Uni-Q man-aged to stay within ±4 dB from 60 Hz(there is always more bass near thewall) to 12 kHz. That is nothing shortof phenomenal performance.

Sound quality was also outstanding.Voices were natural, clean, sweet, andclear at all the listening positions. TheModel 100 also delivered an excellentsense of spatiality. In other words, thesound seemed to emanate from spacerather than directly from the speakerbox itself, and there was a sense ofdepth to the soundstage even at ex-treme listening angles. The only minorshortfall was a tiny tonal "plump" thatcould husky up female vocals ever soslightly. That may have been tied to asmall elevation around 250 Hz, whichwas apparently associated with thespeaker's room position.

Dynamics were about average forthis crowd. Sensitivity was 90 dB SPLat 1 meter with a 2.83 -volt input(equivalent to 1 watt into 8 ohms).The vented enclosure was tuned to 73Hz, and the minimum impedance was3.4 ohms at 233 Hz - making this a4 -ohm speaker if I ever saw one. TheModel 100 could be coaxed into over-load at about the same level as my

main speakers, but it should be suit-able for Pro Logic's Wide mode in allbut the most extreme circ*mstances.

NOT VS -2The b S-2 has a horizontal woofer-tweeter -woofer design. The back of itsgloss -black cabinet sports dual five -way binding -post connectors and aclever post that adjusts to tilt the cabi-net so that it aims directly toward thelistening area. It is a good-lookingspeaker, and I particularly like the wayits nicely finished grille cloth standsslightly away from the cabinet's frontpanel.

The VS -2 delivered darn good re-sponse all along the main couch seats,±4 dB from 83 Hz to 20 kHz directlyon -axis and ±3 dB from 82 Hz to 14kHz at 30 degrees off to the side. Aswith many of the speakers in this com-parison, the response tilted upwardslightly with increasing frequency. At45 degrees off -axis the output devel-oped a deep, wide hole from 600 Hzto 3 kHz.

The VS -2's sound consequently ex-hibited a compressed quality with a

PARADIGM CC -300ENCLOSURE: black -ash vinylfinish; ported

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two 61/2 -inchwoofers flanking a 1 -inch fluid -cooledtextile -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response,55 Hz to 20 kHz ±2 dB; sensitivity,92 dB SPL; impedance, 6 ohms nominal,4 ohms minimum; crossover, 18 dB peroctave at 2 kHz; recommendedamplifier power, 15 to 175 watts

DIMENSIONS: 22 x 71/4 x 15 inches(W x H x D)

WEIGHT: 25 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years

PRICE: $299

MANUFACTURER: Distributed byAudioStream, Dept. SR, MPO Box 2410,Niagara Falls, NY 14302

62 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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inc Collier alike Action

PSB STRATUS C5

ENCLOSURE: dark oak, black oak, orgloy,hlack finish: ported

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two 51/4 -inchwoofers flanking two vertically aligned1/2 -inch fluid -cooled dome tweeters

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response,70 Hz to 21 kHz ±1.5 dB; sensitivity,92 dB SPL; impedance, 8 ohms;crossover, 2.8 kHz; recommendedamplifier power, 10 to 200 watts

DIMENSIONS: 191/2 x 63/4 x 93/4 inches(W x H x D)

WEIGHT: 20 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years (with registration)

PRICE: $500 in oak, $550 in gloss -black

MANUFACTURER: PSB, Dept. SR, 633Granite Ct., Pickering, Ontario L I W 3K1

loss of detail from the wing chair,though it managed to keep the re-sponse trough from blatantly coloringvocals. Moving to less extreme anglesimproved matters greatly. The speakersounded quite natural on vocals, if alittle bright, from any location on thecouch. This sealed system had its sys-tem resonance at 90 Hz, and the im-pedance hit a low of 6.2 ohms at 180Hz. Like NHT, we'd call it an 8 -ohmspeaker. Sensitivity hit the spec dead -on at 88 dB, and the VS -2 had no trou-ble matching our anchor speaker basslick for bass lick. Go with Pro Logic'sWide mode when you can.

Paradigm CC -300Canada -based Paradigm manufacturespractically all the individual parts forthe CC -300, which sandwiches a 1 -inch dome tweeter between a pair of61/2 -inch clear -plastic cone woofers.The tweeter is actually squeezedslightly upward toward the top of thebaffle to minimize the spacing be-tween the woofers, with the goal of re-ducing the interference -induced re-sponse anomalies that can occur whentwo spaced drivers operate over thesame frequency range.

The CC -300's black vinyl finish is

competently applied and attractive inits own right, but the speaker is not thequeen of this hop fashion -wise. Con-nections are made to strapped pairs offive -way binding posts; with the strapsremoved, the speaker can be biwiredor biamplified.

My measurements seemed to con-firm the validity of Paradigm's driverlayout. Response hung within a nar-row ±3.4 -dB envelope from 82 Hz to16 kHz, and the woofers providedenough low -frequency output to main-tain a ±5.2 -dB range from 31 Hz to 16kHz at every position on the couch.The vented enclosure was tuned to 26Hz, indicating that Paradigm intendsthe speaker to be capable of workingfull -range. Minimum impedance was2.8 ohms at 184 Hz, which is distinct-ly on the low side. Sensitivity rang inat 90 dB SPL. This baby can surely beused in Pro Logic's Wide mode innearly any system.

At 45 degrees off -axis there was an18 -dB ravine centered at 940 Hz, butit was so narrow (probably because ofthe close driver spacing) that most lis-teners in the wing seats would nevernotice. This is a good example of in-genious response -error management.The sound in that position was mildlyhushed, reticent, and smooth - notobnoxious at all.

Meanwhile, anyone on the couchgets excellent detail, clear and articu-late vocals, and an excellent "out -of -the -box" presentation with only a mildsuppression of ambience. At the endof the couch the CC -300 was nearlyindistinguishable from the anchorspeaker with most material. Moreover,the power -handling capability of thetwin 61/2 -inch woofers meant that theanchor gave in to overload well in ad-vance of the CC -300.

The CC -300's extended bass re-sponse also enables it to be deployedas the full -range speaker in a surroundsystem using minispeakers at all otherlocations. Don't expect full -bandwidthdinosaur stomps, but average sound-tracks and good old rock-and-rollought to come through just fine. Onthe other hand, the dual woofers makethe CC -300 relatively large and heavy.

PSB Wallis C5PSB is another Canadian manufacturerthat provides loudspeakers for justabout every audio application. TheStratus C5 has a pair of 51/4 -inchwoofers flanking a vertically stacked

pair of 1/2 -inch dome tweeters. For acenter speaker, the Stratus C5 is un-usually elegant in appearance. Itshigh -gloss black finish perfectly com-plements the tastefully sculpted cabi-net. I actually like its shape a little bet-ter than the Snell's, and both of themleave the competition in the dust style -wise. The C5 has no user controls;connections are made to a single pairof five -way binding posts.

Like several of its competitorsin this evaluation, the C5 ac-tually had smoother midbandresponse at the end of the

couch (±2.5 dB from 92 Hz to 12kHz) than in the center (±4 dB from92 to 18 kHz), although it performedwell from both angles. At the extremeoff -axis seat, the PSB's response ex-hibited a wide, deep trough, but sur-prisingly the main sonic effect was acompression of space and dynamicsrather than major spectral errors. Am-bience evaporated, and the sound ofsome acoustic instruments becamemildly hollow, but voices escapedpretty much unscathed.

The Stratus C5 was especially cleanat the end of the couch, matching theanchor speaker beautifully in most re-

RDL RA LABSCENTER CHANNEL

ENCLOSURE: black vinyl; sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two51/4 -inch woofers flanking a 1 -inchcopolymer -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response,55 Hz to 20 kHz ±3 dB; sensitivity,89 dB SPL; impedance, 6 ohms nominal,5 ohms minimum; crossover, 3 kHz;recommended amplifier power,15 to 100 watts

DIMENSIONS: 201/2 x 7 x 61/2 inchesII x 13)

WEIGHT: 10 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years

PRICE: $149

MANUFACTURER: RDL Acoustics,Dept. SR. 26 Pearl St., Bellingham, MA02019; telephone, 1-800-227-0390

64 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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inc Center of the Actionspects. Directly on -axis the sound wassmooth and clean, if somewhat ho-mogenized. Voices were clear and ar-ticulate. Spatially, the C5 was a littleclosed -in, especially at the far wingpositions.

Dynamically, the Stratus C5 had notrouble keeping pace with the anchorspeaker and its 8 -inch woofer - nobang, no clang, and probably okay forPro Logic's Wide mode. Sensitivitymeasured 89 dB SPL, adjusted foranechoic conditions. The C5's ventedcabinet was tuned to 71 Hz, and thespeaker's minimum impedance was8.1 ohms at 247 Hz, making it a true8 -ohm speaker.

ROL BA Labs

Center ChannelA member of RDL's RA Labs line, theCenter Channel uses a conventionalhorizontal woofer -tweeter -woofer con-figuration. It has pleasing but nonde-script styling that will fit into mosthome theaters with little fanfare. Thecloth grille covers the whole face ofthe enclosure, and dual five -way bind-ing -post connectors are provided onthe back of the cabinet.

The sleek black beast pumped out91 dB SPL when driven with 2.8 volts.Low -frequency resonance of thesealed acoustic -suspension systemwas at 84 Hz, and the minimum im-pedance was 5.1 ohms at 300 Hz. Re-sponse was within ±4.5 dB from 100Hz to 11.5 kHz over a ±30 -degree arcin front of the speaker, including di-rectly on -axis. (Placement closer to awall would extend the low -frequencyresponse.) The overall shape of the re-sponse curve was fairly smooth, but anotch around 3 kHz got progressivelyworse as the angle off -axis was in-creased.

The Center Channel sounded fairlynatural, though vocals and acoustic in-struments were somewhat colored.Nonetheless, it managed to keep vo-cals reasonably natural even from thewing seats. There was good detail, butthe speaker sounded pinched spatially.The RA Labs Center Channel had notrouble keeping pace with the anchorspeaker when fed large amounts ofamplifier power.

By far the lowest -priced of thespeakers in this comparison, the RALabs Center Channel represents an ex-cellent value. Like all RDL speakers,it is available only direct from the

SNELL CC -1

ENCLOSURE: hand -sanded oak,dark -oak, walnut, or black -gloss woodveneer finish; sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two51/4 -inch woofers flanking a I -inchtextile -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response,80 Hz to 20 kHz ±3 dB (anechoic);sensitivity, 89 dB SPL (anechoic);impedance, 8 ohms nominal, 5.5 ohmsminimum; crossover, 2.7 kHz;recommended amplifier power,I s to, t SO watts

DIMENSIONS: 161/2 x 71/2 x 8 inches(WxHxD)WEIGHT: 17 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years

PRICE: $499

MANUFACTURER: Snell, Dept. SR, 143Essex St.. Haverhill, MA 01832

manufacturer, with a thirty -day mon-ey -hack guarantee of satisfaction.

Snell CC -1Snell gives the classic horizontalwoofer -tweeter -woofer layout a clevertwist. Each of the CC -1's two 51/4 -inchwoofers is mounted on a portion of thefront panel that is angled approximate-ly 25 degrees outward, while thetweeter faces dead ahead. This config-uration worked fantastically well forall but the extreme outside listeningpositions.

In styling, the Snell gets my topvote in this crowd. My sample had asuperb real -walnut veneer finish com-plemented by a graceful black clothgrille - smooth and elegant. Connec-tions are made through a single pair offive -way binding posts. There are nocontrols of any kind.

Straight ahead the CC -1's outputwas just as smooth as that of the KEFModel 100, but it was more extended,with in -room response fitting within a3.3 -dB window from 100 Hz to 20kHz. Response was identical 30 de-grees off -axis except that the treble be-

gan falling off above 12 kHz. At 45degrees off -axis there was a 6 -dB de-pression from 650 Hz to 3 kHz, butthe tweeter was still singing at 12 kHz.

That all added up to nearlyperfect spectral uniformityat any couch position. Voic-es were perfectly articulat-

ed and almost perfectly natural tonal-ly. Acoustic instruments were cleanand clear. The CC -1 delivered a goodbut not outstanding sense of space,depth, and ambience in the main lis-tening window along the couch.

Off -axis to the far side I noted thatSnell had managed the response trade-offs masterfully. There were no majorvocal or other colorations that calledattention to themselves, such as sing-ers or announcers sounding like theyhad permanent colds. Instead, theanomalies leaned toward a cutback oftreble and the sense of space. Thesound seemed limited but clean -and, naturally, we should expect therest of the system to help us out fromtime to time. The main considerationfor Mr. Center is to deliver the vocalswithout shouting.

The sealed system had its bass reso-nance at 102 Hz, and impedancereached a minimum of 3.7 ohms at239 Hz. Sensitivity clocked in at 91dB SPL. Dynamically, the CC -1stayed right with the mains, exhibitingonly mild compression at extreme vol-umes. Use it in Pro Logic's Widemode when you can.

Vandersteen vcc-iThe Vandersteen VCC-1 is builtaround a coaxial driver that marries a61/2 -inch polypropylene -cone wooferwith a 1 -inch fabric -dome tweeter inthe same superstructure. As in theKEF Model 100, the tweeter is inte-grated into the space normally occu-pied by the woofer's dust cap. This ar-rangement has the advantage of pro-ducing nearly the same response atevery radiating angle, and Vandersteensays that it also maintains completephase integrity.

The VCC-1 is a 22 -pound boxwrapped in black grille cloth andcapped with a wood -veneer panel.Mine had a neat light -oak cap, but thespeaker can be ordered with a topplate to match any standard Vander-steen finish and grille color. The cabi-net is almost as tall as it is wide andhas thick walls with constrained -layer

66 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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inc center (lime Actindamping. There are T -nut inserts onthe bottom for spike enthusiasts and abarrier strip with slot -head screw -ter-minal amplifier connections on theback panel.

The VCC-1's frequency responsewas very good over an exceptionallywide radiating angle: ±3.3 dB from175 Hz to 20 kHz on -axis, with simi-lar tolerance to 15 kHz at 45 degreesoff -axis. Vandersteen also supplies a"proximity compensation" circuit -aswitch that rolls off response by 5 dBbelow 400 Hz. The circuit is meant tocompensate for the effect on thespeaker's sound when it is placed nextto large objects, such as a wall or alarge TV screen.

Vandersteen believes that Dolby ProLogic decoders assign too much low -frequency content to the center chan-nel, which combines with the proximi-ty effect to reduce intelligibility. Lis-tening to the VCC-1 with and withoutcompensation, I thought the circuit re-duced midrange vocal content toomuch, making the sound too thin. Thespeaker actually needs a bit more low -frequency output even without the

VANDERSTEENVCC-1

ENCLOSURE: black cloth wrap withwood -veneer top cap: sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: 61/2 -inchwoofer with coincident -mountedI -inch dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: frequency response,150 Hz to 21 kHz ±3 dB; sensitivity,86 dB SPL; impedance, 5 ohms;crossover, 6 dB per octave at 3.5 kHz;recommended amplifier power,30 to 200 wattc

DIMENSIONS: 121/2 x 91/4 x 101/2 inches\\ H DI

WEIGHT: 22 pounds

WARRANTY: 5 years (with registration)

PRICE: $495

MANUFACTURER: Vandersteen, Dept.SR, 116 W. 4th St., Hanford, CA 93230

compensation. In any case, a rear -mounted toggle switch turns it off.

At that setting, the VCC-1 soundedquite good. The lower vocal registerswere recessed and very mildly coloredwith a faint trace of hollowness. Spa-ciousness was relatively limited, withmost of the sound seeming to come di-rectly from the speaker. But the per-formance of this speaker remained vir-tually unchanged even at the far leftand far right listening positions, sothere will be no loss of sound qualityin the tough seats.

Dynamically, the VCC-1matched the anchor speak-er stride for stride. Sensi-tivity registered 87 dB

SPL. It should be okay for Wide modemost of the time. The sealed system'scrossover design delivers a very flatimpedance curve up to 320 Hz (475Hz with proximity compensation).where it measured 4.9 ohms, driftingupward to a maximum of 8.1 ohms at990 Hz and then falling to a minimumof 4 ohms at 20 kHz.

Yamaha NS-AC300The Yamaha NS-AC300 has a classygloss -black cabinet with a sloped frontpanel that enables it to be aimed about15 degrees downward when the speak-er is placed on top of a TV or upwardif it is placed below the TV on a shelfor even on the floor. The speaker alsocomes packaged with a 10 -foot sec-tion of polarity -coded speaker cable.A back -panel level control permitstweeter attenuation above 6 kHz tosuit listener tastes.

The NS-AC300 has two 61/2 -inchwoofers in the standard horizontal lay-out, one on each side of its 1 -inchdome tweeter. Its on -axis response waswithin ±5.5 dB from 92 Hz to 20 kHz,with a wide notch from 3 to 8 kHz. Atthe couch -end seats, 30 degrees off -axis, the center of the notch moveddownward to about 3 kHz, and at 45degrees it split into a pair of deeper butnarrower notches, one centered at 725Hz, the other at 2.2 kHz. Sonically thatgave the main listening seats accept-able vocals and dialogue, but with ahollow, distant character and littledepth, width, or detail. As we movedto the end of the couch and beyond,vocal colorations remained in check,but the sound became progressivelyhuskier and more compressed spatially.

With two relatively large woofers,

YAMAHA NS-AC300

ENCLOSURE: gloss -black: sealed

DRIVER COMPLEMENT: two 61/2 -inchpolypropylene woofers flankinga I -inch titanium -dome tweeter

SPECIFICATIONS: bandwidth, 50 Hzto 20 kHz; sensitivity, 90 dB SPL;impedance, 8 ohms; crossover, 6 kHz;recommended amplifier power,10 to 200 watts

DIMENSIONS: 231/2 x 71/2 x 91/2 inches( 11.U,

WEIGHT: 21 pounds

WARRANTY: 3 years

PRICE: 5299

MANUFACTURER: Yamaha, Dept. SR,P.O. Box 6660, Buena Park, CA 90622

the NS-AC300 had no trouble match-ing the anchor speaker note for noteon electric bass. Sensitivity clocked inat a healthy 92 dB SPL. The sealedsystem had a resonance frequency of96 Hz, and the minimum impedancewas 5.4 ohms at 9 kHz.

Closing ThoughtsAny of the speakers reviewed here canbe successfully employed for the cen-ter channel in a good home theatersystem. The KEF and Snell models,especially, are suitable even for veryhigh-performance systems, particular-ly when matched with appropriatespeakers from their own lines for frontleft and right duty. And those twomodels, along with the Paradigm,PSB, and NHT entries, will comparefavorably with topnotch conventionalspeakers at listening positions within30 degrees off center on either side.

For users who have extreme wingseats (like me), the KEF, Snell, andVandersteen will deliver the goods toeither side with little or no compro-mise. Avoid using the ADS in DolbyPro Logic's Wide mode, which willoverstress its low -frequency capabili-ties. The Paradigm, on the other hand,could be used as a super -full -rangecenter with enough bass to support asystem with minispeakers at the frontleft and right positions.

68 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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The Wave° radio is designed for convenienceas well as great sound. There's a handy remote con-trol, pre-set buttons for your favorite stations, andmany other features. You can even connect it to aCD or cassette player to enjoy your favorite music.

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SPECIAL TEST REPORT

ince its inception, Defini-tive Technology has spe-cialized in bipolar loud-speaker designs. Bipolar

speakers typically have duplicategroups of drivers, facing to the frontand rear and driven in phase. That con-figuration gives nearly omnidirectionalresponse in the horizontal plane, withjust a slight reduction in output to thesides at middle and high frequencies.

Bipolar speakers, when placed a fewfeet from the wall behind them, tend toadd a quality of spaciousness to thesound, creating a somewhat more real-istic soundstage than conventionalspeaker designs. In addition, the multi-ple drivers can handle mere powerthan a standard configuration for agiven distortion level (or, conversely,will generate less distortion for a givensound -pressure level).

Another potential benefit of thebipolar configuration is a narrowercabinet width, since low frequenciescan be handled very effectively by twomodestly sized woofers instead of asingle larger one. That enables the de-signer to use a smaller panel width fora given level of bass performance,minimizing the enclosure "footprint."

But in the case of Definitive Tech-nology's latest bipolar speaker, the BP2000, the most distinctive (albeit virtu-ally invisible) feature is a built-in pow-ered subwoofer. The result is a reason-ably compact speaker system with tru-ly prodigious bass extension and out-put capability. That is not to say thatthe BP 2000 is exactly a small speaker- each one measures 50 inches high,9 inches wide, and 1057A inches deepand weighs an impressive 120 pounds

- yet it can be used effectively in al-most any size room without visuallydominating the decor.

Styled like most previous DefinitiveTechnology bipolar speakers, the BP2000 is a slender column covered witha black elastic "sock" over its fullheight on the front, sides, and abouttwo-thirds of the rear panel. The top isa piano -finish, black -lacquered wood-en plate that is easily removed forpulling down the cloth sock and ex-posing the drivers. The speaker's baseis a similarly finished wooden plate_The system is also available with cher-ry endcaps. For a tighter contact withthe floor, optional spikes are available.

Although the BP 2000 is relativelytall and deep, side placement of thesubwoofer driver enables the cabinetto remain as narrow as those of mostother Definitive Technology speakers.and it occupies only about a squarefoot of floor space. If the speakers areslightly angled toward the listeningposition (for optimum stereo imaging),they are surprisingly inconspicuous.

Lifting off the top plate and pullingdown the grille sock reveals the drivercomplement. On the upper half of thefront panel is a pair of 61/4 -inch conewoofers (their effective cone diameteris about 51/2 inches each) verticallyflanking a 1 -inch aluminum -dometweeter in the popular D'Appolitoconfiguration. The tweeter is offsetslightly to one side of the panel's verti-cal tnidline, which may have beendone as much to minimize the spacingbetween the woofers as for any imag-ing benefit. The woofers have cast -magnesium baskets and compliantrubber surrounds.

FINITIVTECHNOLBP 2000

SPEAKERBY JULIAN HIRSCH

The rear panel holds an identical trioof drivers, located directly behind thefront array. Definitive Technologysays the cabinet interior is divided intoseparate enclosure volumes that givethe front and rear sections slightly dif-ferent low -frequency cutoff frequen-cies, apparently to compensate for thecloser proximity of the rear drivers tothe wall. The rear tweeter is also off-set, in the opposite direction from thefront tweeter.

The lower half of the cabinet is de-voted to the subwoofer and its 300-watt amplifier. The subwoofer itselfis a massive 15 -inch driver with an ac-tual cone diameter of 133/4 inches,mounted on the side of the cabinet.Designed as mirror -image pairs, theBP 2000 can be used with the sub -woofers facing either outward or in-ward (the latter is recommended be-cause of the slightly increased cou-pling between the two subwoofers).Incidentally, when the speaker's top isremoved and the cabinet edges ex-posed, you can see that the side hold-ing the subwoofer is 11/4 inches thick,compared to 1 inch for the front andrear panels and 3/4 inch for the otherside. A knuckle -rap test suggested thatthe structure is about as rigid as a brickor a cinder block. Although we couldnot see inside the enclosure, it is evi-dently strongly braced.

The bottom of the cabinet containsthe subwoofer amplifier and its associ-ated crossover components. Covering .!the bottom 15 inches of the rear of the 3enclosure is a metal panel with inputconnectors, amplifier heat sinks, apower switch. a line fuse, a sensitivity !switch, and knobs for adjusting the

bass equalization and level. Price is$3,000 per pair

The BP 200C offers a variety of con-nection option:. It has three pairs offive -way binding posts (labeled HIGH,MID, and Low), which accept single ordual banana pligs, wires, or lugs andare normally connected in parallel bygold-plated metal jumpers. The sim-plest connecticn uses only the wiresthat would normally connect your am-plifier or receiver to conventionalspeakers. You ;an also biwire or tri-wire the speakers, with separate cablesto each section, by removing the ap-propriate jumpers. Yet another possi-bility is to drive the subwoofer portionof the system from the line -level out-puts of a preamplifier equipped withtwo sets of full -range line outputs (orY adaptors cou d be used to turn eachof a single set of outputs into two).Each speaker I as a RCA phono-jackinput to its subwoofer amplifier thatcan accept a ful-range signal and passit through the speaker's internal low-pass filter.

A twelve -pare instruction manualdescribes the procedure for setting thesubwoofer cormils. The criteria forfinal adjustmen are purely subjective,based on wher it sounds "right" toyou. In addition to the usual level con-trol, there is a ic.w-frequency equaliza-tion control for lie -tuning the balancebetween the low bass (under 50 Hz)and the upper bass (50 to 100 Hz). Theprocedure is no: complicated, and theinstructions point out that (as with sep-arate subwoofer) there is no absolute-ly "correct" setting. You are encour-aged to experiment with the settings todiscover the one that best suits your

SPECIAL TEST REPORT

own taste. Normally the subwoofersof the two speakers will be set identi-cally, but the manual points out thatyou can compensate for asymmetricalpositioning of the left and right speak-ers (which could affect their low -bassperformance) by using different sub-

woofer level and equalization settingsfor them.

Although the speakers have sub -woofer power switches, there is noproblem in leaving them energizedcontinuously, since they use very littlepower at idle (we never shut them offduring several weeks of use). The heatsinks never became more than faintlywarm, even after extended operation athigh volume levels.

For the most part, we were able totest the BP 2000's as we do all speak-ers. The averaged room response ofthe left and right speakers, based on aswept warble -tone signal, was excep-tionally uniform, with several minorripples of less than 3 dB. That smooth-ness was verified by an MLS quasi-anechoic measurement. Our measure-ments closely resembled the responsecurves supplied to us by DefinitiveTechnology, which were made using atotally different procedure and in avery different environment.

All the response curves ex-hibited a series of smallripples, with a peak -to -peak amplitude of 3 to 4

dB, across the range from 300 Hz to20 kHz. Our close-miked measure-ment of the subwoofer's responseagreed exactly with the manufacturer'sdata, including the effect of its equal-izer control. In its middle position,which we used for listening and mea-surements, the subwoofer responsewas ±3 dB from 23 to 100 Hz.

In the range between 100 and 300Hz, measurements become somewhatambiguous, since there is an unavoid-able interaction with the room bound-aries. Our composite response curvefor the BP 2000, combining the close-miked subwoofer response and theroom response, had a 6 -dB peak -to -peak variation between 100 and 200Hz, which would certainly be different(but probably present to some degree)in any other room.

The BP 2000's horizontal dispersionwas typical of speakers with drivers ofsimilar size. The output plots on -axisand 45 degrees off -axis remained closeup to about 10 kHz, and then thecurves diverged by about 5 dB at 13kHz and 15 dB at 20 kHz.

The system's impedance rangedfrom 4 ohms between 3 and 20 kHz to16 ohms at 20 Hz. There were peaksof 14 ohms at 100 Hz and 10 ohms at1.4 kHz. The speaker's specificationsstate only that its impedance is com-patible with amplifiers designed todrive 4- to 8 -ohm loads, which is con-sistent with our measurements. Therewas no clear indication of the crossov-er frequency between the tweeters andmidrange drivers in anything we mea-sured or heard, which is actually as itshould be.

The preliminary specifications forthe BP 2000 include a 90 -dB sensitivi-ty rating, a bandwidth of 15 Hz to 30kHz (!), and a recommendation for usewith main system amplifiers rated be-tween 30 and 300 watts per channel(which encompasses virtually everyhigh-fidelity amplifier on the market).

We measured the system sensitivityat 1 meter with a 2.83 -volt input ofnoise (equivalent to 1 watt into 8ohms) as 92 dB sound -pressure level(SPL), slightly higher than rated. Thatsuggests (and we verified) that the BP2000 can be driven to lease -breakinglevels by just about any receiver oramplifier, with a wide margin of re-serve power. The main -system drivershad no difficulty handling all the pow-er our test amplifier could muster insingle -cycle tone bursts - 860 wattsat 1 kHz into the woofers and 1,280watts at 10 kHz into the tweeters.

We measured the subwoofer distor-tion with a steady-state 2.25 -volt inputto the system (equivalent to a 90 -dBSPL system output). The distortion(largely third -harmonic) was, to oursurprise, not spectacularly low, rang-ing from 6 percent at 30 Hz to about2 percent at 100 Hz and higher. Itclimbed steeply at lower frequencies,to about 18 per cent at 20 Hz. That isnot significantly different from whatwe have measured from some goodconventional speakers that are smallerand less expensive than the BP 2000.On the other hand, the BP 2000 can bedriven to truly room -shaking levels inthe low bass without much audible ev-idence of subwoofer (or any other)distortion. We measured average roomlevels (with musical program material)of close to 105 dB in some of our lis-tening tests.

As with any speaker, the ultimateproof of performance is in the listen-ing. Over the years I have heard a few(very few!) speakers, usually at indus-try shows, that overwhelmed me andwere clearly superior to almost any-

thing else I had heard prior to thattime. Without exception, those speak-ers were far more expensive (by a fac-tor of many times), and usually muchlarger, than the BP 2000. I never hadthe opportunity to live with thosespeakers and listen to them at lengthwith material of my own choosing,and the specific program materialplays an enormous role in one's listen-ing impressions.

The Definitive TechnologyBP 2000 is the first speakerI have been able to audi-tion in my own familiar

surroundings that has given me thatspecial thrill that usually costs ten ormore times its price to obtain. When Iheard it demonstrated at the 1995 Win-ter Consumer Electronics Show (CES)in Las Vegas, I knew it was somethingspecial, and the more I listen to it nowthe more that feeling is confirmed.

For one thing, driven by even amodestly powered amplifier, it canplay louder than I can imagine anyonewould normally want to listen, yetwithout audible distortion. This speak-er is just loafing along at any level onewould reasonably use in a home. Thebipole configuration generates a pleas-ingly natural stereo stage, and the sub -woofers provide a foundation that youcan feel as much as hear.

Frankly, if circ*mstances allowed, Iwould choose these speakers for my-self. Alas, space and decor considera-tions make that impractical. And I hateto pass up a bargain like this one! Con-sider what you get for $3,000: twofirst-rate bipolar speakers, two 15 -inchsubwoofers, and two 300 -watt amplifi-ers, all packaged in two attractivelystyled columns that occupy one squarefoot each of floor space.

I doubt that you can get a better -sounding system for less than severaltimes the price of the BP 2000. Andone more thing: You don't need exoticequipment to get high -caliber soundfrom a pair of BP 2000's. The speakerwas demonstrated at CES with veryhigh -end cables and amplifiers. I useda 75 -watt receiver and 14 -gauge RadioShack speaker wire, and I doubt thatan additional $20,000 spent on thatend of the system would have madeany appreciable improvement. The BP2000 is, price notwithstanding, a re-markable value.

Definitive Technology, Dept. SR,11105 Valley Heights Dr., Baltimore,MD 21117

72 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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CIRCLE NO. 2 ON READER SERVICE CARD

HOW TO HOOK UP A

SUBWOOFERdding a subwoofer to astereo or multichannelhome -theater systemis one of the bestways to improve itssound quality. It'llprovide the firm

low -frequency foundation on whichmassive musical and sound effects arebuilt -if it is placed, hooked up, andadjusted properly. But there's the rub:Subwoofer placement, connection,and level setting are miserably han-dled by most subwoofer manuals. LastJanuary's "Subwoofer Secrets" ex-plored the placement question, andthis article on connection issues willtake you one step closer to bass bliss.

Consider a typical "full -range"speaker response, as shown by the redtrace in Figure IA on the next page. Itrolls off at the lowest frequencies,which is why a subwoofer is needed inthe first place. A typical subwoofer fre-quency response is shown by the bluetrace. It rolls off at higher frequencies.The ultimate objective in hooking up asubwoofer is to arrange the frequencyresponses of the subwoofer and themain speakers at and around the fre-quency where their outputs converge- the "crossover" point - so thatthey combine to produce a flat overallresponse (the green trace in Figure1A). If the rolloff points of the sub -woofer and main speakers are toowidely separated, you'll get a dip orhole in the combined response (Figure1B), and if they are too close togetheror overlap, you'll get a rise in responsein the crossover region (Figure IC).

In the real world, the humped re-sponse of the green trace in Figure ICis the most likely result if you simplythrow a subwoofer into a system. Inorder to "force" the responses of thesubwoofer and the main speakers intopredictable behavior, a special cross -

BY DAVID RANADA

over filter circuit is used. At the veryleast, a subwoofer crossover has alow-pass filter section (only the lowfrequencies pass through) that rolls offthe subwoofer's high -frequency re-sponse at a fixed rate but usually witha user -adjustable frequency. The low-pass output is fed to a power amplifier,which then drives the subwoofer prop-er (Figure 2).

Many subwoofer crossovers alsohave a high-pass filter (only the highfrequencies pass through) that rolls offthe lows fed into the main speakers.Whether the high-pass output shouldbe "looped back" to the main system

is a controversial point, since somepeople think that the main speakersshould be run full -range, with no loop -back high-pass filtering. But such fil-tering produces several very importantbenefits:

It reduces the power necessary todrive the main speakers to high levels.Looked at another way, it increases theoverload margin of the main -speakeramplifiers by reducing the amount oflow -frequency signal they must deliver.

It reduces the main -speaker distor-tion produced by overdriving themwith frequencies they cannot handleproperly.

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 75

SUBWOOFER

COMBINED OUTPUTSATELLITE OUTPUTSUBWOOFER OUTPUT

FREQUENCY

Figure 1 The subwoofer must cross

over to the main speakers correctly to

produce a flat overall response

(A) instead of a dip (B) or a hump (C).

It increases the chances of getting amore even overall response in a roomby reducing the interference effectsproduced by any subwoofer and main -speaker response overlap.

On the whole, the arguments in fa-vor of utilizing a subwoofer crossov-er's high-pass output make a very con-vincing case for trying your utmost toincorporate a loop -back connectioninto your subwoofer hookup. High-pass filtering is done as a matter ofcourse by THX surround decoders andis available on other components aswell. You'll also find a high-pass filterin many powered subwoofers' cross-overs. High-pass filtering should beperformed at line level, which compli-cates its use, as we'll see. Some com-ponents supply speaker -level high-pass filtering, but that can cause sub-stantial response irregularities in themain speakers from impedance inter-actions unless the high-pass filter isdesigned to operate with that specificbrand and model of main speaker.

Now for some specific subwooferhookup recommendations. Keep in

FROM RECEIVER

HIGH-PASSOUTPUT 411(

TO RECEIVER

CROSSOVER

POWER AMP

SUBWOOFER 1

A typical powered subwoofer contains all of the separate elements within the dashed line.

Connecting a subwoofer via

its speaker -level inputs lets you use

ordinary speaker cables for all wiring.

RECEIVERMAIN -SPEAKEROUTPUTS

LEFT

RSI

RIGHT

SPEAKER CABLES

mind that whenever I say "receiver,"the remarks apply equally to an inte-grated amplifier and, usually, a preampwith the same available connections.All these components can be of stereoor A/V configuration. Also, my com-ments refer most specifically to hook-ing up a subwoofer's crossover into asystem, since that is where the confu-sion usually arises. With powered sub -woofers you don't have to worryabout much else in the hookup, and apassive subwoofer requires a poweramplifier connected after the crossov-er, a straightforward matter.

Many low-cost receivershave no line -level out-puts suitable for feed-ing a powered sub -woofer. Tape -recorder,

equalizer, and similar external -proces-sor connections, which are all at linelevel, won't work because they occurin the signal path before the volumecontrol. Connecting a subwoofer tothese line -level outputs would makethe bass volume uncontrollable by the

TO MAINSPEAKERS

SUBWOOFERSPEAKER -LEVELINPUTS

master volume control. What's neededis to tap into the signal path after thevolume control, such as at a receiver'sspeaker outputs. So, although it is notan ideal arrangement, many subwoof-ers must use speaker -level connec-tions. One such hookup is shown inFigure 3. Note that here each of the re-ceiver's speaker terminals (shown asmultiway binding posts, but they couldalso be spring or snap -grip connectors)gets two wires attached to it; one goesto a main speaker and the other to thecorresponding speaker -level input ter-minal of the subwoofer. Note also thatit is important to preserve the phaserelationships among the connections- plus terminals to plus terminals,minus to minus - but left -right chan-nel relationships need be preservedonly for the main speakers (unless youare using stereo subwoofers).

Unshielded speaker cable can beused with any speaker -level hookup.In Figure 3 the cables that run fromthe receiver to the subwoofer don'thave to be thick or expensive. That'sbecause the subwoofer's speaker -level

76 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

inputs draw very little current com-pared with a typical speaker. Besides,a subwoofer reproduces only low fre-quencies, and any potential cable -re-lated signal -altering effects would oc-cur at very much higher frequencies.

There are, however, variationson the speaker -level theme inwhich high -current cableshould be used throughout.For example, your subwoofer

may have loop -through, not loop -back, connections: a set of speaker -level "output" terminals hard -wireddirectly to the input terminals. Youmight want to use these instead of thespeaker terminals on the back of thereceiver in order to shorten or other-wise simplify the cable runs aroundyour listening room. The speaker sig-nals would then run from the receiverto the subwoofer, and from there to themain speakers. If you do use loop -through connections, all of the speakercables, including those between the re-ceiver and the subwoofer, should be ofa suitable heavier gauge.

Most mid- to high-priced A/V re-ceivers have a single subwoofer outputcarrying a sum of the left and rightchannels. Although this is not ideal ei-ther - it makes no use of the crossov-er's high-pass output - it is the sim-plest line -level connection to use andmay prove more convenient than aspeaker -level hookup. Connect the re-ceiver's subwoofer output to the sub -woofer crossover through a shieldedstereo cable by using a Y connector tofeed both crossover inputs with thesame subwoofer signal (Figure 4). Be-cause the subwoofer will probably beoperating in mono (stereo subwooferoutputs being rare), you might thinkthat connecting just one of its inputswould suffice. But using the Y connec-tor to feed both inputs eliminates thepossibility of picking up noise and in-terference from an unterminated input.

The best way to hook up a subwoof-er - a configuration that will finallytake advantage of a crossover's high-pass output - is shown in Figure 5.Even though it is also simple, needingonly a pair of common stereo cables,this connection requires your equip-ment to have a set of pre -out (pream-plifier line -level output) and main -in(power -amplifier line -level input) con-nections. The signal goes from the re-ceiver to the subwoofer crossover,where it is split into high-pass andlow-pass portions. The low-pass signalis amplified and sent to the subwoofer:

the high-pass signal returns throughthe receiver's main -in connections tobe amplified and sent to the mainspeakers.

Unfortunately, pre-out/main-in con-nections seem to be rare on A/V re-ceivers and integrated amplifiers,though not on two -channel stereoequipment. The line -level surround -decoder outputs of A/V componentsare not suitable. But systems having aseparate preamp and power amp canuse a variation of the previous hookuptoo - another good reason for prefer-ring separates to receivers and inte-grated amplifiers. In this case, the

RECEIVERSUBWOOFEROUTPUT

SUB 'N OOF ERLINE -LEVELCONNECTIONS

Figure 4. Use a Y connector to eliminate

the possibility of picking up interference

through an unterminated input.

RECEIVERLINE -LEVELCONNECTIONS

PRE

OUT

SUBWOOFERLINE -LEVELCONNECTIONS

INMAIN R R

INL L

R ROUT

Figure 5. Using pre-out/main-in

connections lets you take advantage of a

crossover's high-pass filter.

SUBWOOFERLINE -LEVELCONNECTIONS

PREAMP OUT

POWER AMP INR

OUT

Figure 6. Systems with a separate preamp

and power amplifier can also make use

of a subwoofer crossover's high-pass filter.

crossover's line -level high-pass outputfeeds the separate power amplifier(Figure 6).

Those are the main subwooferhookup options. Although only single-subwoofer hookups are shown here,stereo subwoofer hookups follow thesame general principles. But there isan additional subtlety to subwooferoperation that is, surprisingly, oftenoverlooked in equipment manuals, andwhile it is not directly related to sub -woofer hookup, it deserves mention.

If you have a separate center -chan-nel speaker in your subwoofer-equipped home theater system, youmust switch the surround -decoder cen-ter mode to Normal, not Wide orWideband. Most low bass in sound-tracks is steered by a surround -sounddecoder into the center channel. Notusing the Normal setting risks eitherlosing center -channel bass altogetheror overdriving the center speaker withlow frequencies it can't handle with-out severe distortion. Using Normalmode will shunt any bass that issteered to the center by the surround -sound decoder equally to the left andright front channels, from which theywill eventually reach the subwoofer. Ifyou don't have a separate centerspeaker and are using a surround de-coder's "phantom" center -channel set-ting, don't worry - the center's basswill get out. But using a separate cen-ter speaker is usually preferable (un-less it is of inferior quality) because itprovides superior image stability fromoff -center listening positions.

Normal mode must beused in all of the sub -woofer hookup schemesdiscussed above. Theonly case in which it is

not required is in a Home THX system(one using at least a Home THX sur-round decoder and a set of HomeTHX speakers, including subwoofers)because of the specifically matchedcharacteristics of Home THX speakersand the crossovers supplied in THXsurround decoders.

Once you've finished placing andhooking up your subwoofer(s), youcan join us in contemplating how tocorrectly set its level and adjust itscrossover frequency relative to themain speakers. These related problemsare very difficult to solve without theuse of special test signals and a sound -level meter. But when we come upwith solutions, you'll be the first toknow.

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 77

SYSTEMS

SilverAnniversary

Back in 1970, when GarySmith wasn't selling elec-tronic equipment or play-ing rock-and-roll on his1966 Fender Stratocast-er, the 21 -year -old mu-

sician/hi-fi buff was busy buildingspeakers, making open -reel record-ings, and fooling with his Heathkit os-cilloscope (which, interestingly, heused as a record -level meter followingthe suggestions Of STEREO REVIEW

contributor Craig Stark). The highlightof Smith's Tulsa apartment in thosedays was a very cool audio system:two Teac open -reel tape decks, a Ma-rantz turntable, a Realistic AM/FMtuner, an AR amplifier, and a home-made control box/mike mixer he usedto switch between a remote pair of Al-tec Lansing 848A's and a couple ofgargantuan three-way speakers of hisown design. The electronics werehoused in the hutch of a buffet cabinetSmith had converted into an audioconsole. The setup was so hip that it

made "Installation of the Month" inour August 1970 issue.

Twenty-five years and many im-pressive musical credits later, the au-dio enthusiast in Gary Smith is stillgoing strong. Of course, the system heand his wife Leanne enjoy today intheir Branson, Missouri, home is a tri-fle more sophisticated than the classicconsole setup. For one thing, it's a five -channel Dolby Pro Logic -equipped rigthat's capable of transforming the

Smiths' living room into amini movie theater.

At the heart of the sys-tem is Sony's landmarkTA-E1000ESD all -digitalA/V preamplifier/proces-sor, the first of its kindwhen it hit the scene a fewyears ago. In addition todecoding Pro Logic sound-tracks, it serves up ninesurround modes, each ofwhich can be customized,and provides a parametricequalizer and a subwoofercrossover. "I was lookingfor something that wouldhandle all of my audio andvideo signals," Smith re-calls. "I use Pro Logic formovies, but I don't reallyuse all of the Sony's other

artificial reverb programs for music.I'm a purist. I prefer to listen to musicthe way it was recorded." And the re-cording studio is a second home to the46 -year -old Smith, an accomplishedguitarist and recording engineer whotoured with the Seventies country -rockband the Ozark Mountain Daredevils(of Jackie Blue fame) and has per-formed live or in the studio with RoyClark, Dominick Allen (of Foreigner),Brewer and Shipley, Ray Stevens, andPat Boone.

The Sony preamp distributes signals

From Heathkitto home theater:a longtimereader brings usup to date.

from seven source components. Onthe audio side are a Sony ST-S550ESAM/FM tuner, a Hitachi D -W800dual -well cassette deck, a JVC XL -V161 CD player, and a Panasonic SV-3700 professional DAT recorder."When I record in the studio, we mixdown to DAT," Smith says. "I oftenbring those tapes home and listen tothem to make sure the mix is right."

Audio/video signals are supplied bya JVC HR-S6700U Super VHS VCR,a Pioneer CLD-M301 combination la-serdisc player and five -disc CD chang-er, and a new acquisition - an RCADigital Satellite System (DSS). "I

78 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

can't say enough nice things aboutDSS," Smith emphasizes, noting thathe went out and bought the system af-ter reading about it in these pages("DSS at Home," January 1995). "Theonly time I have a problem with it iswhen there's a storm. Otherwise, thereare very few picture artifacts. Wedon't go to the video store much anymore- it's just so much more conve-nient to order a DSS movie. And wesubscribe to the Music Choice digitalmusic package, too."

After leaving the Sony A/V preamp,the main -channel audio signals passthrough an Alesis Model 3630 com-pressor/limiter before being shuttled toan Audio -Metrics DA -8X2 distribu-

tion amplifier with eight stereo out-puts. Smith is the first to admit that us-ing a limiter/compressor in a homesetting is rather unorthodox. "I use itfor a little bit of what they call in therecording studio `overeasy' limiting- it softens up harshness on the topend and makes the low end tighter.Sometimes I switch it out, but if I real-ly want to pump up high-SPL music, itmakes a big difference."

Smith uses the DA -8X2 to send bal-anced audio signals to systems in thebedroom and music room and to aJBL M552 electronic crossover in hismain -system rack. The crossover splitsthe signal between a pair of HaflerPro2400 120 -watt -per -channel ampli-

fiers. The biamped signal is deliveredto a pair of Tannoy System 10 profes-sional studio monitors via 10 -gaugeMonster Cable. "I'm so used to usingTannoy monitors in the recording stu-dio that I can rely on their sound forreference," Smith says. Each speakeremploys Tannoy's trademark dual -concentric driver, in this case a 10 -inch woofer with an integral tweeter.A pair of low -frequency Tube Trapsfrom Acoustic Sciences Corp. (ASC)serve as speaker stands, and Smithuses aluminum Tiptoes to isolate thespeakers from their stands.

The subwoofer output of the SonyA/V preamp directs frequencies below150 Hz to a DOD Model 866 profes-

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 79

SYSTEMSsional sound limiter/compressor, whichin turn feeds a Tannoy PS -88 poweredsubwoofer. "I stuck another limitingdevice in the signal chain to tighten upthe bottom," explains the recordingengineer in Smith. The compact sub -woofer, which sits just behind theright main speaker and to the right ofthe fireplace, packs two 8 -inch drivers,an active crossover, and a 100 -wattamplifier, and Smith says it thundersdown to about 30 Hz.

The left and right surround outputsfrom the Sony AN preamp are direct-ed to a Carver C-1 preamp along witha parallel signal from the main chan-nels. The selected signal is routed to aHafler Pro6000 250 -watt -per -channelamplifier, which drives a pair of Tan-noy PBM 6.5 two-way studio moni-tors featuring a 61/2 -inch woofer and a1 -inch tweeter. "These act as rear sur-round speakers, but they can also beswitched to see the same signal as thefront speakers," Smith says. "If I'm

listening to something critically, I'llturn the subwoofer and the rear speak-ers off. But when I'm entertaining, I'llcrank the subwoofer up and turn onthe rear speakers as an extra set. Andwhen I want to really get it on, I crankup the compressor to bring up the low -volume passages."

Music comes first in this household,so when it's time to watch a movie,Smith pulls out an extra Tannoy PBM6.5 and sets it on top of his 31 -inchJVC TV. The part-time center speaker

is powered by a spare Hafler Pro 120065 -watt -per -channel amplifier that'sbridged to 150 watts mono for thisapplication. A second Pro1200 amplifi-er (the one shown in the main -systemrack) is used to power a pair of Adventin -wall speakers in the adjoining fam-ily room/ kitchen area and a pair ofweatherproof Electro-Voice S-40 stu-dio monitors outside on the eavesabove the deck and hot tub (photo atright). Switching is done via a home-made box.

Down the hall from the living roomis the music room -a cozy recordingstudio built around an Alesis ADATeight -track digital recorder that uses S -VHS videotape as the recording medi-um (photo on page 78). The studio iswhere Smith spends much of his time.That's where he did all of the sound-track recording and video editing fortwo fishing videos he produced earlierthis year, for example.

To play back works in progress,Smith uses a Yamaha CDX-900U CDplayer, his favorite Hafler 250 -watt -per -channel DH 500 power amplifier,and a pair of Acoustech Model 8025two-way studio monitors. Each of the

speakers sits on top of amidrange Tube Trap fromASC. The amp is tuckedaway in a nearby closet tosquelch the noise from itsinternal fans.

The component rack isloaded with professionalstudio gear, including aDOD Model 1222 twelve -channel mixer, two Pro -Co forty -eight -point patchbays that facilitate myri-ad signal -routing possi-bilities, two Model 4001one -third -octave equaliz-ers from White Instru-ments, a Lexicon LXP-1 effects unit for vocalsand instruments, and aFishman acoustic -guitarblender Smith uses during

live performances. Rounding out thecollection of toys in his playroom are acouple of Smith's prized guitars - theStrat and a Taylor acoustic - and twoMesa Boogie guitar amplifiers.

Even at the end of a long day, Smithlikes to keep the music flowing. In hisbedroom you find a nice little system(see photo above) consisting of anoth-er Carver C-1 preamp, a Pioneer D -M502 six -disc CD changer, two DODModel 831 one -third -octave equaliz-ers, yet another Hafler Pro1200 power

amp (for a total of three), and a pair ofE -V Sentry 100A - you guessed it -studio monitors. "Many records weremixed using Sentry 100A's," Smithsays of the two-way speakers. "In theSeventies and early Eighties, theywere a staple in recording studios."Each of the Carver's outputs passesthrough a DOD EQ on its way to thePro1200. If Smith wants to listen in onwhatever source is playing in the liv-ing room or the music room, all hehas to do is switch inputs on the C-1.A Sony KV-27TS27 27 -inch TV com-pletes the nocturnal lineup.

What kind of music does Smith liketo listen to? "Classics like the DoobieBrothers, Clapton, Spencer Davis," hesays. "One of my all-time favoritesis Michael McDonald [of the DoobieBrothers]. I'm into pop and contempo-rary jazz, too. I like Bonnie Raitt andDonald fa*gen. I was raised in the Mo-town era, so I also have a real appreci-ation for R&B."

Although Smith has never stoppedto figure out his net A/V worth, hereckons that all of the gear he has col-lected over the years would add up toat least $35,000 - and probablymore. "I've always had equipmentaround me," he says. "I know my wifewishes I would quit, but it's actually afever. Not a day goes by that I don'thave one of the systems on, and I'malways looking for ways to improvethem." In fact, his latest improvementscheme calls for a 1,200 -square -footaddition off his living room to house afull-blown home theater, completewith a Vidikron front -projection sys-tem. "Audio has certainly come a longway since my system showed up inSTEREO REVIEW the first time."

- Bob Ankosko

80 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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Kubrick'sBone

A CENTURY OF MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGYTWENTIETH-CENTURY technology has a lot to answer for.

This has been the century of mass warfare and mass mur-

der. But it has also been the century of mass media, of popand avant-garde art, almost all of it produced with or vastlyassisted by contemporary technology. It is the audio century

as well as the film and television century, the age of art asentertainment, entertainment as art, and both as information.

For better or for worse, most musical experience now takes

place through loudspeakers and headphones. We live in the

Age of Amplified Music, and, as the millennium windsdown and the information age gears up, it seems like a good

time to take stock.

We are awash in amplified sound - sound that passes

through loudspeakers and headphones. It has become such

an integral part of our life that we don't even think about it,but most musical experience is now filtered through thetechnology that has established itself at the center of musical

life. Amplified sound is the economic and aesthetic heart ofmusicmaking; it is (to change the anatomical metaphor) the

tail that wags the dog.

Some people like to think of technology as neutral, an im-

partial transmitter that puts out, in an increasingly faithfulmanner, what goes in. But fidelity, faithfulness - note howthe metaphor suggests the passions of a love affair - areonly part of the picture. Any medium affects the thing ittransmits and how it is received. Audio technology, if only

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 83

ubrick's Bonebecause it has brought about such ahuge social change, alters our attitudesabout music and our ways of listeningto it and making it as well. There is nomusic that has not been affected.

In Stanley Kubrick's 2001, one ofour brutish ancestors beats a rival todeath with an animal bone and then, inhis murderous euphoria, tosses it up inthe air. Suddenly, thanks to the magicof film technology, the eons melt awayand what went up as a crude weaponcomes down as a space ship waltzingthrough the heavens to the strains ofThe Blue Danube. In my music -theater version, that bone would bea flute (bone flutes are found inhundreds of ancient burial sites)and it would come down as a syn-thesizer or CD player blaring outsampled Strauss.

The marriage of technology andmusic is nothing new. The veryterm instrumental music says it all;man is a tool-making animal, andmusical instruments, primitive orsophisticated, are all tools. Whenone of our neolithic ancestors be-gan to beat out a rhythm on a hollowlog or to pipe a tune on that bone flute,he - or she - was right at the cuttingedge of new technology. What is agrand piano but a music machine? Iteven has a keyboard, just like a com-puter. The keyboards, winds, brass,and percussion of the Romantic or-chestra are all products of industrialtechnology.

Traditional music is passedon aurally and orally, by earand through the relation-ship of master and pupil.

The technology of writing and print-ing changed all that; we talk about the"score" as if it were the music itself.The German Romantics thought thatmusic was the purest of the arts be-cause the "real" music was not theflawed result of the efforts of a bunchof huffers and puffers, scrapers andbangers, but the idealized score on thepage, which was itself a direct reflec-tion of the inside of the composer'smind. This quite antisocial view ofmusic, still current in some quarters, isa good example of how technologyand media affect our ways of thinkingand hearing.

But both technologies and ideascan change. Recording is the modemequivalent of publication, and comput-ers can bypass or redo the old hand-written or printed "score." As oldways of doing things are replaced by

new ones, other modes of doing, hear-ing, and thinking inevitably follow.What written and printed music wereto the past, recorded music is to the artof today.

When Edison added a wax cylin-der to Bell's telephone, modem soundrecording was born. The bumps andgrinds of a groove cut into a revolvingwax cylinder or platter by a needle orstylus were to remain the basis ofsound recording for three-quartersof a century. Microphones, amplifiers,and loudspeakers, developed for radio

Technology tossed up at the start of recording ...

broadcasting, also became essentialingredients of both recording and liveperformance. All three media interact-ed, sharing the same technology andsimilar aesthetics from an early date.

By midcentury the pace of changehad increased. Tape became the pri-mary medium for recording. Two -track stereo sound, introduced in pur-suit of the ideal of audio fidelity,reflected the fact that human beingslive in a stereophonic world, with twosets of aural information mixed andprocessed by the brain to producethree-dimensional sound. The adventof tape sparked a competition betweendisc and tape for the home audio mar-ket that led to the development of theextended or long -play record and tapecassettes. The stereo LP later suc-cumbed to the compact disc, while thecassette, though still selling briskly,began losing ground to it.

Sound reproduction, which oncelagged behind the visual, moved out tothe leading edge of technological in-novation. The high-fidelity movementdissected the sound system, breakingit up into smaller and lighter mix -and -match components that were high inquality and consistent in performance.Many of these innovations came notfrom big corporations but from garagetinkerers with a love of music, primar-ily classical. The vacuum tube was re-placed by the transistor, and dramaticnew developments in the range and fi-

delity of microphones and speakerswere introduced. High -end equipment,originally the province of well-to-doaudiophiles, began to reach a largerand larger public and influenced evenmass -market commercial design.

All these developments were aboutthat elusive goal of authenticity, or "re-alism," in musical sound. But thevogue for recordings of the Indianapo-lis 500 did not last long; it was thetaste for hi-fi Beethoven, Vivaldi, andMahler that spurred the market. Popmusic, not being concerned with such

lofty matters and long mired in thelow -fidelity aesthetics and econom-ics of AM portables and car radios,crossed the high-fidelity sound bar-rier only when pop recording be-came a creative form in its ownright and the pop album came intoits own.

Before the 1960's, classical, con-temporary, jazz, and pop musicwere all recorded in essentially thesame way and with a similar basicrecording aesthetic; then they be-gan to diverge. One of the great ad-

vantages of tape is that it can be cutand spliced. Classical musicians, everin pursuit of musical perfection, tookto this technique, and the composite,edited performance became the norm.A new kind of virtuoso appeared: thevirtuoso of the recording studio, per-formers who specialized in recordingmusic in sections that could be seam-lessly edited together, giving an illu-sion of technical perfection. There is afamous story about Pianist X listeningto a radio performance of a concertoin the company of conductor GeorgeSzell. They were trying to guess thename of the pianist; it was, of course,Pianist X himself. "Don't you wish,"said the sharp-tongued maestro with-out losing a beat, "that you could playlike that?"

The impact of recorded music onclassical performance should not beunderestimated. Toscanini's early in-terpretations were not particularly fast;the clarity and driven quality of hislater performances are perfect exam-ples of the effect of working almostexclusively in the broadcast and re-cording studio. The new Neoclassi-cism - fast, straight, virtuosic, note -perfect, anti -Romantic - comes froma generation of performers driven toproduce something not of the moment,not quirky or personal, but for all time.

The public for classical music wasoriginally the public for concert andoperatic performances, and the reper-

84 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

toire was accordingly restricted. In theLP era, however, a new record -buyingpublic appeared that was no longermerely an extension of the concert au-dience, and that public began to findits own repertoire, often leading tochanges in taste that later penetratedthe concert world. The first and mostnoticeable result of this was a majorleap backward into musical history.By the 1960's, recorded repertoire wasno longer confined to the standards,and the early -music movement wasborn. Starting with the Rococo and Ba-roque revivals, the taste for old -music recordings eventually workedall the way back to Gregorian chant.It is one of the great paradoxes thatmodern technology helped fosterinterest in early music and played amajor role in creating and popular-izing the period -instrument move-ment - a remarkable example ofthe pre -industrial getting a boostfrom the post-industrial.

Unusual music of more recentvintage also benefited from beingcirculated in recorded form. Thenew popularity of Ives and Mahlerwas as much a product of the Ampli-fied Age as the Vivaldi and Montever-di revivals. New music, even of themost avant-garde sort, found a publicthrough recordings, and new musicaltrends began traveling around theworld with extraordinary speed. Thetaste of the music world has movedforward to Cage, Gorecki, and Glassas well as backward to Pachelbel,Charpentier, and chant.

Part of the reason for this diversityhas to do with what advertising peoplecall niche marketing. This concept,much talked about today in the com-puter world, actually goes back to theearly days of pop recording. In addi-tion to the star vocalists and the big -name jazz and swing bands, therewere recordings that served minoritytastes, and it is to niche marketing thatwe owe much recorded early blackmusic, from the blues to the race rec-ords of the 1940's and 1950's, thesource of rock-and-roll.

The advent of tape and the miniatur-ization of equipment made location re-cording cheaper and more dependable.Jazz could be taped live in its properclub and concert habitat. Traditionalmusic could be recorded in Balkan vil-lages, on the slopes of the Himalayas,in the Arctic or the rain forest. Mu-sic from anywhere - any natural orman-made sound at all - could be re-corded and preserved. The notion of

"world music," of the musical globalvillage, rapidly became a reality, andthe taping of the world is a project stillin progress.

At another extreme, it became pos-sible to make new music by creating,mixing, or editing sound directly ontape, presenting us with the paradox ofrecorded music that is not a recordingof anything. After World War II, noEuropean radio station or Americanuniversity was complete without anelectronic -music studio, and wholeschools of experimental tape and com-

. has coma down as today's multitrack studio.

puter music evolved out of the avail-able equipment of the day.

Pop music, way behind in the audiodepartment, began to catch up fast.With few traditions or inhibitions tohold it back, pop began an infatuationwith technology that turned into a loveaffair. Rock-and-roll had little interestin audio fidelity, but it was devoted toamplified, electric sound, it was anti -traditional. and it prized creativity. Forthe first time, the recording becamethe original, and the live performancewas the copy instead of vice versa.

The most important technologicalcontribution of pop musicians andproducers was multitracking. Two dif-ferent techniques came together here.One involves adding elements layerby layer, track by track, to build up agiant multitrack master tape by accre-tion. The other is the technique, origi-nally developed in live performance,of merging multiple inputs to createthe mixdown. As some wag once said,"Music expands to fill up the tracksavailable to it." The expansion wasgeometrical: two, four, eight, sixteen,thirty-two. and up.

In a typical classical recording, ev-erything is recorded straight by thewhole ensemble many times over. Thebest sections from the different takes,plus patches and inserts, are thenspliced up to create a master. On theother hand, multitrack pop recordingstarts with a multitrack master on

which the basic rhythm tracks havebeen laid down; the other parts arethen added by overdubbing, track bytrack. The definitive vocals may beput on only near the end of the proc-ess, although some fussy artists andproducers can go on adding "sweet-ening" almost indefinitely. Finally,the multiple tracks are elaboratelymerged, shaped, and colored throughgigantesque mixing boards speciallydeveloped for the task.

Detractors claim that multitrackingis a crutch for musicians with limited

abilities. Different tracks can berecorded and then rerecorded astime and money permit. Ringerscan be brought in to clean up amess or add new elements. An im-portant part of the mixdown comesfrom the almost endless possibili-ties for manipulating the sound ofeach individual track. Effects rang-ing from simple echo to vast to-nal alterations are added througha whole new technology of soundmixing and modification. The finalresult may, in fact, be completely

unlike anything that can be producedin a live performance.

The ascent, diffusion, and impact ofmusical technology, and of recordedmusic in particular, has been steadythroughout the century. If we includeradio music (mostly based on recordedmusic), we can say that recorded mu-sic reaches almost every person in thiscountry and a very high percentage ofthe people on the planet. Free trade inrecorded music has existed for a longtime, but its pace has been accelerat-ing enormously, and it has internation-alized music culture to a substantialdegree. Only now, at the millennium,does that old saw about the universali-ty of music bid fair to come true.

This is only the beginning of thestory. Technology has invaded theonce sacrosanct domain of live perfor-mance and is now a dominating ele-ment in the performance of almostevery kind of music. Even the excep-tions. traditional classical and folk, forexample, have been influenced by au-dio technology. And we are just at thevery beginning of the computer/digitalage, which promises to bring a wholenew wave of change to musical life.

One thing we can say for sure: Tossthe bone up in the air, and it will comedown. Consequences there will be.The age-old love affair of art and tech-nology is an enduring and fruitful rela-tionship, and as passionate today as itwas in neolithic times.

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 85

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ESTAFFMONIV

Van Ilforrison: Not Fade AwayAhype -resistant artist, gruftly andgamely preoccupied with pursuingmusic as a means of personal andspiritual growth, Van Morrison is aparagon of soul in all senses of theword. He has toiled at his craft for

three decades now, and in his latest work,"Days Like This," his music remainscompelling and connected, his words de-manding to be heard.

The album's undercurrent is Morri-son's inability to experience happiness,a theme he develops without self-pity."Ain't nothin' but the blues," he allows inan offhanded manner (in Underlying De-pression), as if to say his suffering is partof a human continuum that makes him nomore or less special than any other personwith a headful of blues. But beyond Mor-rison's admission of malaise - a nobleattempt to bring a hush-hush subject intothe pop mainstream - "Days Like This"contains some of the most impassionedperformances of his career.

There is no finer composer of horncharts than Van Morrison. Here, they col-or the edges of Melancholia with a bitter-sweet shade of blue, give Petfect Fit itslean drive, and work hand in glove dur-ing the call and response of No Religion,where Morrison matter-of-factly lamentsthe lack of conviction in modern societyas it slouches toward Bethlehem. He con-tinues to collaborate with organist Geor-gie Fame, whose Blue Note -style jazz/soul voicings are integral to Morrison'scurrent music, and with guitarist RonnieJohnson, whose limber, clear -toned, sin-gle -note lines subtly counterpoint Morri-son's vocal wanderings.

Stylistically, "Days Like This" is verymuch of a piece with Morrison's recentwork, but there is at least one new wrin-kle: the frequent use of female singers(including his daughter Sham), deployedas if to reinforce a universality of feelingthat cuts across gender. Often the strategyworks, though Morrison is so singular asinger that his duet partners don't alwaysfind a convincing spot for themselves, no-tably in You Don't Know Me, a cover of asong made famous by Ray Charles, andNever Be Free, a cabaret -style originalthat fails to nail its bluesy-swinginggroove. Still, this is very much a singer's

album, and Morrison himself is awe-somely on top of his game in songs likeAncient Highway and Raincheck. In theformer, he mounts a Listen to the Lions -type growl for nine amazing minutes overenticingly abstract music that recalls themoodscapes of "Astral Weeks."

Raincheck, meanwhile, is an instantclassic, evoking the transcendent, deep -soul lyricism of Morrison circa "Moon -dance." Its happy/sad poetic -musical tap-estry is of a supplicant trying to shakefree of earthly shackles: "I got to standmy ground / I'm gonna keep on movin'on up / I want to stick around / Won't letthe bastards tie me down." Against a

STEREO REVIEW'S

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backdrop of gauzy horns, skittering gui-tar, and jazzy percussion accents, he as-serts, "I won't fade away / I don't fadeaway / Unless I want to."

And that's the last word on that subject- at least until Van Morrison's next one.

Parke Puterhaugh

VAN MORRISONDays _ike ThisPerfect t u; Russian Roulette: Raincheck;You Don't Know Me; No Religion;Underlying Depression; Songwriter; DaysLike This; Never Be Free: Melancholia;Ancient Highway: Love in the AfternoonPOLYDOR 527 307 (58 min)

Spontaneous Combustion: Pires's Chopin

achmaninoff is said to have askedsadly, after hearing a performanceof one of his piano concertos, howthe soloist "could have put so littleof herself into it." No one couldmake such a comment about Maria -

Joao Pires's new Deutsche Grammophonrecording of Chopin's Concerto No. 2, in

F Minor, with the Royal Philharmonicunder Andre Previn. This is one of thoseexceptional performances that show ushow fresh even the most familiar musiccan be made to sound - and without inany way distorting the shape or substancethat made it so familiar.

Pires has apparently rethought every

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 87

BEST OHphrase of the work, and yet it all comesout with phenomenal spontaneity. Shenever allows her own personality, vividthough it is, to obscure the essential spiritof Chopin; nothing in her playing sug-gests she is out to "improve" upon whathe set down. She is simply out to vivifythe music, and that she does, with clarity,with imagination (the sort of freedomChopin himself might have encouraged),and with incredible resources of color.While the solo playing is indeed a mar-vel, Pires is not out there all alone. Prey-in's contribution is not diffident "ac-companiment" but a genuine, full-scalepartnership that plays off the pianistic im-petus with the sort of cumulatively build -

Pianist Maria Joao Pires

ing give-and-take you always hope for ina concerto performance but may not ex-pect in the concertos of Chopin.

Instead of filling out the disc with theother Chopin piano concerto, Pires fol-lows up with something just as grand inanother form, the Twenty -Four Preludes,Op. 28. In many respects these perfor-mances are even less traditional than thatof the concerto. There is little of the salonand its muted candelabras here; reticenceis simply not a part of the plan, which fa-vors the most direct confrontation withthe dramatic substance of each preludeon its own terms, whether intimate or pro-clamative or whimsical. This is music -making that really does defy verbal de-scription. To compound the pleasure itaffords, DG's recording teams have sur-passed themselves, too. Richard Freed

CHOPIN:Piano Concerto No. 2; Preludes, Op. 28Pires; Royal Philharmonic, Previn cond.

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 437 817(74 min)

88 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

Final Curtain

for the Harms?The Ramones' "Adios Amigos" is . . .

yeah, it's da new Ramones album,what else ya wanna know? Gabbagabba hey, take it Joey, take it C.J.,one -two -three-four....

Now hold on just a minute. Yes,this is a typical Ramones album, but it'salso a little special. For one thing, it maybe their last. Nobody's confirming ordenying rumors of an imminent breakup,but the title doesn't exactly bode well. Af-ter twenty years, a world without the Ra-mones is hard to imagine, but at leastthey're not going out with a turkey.

The commercial revival of punk rockseems to have revitalized the band. In re-cent years they've absorbed a few passingtrends - hardcore, metal, even psyche-delia. But now, with bands like GreenDay and Rancid jumping their train, theRamones are back sounding like the Ra-mones. And make no mistake, "AdiosAmigos" sounds exactly like the Ra-mones: Drummer Marky has got thatsnare -drum thwap down to an art, gui-tarist Johnny hammers away at the usualthree chords - but hey, they're the threebest chords - and Joey's voice, while it'sdeepened over the years, remains as NooYawk and as oddly endearing as ever.There's a second capable singer here, too,in recently added bassist C.J., whoseyouthful brattiness makes the ideal coun-terpart to Joey's grown-up brattiness.

Along with a spiffy cover tune by punkicon Johnny Thunders, the lads have astack of new songs that show theirmastery of so -dumb -it's -great. You wantrelevance, listen to Have a Nice Day,where Joey rants about how everyone he

The Ramones: three chords and a cloud of

knows insists on saying that damn phrase.Or Makin' Monsters for My Friends,where C.J. sums up his worldview withthese resonant words: "I don't want anySpaghetti -O's." OrShe Talks to Rain-bows, about the eternal dilemma of apunk falling in love with a hippie.

True, there's some semi-serious stuffhere, too: Take the Pain Away is a surpris-ingly convincing protest song, and / Don'tWant to Grow Up - by Tom Waits, of allpeople - is a clear-cut statement of pur-pose. But whether or not it becomes theRamones' career headstone, "Adios Ami-gos" is, above all, a quintessential sum-mer album. Brett Milano

RAMONESAdios AmigosI Don't Want to Grow Up: Makin' Monstersfor My Friends; It's Not for Me to Know; TheCrusher: Life's a Gas; Take the Pain Away;I Love You; Cretin Family; Have a NiceDay; Scattergun; Got Alot to Say; She Talksto Rainbows; Born to Die in BerlinRADIOACTIVE/MCA 11273 (35 min)

A "Ilf edee"

For Our TimeINilliam Christie, an American inParis who has almost single-handedly restored the grandeursof French Baroque opera, has afair claim to having rediscov-ered Charpentier's Medee and

brought it back to life. When he switchedrecord labels from Harmonia Mundi toErato, he could not resist the opportunityto rerecord Medee, which he considersthe masterpiece of one of the greatestcomposers of the Baroque period. He

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BEST DUpoints out in the notes to the new set thathis earlier version had to be trimmed towell under three hours to fit on threeLP's; the new one is complete on threeCD's. He also argues that he and hisgroup have come a long way since 1984and have learned a lot about performingthis music. Christie's old Med& was aconcert reading, the new one a dramaticperformance.

Marc -Antoine Charpentier, born inParis in 1643, combined Italianate melo-dy and theatricality with French style inform, orchestral writing, and ornament.French opera was invented by LouisXIV's court composer, Jean -Baptiste Lul-ly, and after his death in 1687, the royal

Conductor William Christie

job was up for grabs. Charpentier wasperhaps the leading candidate, andMedie, presented at the Academie de laMusique in 1693 and dedicated to theSun King, was his demo piece. Clearly,he extended himself to produce a Lullianopera, complete with a fawning prologueextolling the king's virtues, diverting setpieces, lots of dancing, colorful costumes,unabashed expression of emotions, andplenty of spectacle, culminating in thescene in which Medea conjures up thedemons of hell to help her get revenge.But all Charpentier got was a pat on thehead from the king, who did not hire him,and after one revival at Lyon in 1700, hismasterpiece was put away and forgotten.

The theme of Med& is anger and re-venge; the central character is a strongand violent woman, a foreigner, and awitch - who, not incidentally, despises

royal authority. She not only humiliatesJason but laughs at King Creon's protes-tations of authority, literally driving himmad. Perhaps this was not a message thatLouis XIV wanted to hear, but these arethe qualities that make the piece so fasci-nating today. By infusing his work withdramatic, emotional, and perhaps evenpolitical intensity, Charpentier may haveexceeded the bounds set by royal patron-age, but from a modern point of view,there is hardly a misstep in his setting: thelight and flirtatious scenes between Jasonand Creuse; her banter as she parriesthe unwanted advances of the dweeb-ish Oronte; the scene where dim-wittedOronte finally realizes that he is beinghad; Creon's unctuous tone as he tries toget rid of Medea, finally turning to angerand then madness; the choral lament atthe news of his death; the colorful scenesof wrestling warriors, simpering cupids,vengeful demons, and seductive tempt-resses; the Gotterdammerung-like de-struction of Corinth at the end. Above all,there is the musical depiction of Medea asshe slowly turns from devotion and con-fusion to resolution and righteous anger.This Medea must be ranked with the verygreatest operatic heroines.

Soprano Lorraine Hunt is a wonderfulMedea. Like William Christie, she is anAmerican with a big career abroad. Sheproves that a feeling for style hardly pre-cludes a vocal and dramatic expressionof great intensity; quite the contrary, shegrasps that the Baroque vocabulary asused by Charpentier is a language of theemotions. Mark Padmore, in the role ofJason, is a high tenor with class.

As always, Christie has made an out-standing cast out of a group of singerswho, aside from the leads, do not haveconventionally exceptional voices; manyof them are Christie regulars, and he hasmelded their performances into a series ofexquisite solos and ensembles. The early -instrument orchestra is magnificently in-tegrated with the singers so that stage andpit seem to constantly react and interact.

You will rarely hear a dramatic worktreated with as much depth and passion asthis - for one thing, no standard reperto-ry and few contemporary operas get thislevel of care, immersion, intelligence, andknowledge wedded to passion. After 300years of neglect, the operatic Charpentieris in good hands. Eric Salzman

CHARPINTIER: MediaHunt, Padmore, Deletre, Zanetti, Salzmann;Les Arts Florissants, Christie cond.ERATO 96558 (three CD's, 135 min)

POPULAR COLIN BRIMSTONE: SomeYears. EPIC/LEGACY 66449. EarlySeventies solo work, long out of print, by theangelic -voiced lead singer of the Zombies.

INYA: The Celts. REPRISE 45681.Digitally remastered version of the Irishsinger's 1986 debut, with new liner notesand a newly recorded bonus track.

MERLE HAGGARD: A Tributeto the World's Best Damn FiddlePlayer. KOCH 7900. From 1970,lie!, is the Okie from Muskogee man's saluteto Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.

TNI TRAINMEN: Surfin' Bird.SUNDAZED 6064. The 1964 debut ofthe toughest surf band ever to come out ofMinneapolis; the demented title song laterfigured in Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.

CLASSICAL BARTOK: Violin Concerto No. 2;Second Suite. Menuhin; MinneapolisSymphony, Dorati. MERCURY 434 350.Two champions of Bartak's music recordedthe concerto at Carnegie Hall in 1957.

DIETRICH FISCIIIR-DIISKAII:Les Introuvables. EMI 68509 (six CD's).A treasure trove of the baritone's harder -to -find songs, ranging from Bach to Debussy.

MOZART: The Magic Flute.Janowitz, Gedda, Popp, Berry, others;Philharmonia Orchestra, Klemperer. EMI55173. "... a firm, elegant, and crystal-clearperformance" (April 1963 review).

WIENIAWSKI: Violin ConcertoNo. 2. BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1.Stem; Philadelphia Orchestra, Ormandy.TCHAIKOVSKY: "Meditation" fromSouvenir d'un lieu cher. N.ttiorhilSymphony, Rostropovich. Serinademilancolique. Columbia Symphony.Brieff. SONY 66830. One volume in whatwill eventually be a 44 -CD tribute to theviolinist's 75th birthday and 50thanniversary with Columbia Records.

90 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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POPIRRMUSIC

Elastica: reinventing the pop -rock wheel for the Nineties

BABES IN TOYLANDNemesisters

REPRISE 45g68 (57 min)Performance: Good, but ...

Recording: Goodmost cases, an album like "Nemesis-

E ters" would be cause for rejoicing. It'sgot toothsome songs, a rough -and -nastyguitar sound, and an even mix of smartsand snarl; at times it sounds like the albumJoan Jett's been trying to make for years.Oh Yeah! has a great shout -along chorus,Drivin' has an effective mantra -like repeti-tion of one lyric line, and Surd matcheslovely harmonies (a first for this band) witha surf -guitar riff (ditto). The single Sweet'69 would make a perfect segue intoR.E.M.'s equally garagey Star 69. And ifyou overlook a pair of jokey Seventies cov-ers - by now, a hackneyed gambit - thisalbum is a solid example of radio -accept-able Nineties punk rock.

So why is "Nemesisters" ultimately sofrustrating? Because Babes in Toyland didsomething much gutsier the last timearound. "Fontanelle," their major -label de-but, was as raw a statement of rage as rock

has produced lately, the music a femaleband might make if Operation Rescue weredemonstrating next door. Its screaming vo-cals, provocative words, and grisly soundall went beyond respectable boundaries."Fontanelle" was an exciting, maybe evendangerous album; "Nemesisters" sounds alittle better and matters a little less.

Brett Milano

ELASTICADGC 24728 (40 min)Performance: Mixed

Recording: Appropriately low-fiThere's something captivating aboutElastica - the unselfconscious abandon

of a band staging a melodic noisefest it laBlondie in the early days of Max's andCBGB. As Blondie and some of its peersdid in the late Seventies, Elastica is essen-tially reinventing the pop -rock wheel, thistime with a patina of pouty Englishness andthe judicious use of samples and such.Tasty morsels like Line Up and Connectionare sly, catchy, and danceable, the perfectequation for clubland fun in the Nineties.Car Song is a sleek and sexy model, a won -

NEW RECORDINGS REVIEWED

BY CHRIS ALBERTSON,

FRANCIS DAVIS, PHYL GARLAND,

RON GIVENS, ROY HEMMING,

ALANNA NASH,

PARKE PUTERBAUGH, AND

STEVE SIMELS

drously cool and seductive come-on thatwill no doubt contribute to condom sales:"I hardly know you / But I think I'm goingto," coos Justine Frischmann, and the libidothat doesn't accelerate after that is simplyout of gas.

Unfortunately, "out of gas" all too accu-rately describes a fair portion of these six-teen (!) songs - another instance where theexpanded CD format does musicians no fa-vors. When "Elastica" clicks, however, andit does about half the time, it's very addic-tive indeed. P.P.

BETTY ELDERSCrayons

FLYING Fl I 111)642 (61 min)Performance: Delicate

Recording: Good

Austin native Betty Elders may be best04 known to some as the writer of KathyMattea's Bed of Roses and co -writer of Lu-cinda Williams's He Never Got EnoughLove, but her music is hard to classify: It's(sort of) acoustic folk -pop, laced with sparepiano, mandolin, and violin (not fiddle)played by her husband, Gene Elders, fromGeorge Strait's Ace in the Hole Band. On"Crayons," her fourth album, she sings in ababy -fine voice that occasionally calls tomind Rickie Lee Jones (the breathtaking

STRANGELYBELIEVE IT!

et n the left: the title character inthe forthcoming remake of the

Hanna -Barbera Sixties cartoon se-ries The Adventures of Jonny Quest.On the right: animation buff and al-ternative rock icon Matthew Sweet.Is the resemblance a coincidence?We have no idea. but here's hopingthat Jonny's sidekick Hajii is drawnlike The Artist Formerly Known asPrince. S.S.

92 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

Gypsy's Jewel) as well as Nanci Griffith(Roll on New River). Elders continues towrite poetic, soulful, and delicately atmos-pheric songs that sometimes dip into jazz(War Between the Fears) but more oftennod toward homemade folk. All this makesit pretty hard to identify a certain sound forher, but one thing's sure: Elders is amongthe rare singer/songwriters to whom theterm "artist" genuinely applies. A.N.

RAMBLIN' JACK ELLIOTTSouth Coast

RED HOUSE 59 (44 min)Performance: Seminal

Recording: Okay

'ncase you've been living in Tibet for the

last six decades, Ramblin' Jack Elliott isthe Brooklyn cowboy who accompaniedWoody Guthrie on his legend -making trekacross America. and he was the originatorof a style of plain-spoken vocals and strum-ming guitar that made everybody from BobDylan to Jackson Browne take notice. Onhis first full-length release in twenty years,Elliott picks up his battered Martin D-28and moves through the songs of Guthrie,Tim Hardin. Derroll Adams. and Ian Tyson,his high-pitched voice worn and leathered- and difficult to take on some tunes (/Ain't Got No Home). But there's somethingcommanding and moving in "South Coast,"and no serious folk collection should bewithout it. A.N.

JONATHAN GREGGUnconditional

I \( >I.S( (IIIN (51) mintPerformance: Personable

Recording: Finegonathan Gregg, a songwriter in the en-

riched mode of Marshall Crenshaw andJules Shear, plays sophisticated pop for not -so -now people; he's definitely more word-of-mouth than flavor -of -the -month. On hissecond album, the pop aspect - the engag-ing melodies, the seamless flow, the envi-able knack for a clever turn of phrase - iswhat instantly pulls you in. But the sophis-ticated aspect - his complex, craftsman -like guitar work, the compulsive intellectdriving it all - is what keeps a discriminat-ing listener coming back for more.

Beyond the delectable choruses and in-delible hooks, the big payoffs in thesesongs are the guitar solos, cleanly articu-lated jewels of self-expression that recallRichard Thompson's piercing six -stringepiphanies. Their tone and temperament areunfailingly suited to the emotional subtextof the songs, such as the tremulous wow -and -flutter of the brief but tasty solo in ABit of Mrs. Jones, a tale of seduction whoseparticulars bring to mind the scenario ofThe Graduate.

Lightly dusted with a hint of country, adash of reggae. and a soupcon of shamelessSixties poperaft. Gregg's songs take offfrom familiar reference points but land inplaces he can proudly claim as his own. Agood time is guaranteed - unconditionally.(The album is available for $15 from Jag -disc, 304 Mulberry St., #LJ, New York,NY 10012.) P.P.

Siirfors Rule, Dude!Fun fact No. 1: Laika and the Cosmo-nauts are a surf -music group from

(of all places) Finland. Fun fact No. 2:they're an absolutely brilliant surf -mu-sic group from Finland, and maybe theircountry's most interesting musical ex-port since Sibelius called it quits.

Actually, calling Laika and Co. a surfgroup is somewhat misleading. Granted,they're an all -instrumental rock quartetwhose new album, "The Amaz ng Colos-sal Band," stomps inways tha: will (deliber-ately) remind you ofsurf pioneers like DickDale or the Ventures.But in this day and agethe tag sets up certainnegative expectations,which these guys don'treally live down to here.In other words, they'renot post-modern iro-nists trying to subvertthe genre (like, say. Shadowy Men on aShadowy Planet, of the Kids ;n the Halltheme). They're not revivalists either;on a purely aural level their sonic palateis every bit as contemporary as, oh,Smashing Pumpkins'. And they're noteven twang -guitar purists like the usualrun of neo-surf acts. Their sound isequally dependent on all sorts of exotickeyboard>, which suggests they teethed

on the Sixties British productions of JoeTelster Meek as much as on authenticCalifornia ho -dads such as the Surfarisand the Chantays.

What Laika and the Cosmonauts turnout tc be is something rather special -great composers, arrangers, produc-ers, End players who have discoveredhithe -to undreamed of harmonic andrhyth-nic possibilities in a hitherto mor-ibunc style. Whether it be endless-

ly imaginative originals(like Delayrium and thesardonically titled TheMan from H.U.A.C. -look it up, kids) or total-ly stoked takes on like-minded film and TV mu-sic (John Barry's The1peress File, a blister-ing main title from TheAvengers), the materialtranscends any hint ofgimmick. Rather, what

you Fear is a truly world -class band do-ing what appears to come naturally -making pure pop surf music for theNineties and (probably) beyond. Missthis cne and I'll come to your house andsmack you. S.S.

LAIKA AND THE COSMONAUTSThe Amazing Colossal BandUPSTART 0 I 0 (44 min)

JIMI HENDRIXVoodoo Soup

\I(':\ 11236 (57 min)Performance: RevealingRecording: Very good

The well -thought-out refurbishing of theJimi Hendrix catalog continues with this

latest prize, a best -guess assemblage ofwhat would have been his fourth officialstudio album. The working title was "TheFirst Ray of the New Rising Sun," but Hen-drix died before completing the album, andmost of the songs here surfaced later invarious scattershot Seventies compilations.Now "Voodoo Soup" aims to be as close aspossible to the album we'd have had if he'dlived to see the project through.

To my ears, it's successful; hearing thesongs in this new alignment gives them acontext they previously lacked. Only Hen-drix knew his full intentions, of course, but"Voodoo Soup" embraces both earth andcosmos, revealing him to be moving towarda grounding in funkier, blues -based forrnswhile evoking the incomprehensible mys-teries of the universe, like a science -fictionwriter or filmmaker whose medium of ex-pression is the electric guitar. Belly ButtonWindow is a blues written from the perspec-

tive of an unwanted child in the womb.Room Full of Mirrors, a comment on thehuman ego, reveals Hendrix's immenseself-awareness: "I used to live in a roomfull of mirrors / All I could see was me /But I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors /Now the whole world is here for me tosee." Then there's the sly, eloquent sexuali-ty of Night Bird Flying, the dense, fever -dream blues rifling of Midnight. and thehard, black, tightly focused funk of EzyRider and Freedom.

What's most impressive about "VoodooSoup" is how contemporary - or, rather,timeless - Hendrix's music sounds a quar-ter -century later. His creative intensitymusical vitality tower above anything elseever attempted, before or since, in popularmusic. P.P.

JANIS IANRevenge

BEACON 51559 (S2 nun)Performance: Superfluous

Recording: Very good

JanisIan, the At ,Set enteen lass, all grown

up and presumably better prepared tohandle her angst and neuroses, returns withan album co -produced by John Jennings,

STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995 93

POPULAR MUSICwho has steered all of Mary Chapin Car-penter's records to greatness. The problemis that Ian doesn't have much to say any-more, settling for sexual titillation (StolenFire, about a lesbian triangle) rather thansolid content. Not even Jennings can makea half -empty glass appear filled to the top,and while the quasi -jazz framework hegives Ian's material helps it go down easier(the seductive Ready for the War will getyour juices stirring), not much about thislyrically lame, instrumentally heavy-hand-ed album is satisfying in the end. A.N.

GEORGE JONESAND TAMMY WYNETTE

OneMCA I I 245 (33 min)

Performance: Splendid vocals, but ...Recording: Very good

The reunion here of George Jones andTammy Wynette, one of country's great-

est duet teams (and legendary sparring part-ners during their six -year marriage), hasbeen a long time coming - some 15 yearssince the single Two Story House, notcounting the couple's reprise of their old hitGolden Ring on Jones's "Bradley Barn Ses-sions" last year. In some ways, the rapportbetween them seems to have deepened,which makes for a more comfortable vocalperformance (Wynette loves singing withJones's old Baptist harmony but often findshis erratic phrasing difficult to follow). Thetwo have never been better than on thisalbum's What Ever Happened to Us, anaching ballad in the vein of their stellar pastwork, with Wynette supplying the vocal soband Jones the painful regret. They alsoshine on If God Met You, which goes on tosay, "She wouldn't like you." But not allthe material is that strong; as Jones has ad-mitted in an interview, "We kept trying tofind better songs, and we couldn't, and wehad to fill the album up." The Possumknows his stuff. A.N.

Mudhoney: Why aren't these men laughing?

NATALIE MERCHANTTigerlily

ELEKTRA 61745 (50 min)Performance: DullRecording: Good

'Jere's a math problem with aestheticWM overtones: If you have 10,000 Maniacsand you subtract Natalie Merchant, howmany Maniacs do you have left? The cor-rect answer is 10,000, because judgingfrom her somnambulent solo debut, Mer-chant wasn't a Maniac at all. In fact, shebarely has a pulse.

The 13 tunes of "Tigerlily" seem tocrawl along. While the intro to Wonder fea-tures a little guitar pizzazz and / May Knowthe Word quickens its tempo slightly for thechorus, neither is the sort of thing to getyou dancing in the aisles (true, the Maniacswere never actually maniacal, but they didcrank it up at times). If the lyrics had a littlesnap of their own, that might be compensa-tion, but what you get here is vague, self-pitying, and surprisingly naive. On Carni-val, for example, Merchant actually seemsstartled to learn that desperate and crazyand insincere people can be encountered onthe street (duh!). And her vocals compoundthe staid, airless quality of the songs. Withfew exceptions, she sings without dis-cernible emotion, so that in Beloved Wife.the saga of a man so despondent over thedeath of his longtime spouse that he con-templates suicide, Merchant doesn't seemmournful at all.

Three words: had career move. R.G.

MUDHONEYMy Brother the Cow

REPRISE 45840 (74 min)Performance: Lively! (lyleviL)Recording: Grungy (ygnurG)

ne of Seattle's most deafening - make%/that deserving - bands, Mudhoney fi-nally seems to be getting its due with "MyBrother the Cow," a near -perfect summa -

Maggie, Terre, Suzzy Roche: beguiling

tion of its strengths in the humor and hard -rock departments. The album starts off withthe guitar -and -vocal lacerations of Judg-ment, Rage, Retribution and Thyme, set toan avalanche of grunge-metal barre chords.Generation Spokesmodel takes the piss outof indie rock's rulebook of hip etiquette:"I got a guitar / Check it out, I'm a star /Hey kids, how would I look on the coverof Spin?" smirks singer/guitarist MarkArm. The twelve songs here - only oneof which clocks in at more than four min-utes - are locomotive -fast, spiky, and sar-donic as hell.

But Mudhoney also fires well -aimedbarbs at the, ahem, pro -life movement inF.D.K (Fearless Doctor Killers) with lineslike "I'm all for life until the bastard'sborn / After that he's out on his own." Andthe album's moral undercurrent suggeststhat Mudhoney isn't always laughing afterall; in fact, What Moves the Heart? mighteven be a semi-serious query. As a gracenote, "My Brother the Cow" segues fromthe closing track - a fierce Stooges up-date/homage called 1995 - into a soundcollage that turns out to be the entire albumplayed backwards. Brilliant! P.P

THE ROCHESCan We Go Home NowRYKODISC 10299 (54 min)

Performance: largely invigoratingRecording: Very good

What is that?" asked a friend whowandered in during the Roches'

eight -minute tongue-in-cheek tribute toSeventh Avenue, My Winter Coat. "It's asister act," I replied. "Well, somebodyought to squash 'em," she said. "Theysound just like a female version of theChipmunks."

Okay, so the Roches aren't everyone'scup of tea. But their acoustic folkie-popgrows on you, the playful melodies, eccen-tric harmonies, and left -of -center observa-tions on love and life often hitting the auralbull's-eye. "Can We Go Home Now," theirmost satisfying record in years, finds Mag-gie, Terre, and Suzzy moving from quirkyentries like Christlike, which uses religious

94 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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POPULAR MUSICmetaphors to describe the rage and desire ofa jealous boyfriend, to heartfelt songs suchas Home Away from Home, about a child-hood friendship with an adult neighbor.There's also a perfect nugget of domestichell in the title track, which might be aboutthe mental wrestling between mother anddaughter (or intimate friends), as well as afunny/sad portrait of a woman who livesalone, dreading the Holidays.

The Roches are capable of turning out abad line ("My heart was wounded on emp-ty"), but on the whole their writing is clear,concise, and beguiling, even if you don'talways immediately know it. Whether youthink they're squashable or lovable, ofcourse, depends on how musically adven-turous you are. And on how you feel aboutsister acts. A.N.

lhIra LT

SHAVERUnshaven

ZOO 72445-11104 (47 min)Performance: Smokin'

Recording: Good remoteStill country music's best -kept secret,Billy Joe Shaver follows his brilliant

1993 "Tramp on Your Street" with a blast-ing live set that leaves all the rough edgesintact. Revisiting such chestnuts as FastTrain to Georgia, Hottest Thing in Town,Honky Tonk Heroes, and Old Chunk ofCoal, Shaver and his son, Eddy, whose gui-tar rides a lightning bolt to work, turn out asplendid romp, Billy Joe's creaky tenorsometimes evoking Jerry Lee Lewis andotherwise sounding like the eternal losthobo communing with the angels. As forBilly Joe's songwriting, it's simply the bestworkingman's poetry that Nashville's seenfor decades. The next time somebody triesto educate you on the virtues of Garth andVince, slip this one on the stereo and watch'em crawl. A.N.

ROD STEWARTA Spanner in the Works\R \I i.sx67 157 min)

Performance: The usualRecording: Glossy

You can't tool inc, "A Spanner in theWorks" isn't really a new Rod Stewart

album. It's the same one he's been releasingunder various titles for something like twodecades now. Once again, rock tunes take aback seat to big, glossy ballads (a goodidea, since Stewart's current band of ses-sion hacks couldn't shake any rock-and-rollaction if you stood over them with a cattleprod). There's an oddball song, usually by

Tom Waits, to prove he can take chances.There's a song that hauls out the damn bag-pipes (here, the oft -recorded traditionalPurple Heather, for which Stewart claimsauthorship). There's an obvious "agingrocker salutes his roots" song - last timeit was The Motown Song, now it's Muddy.Sam and Otis. And as usual, there's alsoone song that proves he's not completelyout of gas, though here that song isn't theTom Petty -written single, Leave VirginiaAlone (whose backwoods imagery is ill-suited to Stewart's voice), but rather BobDylan's Sweetheart Like You, an over-looked gem that's performed in folkish.Gasoline Alley style.

Stewart went Adult Contemporary longbefore his time; by now he holds the recordfor rock's longest -running creative cop-out.His last album, the surprisingly good "Un-plugged," where he did early Seventies ma-terial with old pal Ron Wood, only provedhow far sidetracked Stewart's gotten. Ofcourse, critics have been saying such thingsever since 1975's "Atlantic Crossing," butif Rod doesn't mind rehashing the same oldalbum, I don't mind rehashing the same oldreview. Brett Milano

The ages of Skin

Remember Carol Shaya, the NewYork City policewoman who once

bared it all for Playboy magazineand then got bounced from the forceand plastered all over the tabloids?Well, weep not for the famouslyunemployed officer. Here, enjoyingher fifteen minutes of fame, we findShaya filming a new video (Girls -town) with Columbia Records dance -hall reggae star Super Cat. Food forthought: Can Divine Brown be farbehind? S.S.

TERRELLAngry Southern GentlemanPOINTBLANK 40099 (49 min)Performance: ConfessionalRecording: Good enough

Fiveyears after his well -reviewed debut,

"On the Wings of Dirty Angels," Terrellreturns with an autobiographical albumabout his physical and psychological relo-cation from Alabama to L.A. The problemhere is that the info in the press release -the journey was financed by Terrell's stintas a human guinea pig at Vanderbilt Uni-versity's medical school - is far more in-teresting than the musical trek itself.

While the lyrics sometimes conjure upan arresting image ("Whispered like a cot-tonmouth drinking lemonade"), and the mixof blues, folk, rock, and country occasional-ly packs a punch, Terrell never makes usfeel the chill of his real -life saga, whetherhe's hustling women as a Redneck Gigolo,setting up a bank heist (Strawdogs), or de-claring himself at the end of his rope (Bro-ken Man). Sell it to the movies, dude. Theylike that surface stuff. A.N.

THE TRAGICALLY HIPDay for Night

ATLANTIC 82729 (60 min)Performance: TurgidRecording: Annoying

The Tragically Hip are the biggest thingsince back bacon in the Great White

North, but they elicit no such sizzle in theUnited States. "Day for Night" isn't likelyto change that, since R.E.M. has alreadycovered the territory - dense post -post-modern rock - in "Monster." A turgid re-hash by comparison, "Day for Night" islong-winded and tedious, from the clottedweb of guitars that fulminate redundantly tothe doomsday vocal exertions of GordonDownie. There are intermittent flashes ofexcitement, such as the neopsychedelicbungee jump of Daredevil, but by and largethe album is an hour-long exercise in heard -it -all -before. (Note: When will bands thatdon't have even a half-hour of decent mate-rial stop making 60 -minute CD's?) P.P.

KEVIN WELCHLife Down Here on Earth

DEAD RECKONING 003 (43 min)Performance: Hit and miss

Recording: Very goodAAlternative country artist Kevin Welch

recorded two impressive albums forReprise - the 1992 "Western Beat" is anoverlooked classic - before the label de -

96 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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POPULAR MUSICcided he wasn't selling enough and droppedhim from the roster. Too bad, because nomatter how few of his albums crossed thecash register, Welch clearly demonstratedhe was a prestige act, a singer/songwriterwho could craft catchy, dignified commer-cial tunes (Trisha Yearwood's That's What ILike About You) as well as handle mysticimages and ideas.

Now recording for the indie label DeadReckoning, Welch does some experiment-ing in "Life Down Here on Earth." Previ-ously he was backed by his muscular andeclectic band, the Overtones, who dippedinto rock, folk, and almost New Age. Bycontrast, the new record features spare,mostly Celtic instrumentation - Irish fid-dle, pennywhistle, and accordion. Alas, theexperiment doesn't always work: The gen-tle loper Troublesome Times, for example,mostly sounds like Fellini movie music un-til a classic soul guitar arrives, seeminglyout of nowhere, at the end of the track.

That said, Welch has made a more reflec-tive album than his earlier collections, thisone seemingly about the choices you makein life, good and bad, and learning to livewith the consequences. While a couple ofthe songs sound too much like past efforts.and the one story song, Kicking Back inAmsterdam, doesn't really go anywhere,there's at least one gem in The Love / Havefor You, a portrait of romantic obsessionthat's stirring in its quiet intensity. Thismay not be Welch's best work, but anyonewho cares about progressive country andthe poet's path will surely find somethingto like in it. A.N.

YO LA TENGOElectr-O-Pura

\I \ I ADOR 92550 (59 min)Performance: Heartfelt

Recording: Murky

0 -ora long time Yo La Tengo looked like

the ultimate critics' band, which isn'tnecessarily a compliment. Led by singer/guitarist and former rock scribe Ira Kaplan,Yo La's early albums pursued a moodyshade of pop with some success, but therewere so many musical cross-referencesand lyrical inside jokes (one song listed hitsof the group America) that the band's ownpersonality was lost in the shuffle. Thatchanged in 1991 with "May I Sing withMe," where they mastered their influences- jangly garage rock, folk/rock harmonies,droney psychedelia. Their 1993 follow-up,"Painful." was both moodier and catchier.And the new "Electr-O-Pura" is the darkestand most challenging of the three.

Much of "Electr-O-Pura" recalls NeilYoung's "Tonight's the Night," not so muchin its theme as in its murky sound and gen-eral sense of dislocation, and there's somepop reassurance between the lines. Kaplanis a highly imaginative (if not technicallystunning) guitarist, and he knows the ex-pressive possibilities of vibrato and fuzz -tone. In fact, the lengthy closing track, BlueLine Swinger, piles up so much guitar -driven tension that it's a major relief whenthe song resolves in an uplifting chorus.You'd want to hunt the band down andstrangle them if it didn't. Brett Milano

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POPULAR MUSIC

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AlwaysFANTASY 9670 (54 min)

Performance: Heart and soulRecording: Very good

Twelve years younger than his famousbrother Nat, Freddy Cole is finally - at

64 - beginning to get the recognition he'salways deserved. Here, with a voice that

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and Grover Washington, Jr., all contributebeautiful solos. A wonderful album. C.A.

RICKY FORD QUINTETTenor Madness ToolMUSE 5478 (51 min)

Performance: Hard-hittingRecording: Good

UMerschel Evans was the tortoise and Les-ter Young the hare in the Count Basie

Orchestra of the late 1930's, and togetherthey set the ground rules for tenor saxo-phone competition. But the later model re-ferred to here by Ricky Ford and AntoineRoney is "Tenor Madness," Sonny Rol-lins's 1957 album encounter with John Col-trane. Though "Tenor Madness Too!" isn'tin that weight class, it's hard-hitting and en-joyable. In addition to turning in his usual

TENORMADNESS

commendable job as a soloist, Ford hascrafted five more -than -functional originals(the most ambitious is the moody but fluidBlues Abstractions) and imaginative arrange-ments of four standards, including HankMobley's Up a Step and Dizzy Gillespie'sCon Alma. Best of all, Roney - Coltranein this match, which is to say the puncher toFord's boxer - for once sounds as explo-sive as he usually does live, with his broth-er Wallace's band. F.D.

KENNY GARRETTTriology

WARNER BROS. 45731 (57 min)Performance: On fireRecording: Excellent

ir he most taxing part of a jazz critic's job0 these days is listening to lots of albums

by musicians who have listened to lots ofalbums. It isn't very often that a record asgood as Kenny Garrett's "Triology" comesalong - the first album I've heard by thisalto saxophonist that captures the fire heshowed in concert with Miles Davis in thelate 1980's.

The album is pianoless, just like SonnyRollins's "A Night at the Village Vanguard"and Joe Henderson's two Eighties record-ings from the same venue, but that isn't theonly similarity. Garrett is inspired and fullyequal to the very different challenges pre-sented by Cole Porter's Just One of ThoseThings and John Coltrane's Giant Steps onone hand and by Johnny Mandel's A Timefor Love and Dave Brubeck's In Your OwnSweet Way on the other. Even so, the mostenjoyable performances here are Garrett'sthree witty originals, especially the careen-ing Wayne's Thang -a clever twist on Fee

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POPULAR MUSIC

Kenny Garrett: the fire this time

Fi Fo Funi, Wayne Shorter's twist on thechords to Giant Steps.

Like Shorter (and Rollins, too), Garrettat his most impassioned is Garrett at hismost jocose, but I won't ruin things for youby itemizing his interpolations. Suffice it tosay that this is one of the year's most im-pressive jazz releases, thanks in no smallpart to the responsive support Garrett re-ceives from the talented young drummerBrian Blade and alternating bassists Char -nett Moffett and Kiyoshi Kitagawa (hey,if he's not offended by Oriental TowawayZone, you shouldn't be either). F.D.

BENNY GOLSONBenny Golson Quartet Live

DRL1N I-L,S 36552 (67 nun)Performance: Excellent

Recording: Excellent remote

BennyGolson is a prolific composer

whose work includes many songs thathave become jazz standards as well ascountless TV show and commercial themesyou probably never associated with him.That he is also an outstanding tenor saxo-phonist is sometimes overlooked - unless,of course, you are old enough to rememberthe Jazztet, which Golson co -led with trum-peter Art Farmer in the early Sixties. ThatGolson is still the superlative player he wasthirty years ago is very much in evidence in"Live," a 1989 quartet date recorded inItaly. The group is completed by pianistMulgrew Miller, bassist Peter Washington,and drummer Tony Reedus - three youngplayers who probably weren't even bornwhen Golson and his friend John Coltranewere running around in their hometown ofPhiladelphia looking for some place to play.There is no indication of a generation gapas these men perform, in a most cohesivemanner, the standard Sweet and Lovely,Tom McIntosh's The Cup Bearers, andthree Golson originals, including his classicbebop anthem, I Remember Clifford. Gol-son clearly also remembers Coltrane; hisstyle is brisk, vigorous, and decidedly inthe hard bop vein. This is excellent no-nonsense jazz. C.A.

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POPULAR MUSICLEROY JONES

Mo' Cream from the CropCOLUMBIA 66628 (62 min)

Performance: Very interestingRecording: Very good

Trumpeter Leroy Jones, a stylistic cha-meleon who has spent three years

buried in Harry Connick's big band, is nowstepping out with his own album. A NewOrleans native, Jones is steeped in thatcity's jazz tradition but not restricted by it."Mo' Cream from the Crop" shows theyoung trumpeter maneuvering with easeand creativity through an eclectic programof standards and intriguing originals. Theopener, When My Dreamboat Comes Home,is so weak I would have discarded it. Therest, however, is just fine, and Jones plays itwith engaging flair, occasionally adding aboppish stroke to moldy fig fare. Six excel-lent musicians enhance these performances,

IP II 7C IE

THE BENT BACKED TULIPSLooking Through ...EGGBERT 80015 (58 min)The nom du disque is from a Beatles song,but the players are actually should -have -been -big cult faves Dramarama. What'shere got left off a projected mid -Eightiesdouble album, and it's in the band's bestmode - ironic retro hard rock with gobs ofwit and intelligence, including a great takeon the Rolling Stones' version of StevieWonder's I Don't Know Why. S.S.

THE BEST OF DICK & DEE DEEVARESE SARABANDE 5576 (37 min)Thanks to one of the odder vocal blends ofthe Sixties, these kids' hits - The Moun-tain's High and Thou Shalt Not Steal -remain sui generis in 1995. Collector'snote: The real curiosity is. a version of Jag-ger/Richards' Blue Turns to Grey, with theStones themselves as backing band. S.S.

ESQUIVELMusic from a Sparkling PlanetBAR/NONE 056 (37 min)More late Fifties and early Sixties space-agebachelor -pad music from the suddenly cele-brated creator of the genre. To be sure, thevogue for this sort of thing is in part a GenX joke - but kitsch or not, the stuff isn'tstupid. On its own big -band terms, it's actu-ally wildly inventive, not to mention a greatway to show off your stereo system. S.S.

notably trombonist Lucien Barbarin (nowthere's a historic N.O. surname) and bassistWalter Payton. More, please. C.A.

PAT MARTINOThe Maker

EVIDENCE 22121 (51 min)Performance: Smoldering

Recording: ExcellentRecovered from the various neurologicaland other medical problems that ren-

dered him inactive for much of the Eight-ies, Pat Martino has made what might behis best album ever. He's never been thesort of guitarist who confuses volume withintensity, but his playing here is smoldering- it burns quietly and slowly, but it doesburn. His piercing tone in two original bal-lads is testimony to his awareness that ahornlike approach to guitar is as much amatter of pitch as of flying fingers (not that

NAND IN HAND:SONGS OF PARENTHOODMUSIC FOR LITTLE PEOPLE 42569 (51 min)Some of my best friends are parents, butfind this collection of songs by the likes ofJoni Mitchell, Bobby McFerrin, Judy Col-lins, and John Lennon so smug and self-sat-isfied that it could be used to promote thesale of birth -control devices or completesexual abstinence. William Livingstone

THE POLICELiveA&M 540 222 (two CD's, 147 min)Everybody's favorite bottle -blond powertrio at the beginning of their career (in aBoston club) and on their final tour (at anAtlanta arena). Verdict: a terrific mementoof a great band, Sting's faux Jamaican ac-cent notwithstanding. S.S.

THE SMITHEREENSBlown to SmithereensCAPITOL 31481 (61 min)Question: Why aren't the Smithereens oneof the biggest bands on the planet? Onlyconceivable answer: Some sort of prejudiceagainst regular guys from New Jersey. Andif you doubt that, check out this quite re-markable best -of compilation, in whichtheir Beatles-meet-AC/DC synthesis is dis-tilled to its absolute essentials. Pop -rockdoesn't get any better. S.S.

TRANCE 1ELLIPSIS ARTS 4000 (77 min)Just as Christian monks used chant toheighten spiritual awareness, the other greatreligions of the world have employed musicto open the mind to alternate realities. This

Art Pepper: triumph at the Vanguard

disc provides excellent examples, includinghymns to Hindu deities and music fromTurkish dervishes and Tibetan Buddhistmonks. It's wonderfully exotic. W.L.

CARLOS WARDFatesPM 0001 (75 min)Ward is a veteran alto saxophonist andflutist who's never received a fraction of theattention due him. This self -produced CD- only Ward's second as a leader - isn'tquite the showcase it might have been,but it's worth hearing; I wouldn't want tohave missed his keening version of TheGypsy, a song indelibly associated withCharlie Parker. (Available from PM, phone718-778-2947.) F.D.

SPEEDY WEST & JIMMY BRYANTStratosphere BoogieRAZOR & TIE 2067 (36 min)The duo of pedal steel guitarist SpeedyWest and lead guitarist Jimmy Bryant waswell known in Nashville circles, but theirastonishing, breakneck country -jazz instru-mentals (recorded for Capitol) have lan-guished in obscurity since the Fifties. Whatdo they sound like? Imagine Les Paul's ear-ly records rendered without the benefit ofoverdubbing and you get a vague idea; inany case, you can take the title literally.Great fun, and a real historical find. S.S.

THE WHOA Quick OneMCA 11267 (56 min)Sell OutMCA 11268 (72 min)The restoration of the Who catalog contin-ues in the revelatory fashion established bythe recent "Live at Leeds" reissue. Whichmeans both of these Sixties classics nowrun twice their original length, with bonustracks quite often as sublime as the familiarstuff. Great moment (on "A Quick One"): aheretofore unreleased 1966 medley of MyGeneration and Land of Hope and Glory (!)that pretty much puts the Sex Pistols inperspective. S.S.

100 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

POPULAR MUSIChis fingers don't fly, especially in his ownThe Changing Tides). Pianist James Ridl,bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer JoeBonadio help make this an exemplary al-bum of modem chamber jazz. F.D.

ROSCOE MITCHELLHey Donald

Dla.AI:ARK 475 (57 minPerformance: Not so straight -ahead

Recording: Very good

Scomeof the folks I know who've heard

"Hey Donald," a Roscoe Mitchell quar-tet date with Jodie Christian on piano andTootie Heath on drums, have been referringto it as the veteran Art Ensemble of Chica-go member's first straight -ahead album.Maybe, but only comparatively speaking.The quizzical tilt of Mitchell's tenor phras-es on the semi-R&B title track confirmsthat straight -ahead for him is pretty twistedfor anybody else, and his duets with bassist(and fellow AAC member) Malachi Favorsare exploratory by anyone's standards. It allmakes for a stimulating hour of music, withthe underrated Christian giving occasionallessons in the art of hard hop piano. F.D.

ART PEPPERThe Complete Village Vanguard Sessions

CONTEMPORARY/FANTASY 4417(nine CD's. 388 min)

Performance: Monster in a boxRecording: Excellent

Phase I of Art Pepper's career includedhis days as a star soloist with the Stan

Kenton Orchestra, his 1950's LP's for Con-temporary, and his anomalous position as awhite West Coast hard bopper, as well ashis enslavement to heroin, numerous jailsentences, and many tentative comebacks.Phase 2, which ended with his death in1982, began with his triumphant week-longgig at New York's Village Vanguard in1977. during which he fronted a quartetfeaturing pianist George Cables, bassistGeorge Mraz, and drummer Elvin Jones.

In the 1980's, Contemporary releasedfour LP's of Pepper live at the Vanguard,and now we have nine CD's from the gig,each including one complete set (intros,false starts, and all) recorded during the lastthree nights of Pepper's engagement. Thisrepresents one of the few opportunitieswe've had to follow a great musician'sprogress from night to night. Pepper holdsup brilliantly under this close scrutiny, lib-erated (despite Jones's presence) from theColtrane influence that gripped him in theyears just before and audibly gaining inconfidence as the nights wear on. To saythat a jazz improviser "talks" through hishorn might be the hoariest of clichés, but inPepper's case it applies. Beginning withthis gig, "He shouted, squalled, moaned,cried, whimpered, and shrieked wheneverhe felt like it," observes his widow, Laurie,in her eloquent essay. aptly titled "Mon-ster," in the notes for this set.

Pepper, then in his early fifties, apparent-ly was determined to prove that he was theequal of any musician ever to play the hal-lowed Vanguard, and he came pretty damnclose. This music still pricks, almost twentyyears after the fact. F.D.

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URAL MusicBARTOK: Bluebeard's Castle

Szendrenyi, Struckmann; Frankfurt RadioSymphony, Inbal

DENON 78932 (60 min)Performance: Big

Recording: Revealing

BluebeardsCastle, Banok's only opera,

a powerful single act of psychologicalmusic drama, has had numerous revivalsover the years and more than one memo-rable recording. The rooms in the castle arethe dark recesses of Bluebeard's mind, andhis wife, Judith, who tries desperately tofling open the doors, is ultimately trappedbehind them. That may sound like old-fash-ioned Freudian hokum, but, in fact, astransformed by Bartok's stunning score, thepiece is extraordinarily effective. The big-gest problem is that the libretto is in Hun-garian, and the vocal writing is profoundlywrapped up in the sound of that strange lan-guage. A translation is probably desirableon the stage but doesn't seem to work in arecording.

The solution here involves a strong Hun-garian singer as Judith, soprano KatalinSzendrenyi, and a vocally and dramaticallyoutstanding German, baritone Falk Struck-mann, as Bluebeard. The Frankfurt RadioSymphony may not be a major-league out-

fit, but under conductor Eliahu Inbal - thereal star of the production - the perfor-mance has size, and the recording throwsconsiderable light on Bartok's most colorfuland evocative work. E.S.

BRAHMS: Clarinet QuintetWEBER: Clarinet Quintet

Stoll/man: Tokyo String QuartetRCA 68033 167 min)

Performance: Fine WeberRecording: Agreeable

Scometwenty years ago the young Rich-

ard Stoltzman and the Cleveland Quar-tet made an irresistibly warm and compas-sionate recording of the Brahms ClarinetQuintet. The remake at hand with the To-kyo Quartet is not irresistible. It is impecca-ble in respect to technical assurance, butsomehow a little less convincingly Brahms-ian. I get the feeling that Stoltzman and hisassociates this time around felt they shouldtake a more overtly dramatic approach, andin so doing came off sounding constrainedand "uptight." There is drama in the work,to be sure, but it is drama on Brahms's own,generally expansive terms, which seem tohave been rejected here in favor of a moreobjective or more externalized view thatsimply doesn't work as well.

'hem McFerrinobby McFerrin, best known as a

Eljazz and pop vocalist and compos-er, has now made his debut recordingas an orchestra conductor. "PaperMoon.- released by Sony Classical inmid -July, features McFerrin conduct-ing the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestrain Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusikand his overture to The Marriage of Fi-garo as well as in excerpts from Stra-vinsky's Pulcinella and Mendelssohn'sMidsummer Night's Dream. McFerrinalso displays his unique talents as avocal "instrumentalist" by performingthe solo part in Bach's A Minor ViolinConcerto, Boccherini's String QuintetNo. 1. Faure's Pavane, and Tchaikov-sky's Andante Cantabile and joiningthe orchestra's principal cellist as oneof the soloists in a Vivaldi concerto forvoice and cello. Bobby McFerrin, conductor

NEW RECORDINGS

REVIEWED BY ROBERT

ACKART, RICHARD FREED,

DAVID HALL, JAMIE

JAMES, GEORGE JELLINEK,

ERIC SALZMAN, AND

DAVID PATRICK STEARNS

Weber, on the other hand, is certainlytaken on his own terms in his somewhatlighter but downright adorable quintet;everyone involved seems to be wholeheart-edly and uncontrivedly relishing its affec-tionate good humor. There is simply nomore fetching current version of this work.The sound is generally agreeable in bothconcertos, though the cello might have beena bit more in the picture. R F

BRUCKNER: Chamber WorksLArchibmielli

SONY 66251 176 (muPerformance: Conscientious

Recording: Very clearistorically informed string -instrument

WU performances are the stock in trade ofL'Archibudelli, the Netherlands -based groupof players centered around cellist AnnerBylsma, who is here joined by violinistsVera Beths and Lisa Rautenberg and vio-lists Thrgen Kussmaul and Guus Jeuken-drup. The CD comprises all of the rarechamber works by Bruckner, whose outputwas otherwise almost wholly devoted to thesymphonic and ecclesiatical.

The four -movement String Quartet in CMinor dates from 1862, a period that alsosaw completion of Bruckner's first orches-tral work, the Overture in G Minor. Alongwith a rondo in the same key, the quar-tet makes for pleasant listening, with spo-radic glimpses of the mature composer inthe middle movements and some real virtu-oso writing in both the finale and the ap-pended rondo.

The String Quintet in F Major dates fromthe end of the 1870's, when the composerwas taking a breather from the stormy dra-ma of the Fifth Symphony, not only by thisbrief detour into chamber music but also byway of the most amiable yet enigmatic ofhis nine mature symphonies, No. 6. I sidewith those who find the quintet, for all itsabsorbing episodes, something of a misbe-

102 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

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rErWlIBIUS1CWORLD

CIRCLE NO 33 ON READER SERVICE CARD

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Anton Bruckner!,onit Intet

t,tring Quartet

ATchihudelli

gotten symphony. Heresy or no, I keepwanting to hear a full orchestra, or at least afull symphonic string body. As is almost al-ways the case with Bruckner. the heart ofthe quintet is in the richly textured polypho-ny of its slow movement. The episodic lastmovement has a decidedly symphonic end-ing. The remaining work on the CD, thesomewhat rough-hewn, Landler-like D Mi-nor Intermezzo, was composed as an alter-nate to the quintet's scherzo; while pleas-ant, it is not as individual in character.

While L'Archibudelli's musicianship can-not be faulted, the recording, done in whatseems like a small but nicely airy church, isvery clear and bright, notable more for analmost analytical sorting out of linear ele-

ments than for a sonic blend. The music re-ally needs both qualities. D.H.

D MUSSY: La Mer; Nocturnes; Jeux;Rhapsody for Clarinet

Cohen: Cleveland Symphony Chorus andOrchestra, Boulez

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON439 896 (71 min)

Performance: SuperbRecording: Spacious

PierreBoulez has by now rerecorded

with the Chicago and Cleveland Sym-phony Orchestras on Deutsche Grammo-phon most of the Debussy. Bartok, andStravinsky works he recorded twenty-fiveor thirty years ago in Cleveland, New York,and London for what was then ColumbiaRecords, and the new versions have super-seded the earlier ones in every respect. Thenew performances benefit, of course, fromglorious orchestral playing and spaciousdigital recording, and Boulez has added awelcome degree of interpretive warmth tothe insights and technical precision he hasalways brought to this music. The three bigworks on this new disc benefit enormouslyfrom all of those developments.

In his earlier recording of La Mer Bouleztook a curiously deliberate view of the mid-dle movement ("Jetty de vogues"). The newperformance is nearly as slow. and almost

certainly the slowest among current record-ings of this section. and yet this time thepacing seems only mildly "expansive" -neither at odds with the imagery in the mu-sic nor a breakdown in its continuity - andthe grandeur of the work's final section isquite remarkable.

So is everything else in this collection.There is certainly nothing hinting at delib-erateness in the Nocturnes, which movewith an otherworldly lightness and grace,nor in the still underacknowledged Jeux,which is not merely X-rayed as it was be-fore but comes off as a work of great com-municative power. Franklin Cohen, theCleveland Orchestra's principal clarinetist,brings a high level of distinction to theClarinet Rhapsody to round out a truly out-standing issue. R.F.

GLASS: La Belle et la BeteSoloist,; Philip Glass Ensemble. Riesman

NONESUCH 79347 (89 min)Performance: Musically magical

Recording: Excellent

PhilipGlass's first music -theater work

based on films of Jean Cocteau, Or-phee, was more or less a traditional opera.but La Belle et la Bete (the non -Disney ver-sion of "Beauty and the Beast") uses liveperformers to accompany the original film.There is an aspect of Glass's work that

Schumann and "The Romantic Generation"wo of this year's most appealing pi-ano oreleases have come out at the

same time, complementing each other notonly in respect to repertory (none ofwhich is directly duplicated), but in per-forming style as well. The repertory link isthe music of Schumann, to which AbdelRahman El Bacha's Forlane disc is devot-ed in full. A somewhat broader link is ashared view of the music produced in thequarter -century that followed the death ofBeethoven. Charles Rosen's illuminatingand enjoyable MusicMasters CD, "TheRomantic Generation, released aroundthe same time as his new book The Ro-mantic Generation: Music 1827-1850 (Har-vard University Press), also includessome small works of Chopin and Liszt.

Rosen's book itself comes with a CD,and three of the performances there areduplicated on the MusicMasters record-ing - Liszt's Reminiscences de DonJuan, his piano arrangement of Chopin'ssong My Joys, and one of Chopin's ownnocturnes. Along with another Chopinnocturne and Liszt's transcription of hisown song Die Loreley, the MusicMastersCD offers one of the richest of Schu-mann's sets of "characteristic pieces,"the Davidsbundlertanze. Rosen plays thefirst edition of this big suite, which, as he

points out in his annotation, is richer in"fantastic details" than the revised ver-sion. He does not go in for any sort ofempty showmanship in the Liszt or Schu-mann pieces, but in going for substancehe does not neglect tonal beauty either.

El Bacha, a 36 -year -old Lebanese whowon the Queen Elisabeth of BelgiumCompetition at 19, shows a similar seri-ousness toward the musical integrity of

Pianist Charles Rosen

the Romantic era's defining works andis likewise equipped with technical re-sources that enable him to devote his en-ergies to interpretation and communica-tion. His Schumann program is an imagi-native one - the Sonatas No. 2 and No. 3(the so-called Concerto without Orches-tra) framing the Waldszenen - and his re-sponse to it is refreshing. His touch islight, his sense of proportion is unfailing,and every phrase shines with a radiant,clarifying intimacy that is never at oddswith the music's essential vitality. In

short, he gives the impression of unlimit-ed confidence and belief in these works.

The sound is first-rate on both discs.Richard Freed

SCHUMANN: DavidsbandlertanzeCHOPIN: Two Nocturnes; "My Joys"(arr. Liszt)LISZT: Reminiscences de Don Juan; DieLoreleyCharles Rosen (piano)

MUSICMASTERS 67154 (73 min)

SCHUMANN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2and 3; WaldszenenAbdel Rahman El Bacha (piano)

FORLANE/KOCH IMPORTS 16722(63 min)

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CLASSICAL MUSICmight most simply be called "music asmagic." The incantatory and transformativequalities of his style lend themselves per-fectly to fairy tales and other otherworldlysubjects, and this one is perfect material forhis imagination.

But what a difficult task Glass has sethimself! Replacing the original soundtrackof a film, with singing where there was spo-ken dialogue, requires Glass to set, and theperformers to sing, every single line of theoriginal in a quasi -lip -sync style. It is notjust a matter of timing. Spoken dialogue in-variably moves along much faster than nor-

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mal sung text; thus, everything in this operahas to be quick, beyond recitative, breath-less in its pacing. The result is that there isalmost no chance for lyric expansion in thevoices. All the musical development mustbe left to the orchestra, and even the or-chestral music, although more varied inpacing than the vocal parts (you can singquick syllables against slow music), tendsto stay on the move as it tries to keep upwith the film.

In live performance and also in this re-cording, the opening scenes seem, if notquite frenetic, perpetually out of breath.

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And the problem is exacerbated by the clas-sic difficulties that confront non -Frenchsingers trying to sing in French; sometimesyou feel they can barely spit out the sylla-bles. Eventually, though, both singers andaudience adjust and begin to get wrappedup in both story and music. Even a smallrelaxation of the pace creates a big lyricfeeling. Glass's clear linear/harmonic stylehas real affinities with Cocteau's classicalclarity; both artists play continually withstrong emotions captured within very se-vere restraints.

Glass's theater music works best when itinvolves his own ensemble of winds andkeyboard instruments, here augmented by astring section and brass. There are no stand-outs in this ensemble cast, although JohnKuether's uncanny ability to switch vocallybetween the Father and the Moneylender isstriking. The somewhat goody-goody char-acter of Beauty, the unrelentingly intenseparlando of her part, and the linguistic dif-ficulties all leave Janice Felty hovering onthe edge of a difficult role. Gregory Purn-hagen, who sings both the Beast and Beau-ty's would-be lover Avenant (who turn outto be, more or less, two aspects of the samecreature), shows a somewhat surer com-mand of French; he also has the best oppor-tunity to create character through music,and he makes something of it. The amplebooklet contains an interview with the com-poser and full texts and translations. ES.

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There was never any letdown through-out the set, either on Poblocka's part or bythe excellent Cracow -based orchestra underthe direction of Tadeusz Wojciechowski.The orchestral pieces, ranging from the alltoo familiar Peer Gynt excerpts and Two

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CLASSICAL MUSICElegiac Melodies to the boldly scaled Sym-phonic Dances, are all performed as thoughthey were written yesterday, with pristinefreshness, verve, and poetic sensibility. Thedance movements of the Holberg Suite arefeatherlight, and there is a deeply movingpathos in the fourth movement.

In many respects the most surprisingparts of this collection are the eight ex-cerpts from the Lyric Pieces, all originallywritten for piano. Listen to the magicalEvening in the Mountains from Op. 68 andthe amazing proto-Debussyian Bell Ringingfrom Op. 54. The recording is just fine,

with brightness and punch, and plenty ofwarmth in the strings. D.H.

LEHAR: The Merry WidowStuder, Bonney, Skovhus, others; chorus;

Vienna Philharmonic, GardinerDEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

439 911 (79 min)Performance: Creamy

Recording: Rich

If you still regard the early -music scenethe way a steak eater thinks of tofu, the

idea of musicological revisionist John EliotGardiner conducting The Merry Widow

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DISCOVER

must seem breathtakingly perverse. Sur-prise! He provides all of the schmaltz andViennese sensibility anyone could want,though not without significant emendations.

Normally, The Merry Widow is per-formed with only the piano score; apparent-ly an orchestral score simply doesn't exist,or didn't until Gardiner had one made fromparts supplied by the Lehar estate. It makesall the difference. Numerous orchestral de-tails emerge, giving the whole operetta amuch greater sense of musical foregroundand background. In many ways, Gardinerachieves a sumptuousness to equal that ofHerbert von Karajan's 1972 account, thoughwhen he tarries over a passage here andthere, it's with a much greater sense of pur-pose. Those who know Gardiner throughhis unyielding Beethoven symphony setwon't believe this is really him.

Soprano Cheryl Studer creates a sexy,coquettish Hanna by reining in her Wagner-ian pipes. As Danilo, the bright young Dan-ish baritone Boje Skovhus portrays his ActII rejection by Hanna with an unusual grav-ity that gives the opera's action a strongerdramatic counterpoint. Soprano BarbaraBonney is an elegant Valencienne and bari-tone Bryn Terfel an appropriately blusteryBaron Zeta. D.P.S.

MENDELSSOHN:A Midsummer Night's Dream

Battle. Von Stade. Dench: Tatiglev,00dFestival Chorus; Boston Symphony, Ozawa

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON439 897 (56 min)

Performance: Musically splendidRecording: Likewise

Musically, this is a beautiful issue. Fred-erica von Stade, who sang the Second

Fairy's music in German in the lovely Or-mandy recording on RCA Victor, is everybit as persuasive in this English -languageversion. Kathleen Battle, the TanglewoodChorus, and the orchestra are similarly com-mitted. Seiji Ozawa is obviously in lovewith the work; he even helped edit the spo-ken text for a single narrator - and there'sthe rub.

Kurt Masur's recent Teldec recording ofthe Midsummer Night's Dream music wasspoiled for most Anglophone listeners byhaving narration in German. Ozawa's,which otherwise exudes more charm thanMasur's, is also spoiled by the narrationeven though it is in English. Actress JudiDench has distinguished herself in the the-ater, but there is just too much of her herein relation to the music. I'm put off by all

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CLASSICAL MUSICthe intensity, by the jarring entrances, andby her pauses after each line of verse, irre-spective of expressive sense. It doesn't help,either, that in many of her segments sheseems to have been recorded from thedepths of a cistern.

Ozawa's singers and players are recordedhandsomely, and some listeners will not bedistressed by the narration. My own feelingis that this glorious music works best eitherin the context of the play itself, with its var-ious characters taken by different actors, oras a pure concert work with the barest mini-mum of spoken material - or none. R.F.

MOZART: Three Fantasies (K. 396, 397,and 475); Piano Sonata in C Minor(K. 457); Adagio in B Minor (K. 540)

Valery Afanassiev (piano)DENON 78945 (69 min)Performance: Intriguing

Recording: LifelikeAll five n (irks here are in minor keys,

Mind three of them bear the title "fanta-sy," which might have suited the K. 540Adagio as well. More than an hour of dark,minor -key Mozart in Valery Afanassiev'shands may be rather too much - in fair-ness, though, the monotony may reflect

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more on his programming sense than onhis playing. Of course, no one has to listento all of any recorded collection at one sit-ting, and this one may be worth trying inshorter takes.

As with his earlier recordings, Afanas-siev has provided bizarre annotation con-sisting largely of philosophical -autobio-graphical -confessional essays and "poems"sprinkled with references to the TibetanBook of the Dead and citations of his ownother writings. If you don't look at the an-notation you may well find that his per-formances are intriguing, credible state-ments of the music (if you do read it, youmay feel he succeeds musically in spite ofhimself). He has no apparent technicalproblems, he clearly knows the material,and he only occasionally belabors a dramat-ic point. He presents the C Minor Fantasy(K. 396) in the unfinished form in whichMozart left it; the piece is certainly morepoignant that way than with any of the con-clusions that have been suggested. There is,in fact, a good deal more poignancy thanbluster in these performances, and the ex-ceptionally lifelike piano sound is quite aboost. R.F.

PURCELL: Dido and AeneasGens, Martin-Degor, Berg, others; Les Arts

Florissants, ChristieERATO 98477 (52 min)Performance: SuperbRecording: Natural

PURCELL: Dido and AeneasBott, Kirkby, Ainsley, others; Chorus andAcademy of Ancient Music, HogwoodL'OISEAU-LYRE 436 992 (52 min)

Performance: Luxuriously castRecording: Excellent

Fewpre -Mozart operas deserve so many

wonderful recordings as Dido and Ae-neas. And though neither of these two newones is as vividly characterized as NicholasMcGegan's on Harmonia Mundi with Lor-raine Hunt, William Christie's set on Eratooffers soprano Veronique Gens as the mostvocally lustrous Dido on the early -musicscene, and Christopher Hogwood's set onL'Oiseau-Lyre has all manner of musico-logical alternatives even though its music -making is one-dimensional.

While some of Christie's recordings haveemphasized polish at the expense of expres-siveness, this is not one of them. Dido's fa-mous "When I am laid in earth" has a near -shattering emotional impact thanks to thefunereal pacing - and also to Gens's regalvocalism, which so naturally conveys thegravity of the situation. Instrumentally,Christie makes much of the harmonies, col-ors, and dance -like rhythms. And whilethere is a welcome French accent to theplaying, the singing is idiomatic and unac-cented.

Hogwood's Dido, Catherine Bott, initiallyseems vocally thin for the role, though sheis ultimately satisfying by virtue of her ver-bal nuances. Elsewhere, Emma Kirkby ishappily cast as Belinda, especially whenshe matches pipes with Julianne Baird inthe cameo role of the Second Woman. Ingeneral, this recording is luxuriously and

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CLASSICAL MUSIC

QUICKFIXESBACH: Goldberg VariationsKonstantin Lifschitz (piano)DENON 78961 (79 min)Bach composed his "Goldberg" Varia-tions to provide diversion for an aristo-cratic patron who suffered from insomnia.Lifschitz's deeply felt interpretation hasvirtuosity and great clarity of articula-tion as well as the elegance, delicacy, andliveliness Bach's patron asked for. Hekeeps me awake and alert throughoutthe piece. William Livingstone

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 3;Alto RhapsodyVan Nes; Tanglewood Festival Chorus;Boston Symphony, HaitinkPHILIPS 442 120 (54 min)Bernard Haitink and the Boston Sympho-ny deliver some burnished -gold Brahms-ian moments, but both he and contraltoJard van Nes are less persuasive here thanin their own earlier recordings of the re-spective works. Van Nes showed moreconviction in her recent Alto Rhapsodywith Herbert Blomstedt and the San Fran-cisco Symphony, and Haitink himselfachieved greater overall momentum in theThird Symphony he recorded with theConcertgebouw Orchestra some twenty-five years ago. R.F.

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HAYDN: Symphonies Nos. 99 and 100La Petite Bande, KuijkenDEUTSCHE HARMONIA MUNDI77328 (52 min)Sigiswald Kuijken has given us somesuperb Haydn performances, but thesenewest ones are curiously underanimated.The witty syncopations in No. 99 aresmoothed almost entirely away, and thereseems to be a determination to avoid theslightest hint of a smile, let alone realsparkle, in the "Military" Symphony.Roger Norrington's similar coupling onEMI is far more fetching and comes witha little bonus: Haydn's seldom -heardCovent Garden Overture. R.F.

PROKOFIEV: Romeo and Juliet, SuiteRoyal Concertgebouw Orchestra. ChungDEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON439 870 (63 min)Prokofiev made three suites out of thescore for the ballet Romeo and Juliet, andMyung-Whun Chung has drawn on all of

them to make a fourth. This is a big -sizeeffort recorded in the Concertgebouw hallitself. Alas, Chung's selection of numbers,the glossy, brilliant style of the perfor-mance, and the fatness of the recordedsound have the curious effect of acousti-cal overkill, making the music seem alter-nately bombastic and trivial. E.S.

SCHUBERT: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 8Ilelsinghorg Symphony. OstrowskyDISCOVER 920213 (64 min)Here's a fine budget CD that not only in-telligently pairs Schubert's two "tragic"symphonies, but also presents them inreadings imbued with both verve and pas-sion. Virility and sensitivity are displayedthroughout No. 4, called the "Tragic"; Iespecially like the weighty menuetto. Theperformance of the truly tragic "Unfin-ished" (No. 8) is deliberate and highlycharged in the first movement, heart -clutching in the second. Israeli -born AviOstrowsky bears watching. He has hisfifty Helsingborg musicians on their toesall the way. Excellent sound. D.H.

TALUJON PERCUSSION QUARTETHumI ALUJON 001 (60 min)Talujon starts out this self -produced re-cording debut with a whopper reading ofthe Cage Third Construction and thengoes on to a knife-edge performance ofPart I of Steve Reich's Drumming, DeanDrummond's tricky Dirty Ferdie, and afew items from the quartet's own bag oftricks, including four players on a singlemarimba, vibrating metal dipped in water,even a bit of collective wit billed as TheirFour and Sow Three (the music is as oddas the title). If you want this exciting andamusing album you will probably have towrite directly to Talujon at 140 RiversideDr., #9C, New York, NY 10024. E.S.

FREDERICA VON STADEVoyage a ParisRCA VICTOR 62711 (70 min)Frederica von Stade has long made a spe-cialty of early twentieth-century Frenchart songs, and she brings her usual verveand charm to bear upon the ones in thisgenerous collection. Her voice soundswhitish and thin at moments of stress,however, and she is just a touch heavy-handed with feathery -fine trifles such asSatie's Trois Melodies and the Poulencminiatures she has selected. Martin Katzgives her expert support on the piano,and the recorded sound has a pleasingresonance. J.J.

innovatively cast, with a male Sorceress(David Thomas) and a boy soprano as theFirst Sailor (Daniel Lochmann). There areeven authentic sound effects (mostly thun-der) borrowed from Baroque -era machinesat the Drottningholm Court Theater, thoughthey sound more like offstage car accidents.

Hogwood has also plugged all of theholes that musicologists have found in thescore with dances and ritomelli derived fromexisting music in the opera. The Christie re-cording plugs only the Act II finale, round-ing out the opera's tonal scheme with ananimated, gloating witches' chorus writtenby Bruce Wood in the style of Purcell.Though some might frown on the practiceof inserting newly composed music, it's themost dramatically effective solution. D.P.S.

SCHUBERT: Schwanengesang;other songs

Holzman; CooperPHILIPS 442 460 (77 min)Performance: Beautiful

Recording: Excellent

Recitalshave become endangered spe-

cies in our musical landscape, but wecan always hope for a turnaround withartists like the Austrian Wolfgang Holzmairin our midst. It's the beauty of the voice it-self that first grips the listener: a light bari-tone of moderate size and range, used withgreat skill and refinement. Within a rela-tively limited dynamic scale he displays asensitive pointing of words and abundantcoloristic variety. Songs of an intimate na-ture, like Die Taubenpost and Friihlings-Sehnsucht, bring out his artistry most im-pressively, but he doesn't slight the bitterHeine songs either, capturing the wrench-ing despair of Der Atlas and the ghostlyaura of Der Doppelganger. At the risk ofcarping, I do find his temperament a shadetoo placid, too concerned with sheer beautyof sound. A bit more defiance in Aufenthaltand a jauntier approach to Ahschied wouldbe welcome.

Five additional songs on texts by theSchwanengesang poet, Johann Seidl, andtwo additional rarely heard songs on poemsby Ludwig Rellstab (Lehensmut and Herbst),all dating from Schubert's final year andthematically attuned to the spirit of the cy-cle, complete the program. Imogen Cooper,a distinguished concert pianist in her ownright, is an outstanding collaborator. G.J.

114 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

Baritone Wolfgang Holzmair

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OUR 20TH YEAR! CALL 1(800) 826-0520. *NAD * SONY ES * ONKYO * CARVER * HARMANKARDON * KEF * GRADO * LEXICON * ATLAN-TIC TECHNOLOGY * PSB * AUDIOCONTROL *MONSTER CABLE * NILES AUDIO * SONY DSS *THORENS * PROAC * PANAMAX * CWD *CELESTION JAMO * ALTEC LANSING * SANUSSYSTEMS * RECOTON * STAX * OMNI MOUNT *TARGET * SOUNDSTREAM * SOUND ANCHORS* KICKER * MTX * CLARION * ROCKFORDFOSGATE * SOUND SELLER, BOX 224, 2808CAHILL, MARINETTE, WI 54143-0224.

FOR SALE

PLEASE NOTE:A * AFTER A PRODUCT INDICATES

THE ADVERTISER IS AN AUTHO-

RIZED DEALER FOR THAT PRODUCT.

B&W CARVER DENON KEF NAD ONKYO -POLK OTHER LINES AVAILABLE 24 HOURAUTOMATED PRICING COURTEOUS ASSIS-TANCE AMERICAN THEATER SYSTEMS (904)321-0100.

TIPS FOR MAIL ORDERPURCHASERS

It is impossible for us to verify all ofthe claims of advertisers, includingproduct availability and existence ofwarranties. Therefore, the followinginformation is provided for yourprotection.

1. Confirm price and merchandiseinformation with the seller, includingbrand, model, color or finish, acces-sories and rebates included in theprice.2. Understand the seller's returnand refund -policy, including theallowable return period, who pays thepostage for returned merchandise,and whether there is any "restocking"charge.3. Understand the product's war-ranty. Is there a manufacturer's war-ranty, and if so, is it from a U.S. orforeign manufacturer? Note thatmany manufacturers assert that,even if the product comes with aU.S. manufacturers warranty card,if you purchase from an unautho-rized dealer, you are not coveredby the manufacturer's warranty. Ifin doubt, contact the manufacturerdirectly. In addition to, or instead of,the manufacturer's warranty, the sell-er may offer its own warranty. Ineither case, what is covered by war-ranty, how long is the warranty peri-od, where will the product be ser-viced, what do you have to do, andwill the product be repaired orreplaced? You may want to receive acopy of the written warranty beforeplacing your order.4. Keep a copy of all transactions,including cancelled checks, receiptsand correspondance. For phoneorders, make a note of the orderincluding merchandise ordered, price,order date, expected delivery dateand salesperson's name.5. If the merchandise is notshipped within the promised timeor if no time was promised, 30 daysof receipt of the order, you generallyhave the right to cancel the order andget a refund.6. Merchandise substitution withoutyour express prior consent is notallowed.7. If you have a problem with yourorder or the merchandise, write aletter to the seller with all the perti-nent information and keep a copy.8. If you are unable to obtain satis-faction from the seller, contact theconsumer protection agency in theseller's state or your local Post Office.

If, after following the below guidelines,you experience a problem with a mailorder advertiser that you are unable toresolve, please let us know. WRITE toSusan Ross, Special Marketing, 45thfloor, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines,1633 Broadway, NY, NY 10019. Besure to include copies of all corre-spondence.

FOR SALE

ORD PLAYER NEEDLESAND CARTRIDGES. World'sLargest Selection anLowest Price!!

Proud to promote Audio Technics, Audloqusst,iBang & Olufsen, GoIdling, Grado, Ortofon,Shure, Signet, Stanton, Nitty Gritty, Last,Discwasher and morelM -Sat 10-7 Sun 12-5 Jerry Reakin's41914th Avenue SE Needle DoctorMinneapolis, MN 55414(612)378-0543 FAX. (612) 378-9024

HOURS:ICST)SInce 1982

omputAbility coattmon.zr;, nsittner Electronics \--)." STR 9,95

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Call For Brands & Model Not ListedHRS: Mon -Sat 9 AM - 6 PM EST Prices subject to change Pricesexclude shipping & handling. Not responsible for typographicalerrors. MasterCard. Visa. Amencan Express and C.O.D. accepted.Products come with W.C. Warranty, We ship UPS & FEDEX.

Wholesale Connection 63-48 108th St. Forest Hills, NY 11375

DJ & NightclubSound, Lighting & Video CATALOG

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including materials recommendations & diagrams. Topics:walls, ceilings, floors. HVAC. doors & more Better bottom -lineadvice Mon you'll find anywhere else, Send $1195 ckimo toUSAEciam. 11571 E 126th. Fishers, IN 46038 (317) 842-2600

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AY III lelXV SO9WA 100 149.A (101 RN.

MINI COMPONENTSVA( 210 BM.MC 330 /10.NW 55042, rro 119.111( 99 149.KO 200 119.W(1 119.NI 1 1.1.

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MiMEME:=MG:CrOl&NC moNEER TECHNICS

CASSETTE DECKS1011 242 IN. PM 3/3 119.O 61 411 K Ott f/5 294.

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CD PLANES11.14 ISOSOL ISO INam /I/WO IN IN0.10 N/ PINRIO ION all.

MINI SYSTEMSX01 SIS 101.X0171/ 119.

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5200 190 V20 219.1101 000 219. MX 939 In.Sr. NOW IN. 0S.1 NI INlQ SO 110 IN /0 Ile.

LASER DISCaro 70.am 404GM 504 NLCIA 304 129.CMS 104 214

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I NSO 114

ITECIIIVENSVIZ IS 11111.

9014 729.VS110 /NS 103.14.1 .0 1141/1. SKS 11119.

IN 404 219.V5.1 401 219.

DISC PLAYERS912 2 IK.PD MINPO ION 199.Fp

10 14123 111.POI 100

11..

CASSETTE DOCKS(71.2 10423 1111. 005 161.MY SON 111.

CORDLESS TEL

1.010 On. 501010 IN.intro IN. 111010 N.1.101 IN. INAPSO IN.0110450 140. SPP/4000 11/9.

re- i.

RCil mss D-940REMOTE CONTROL EXTENDER

Allows you to control any IRremote equipment from 60' - 100'away. Comes complete withreceiver, transmitter and extra IRsending unit for enclosed loca-tions. $59.95 +$6.95 s/h

Masterusrd & V,sa accepted CA and AZ residents add appropnatesales tax All p ; ict is new with tl` ...srranty

TECH WORLD(800) 408-2020

23679C2k-l--- Rd. #343

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FACTORYAUTHORIZED

DEALERS

speciaiiiigf. jot:

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REFERENCEAUDIOVIDEO

800 947- Ab b310 517-1700 so. cAtir.310 517-1732 FAX18214 DALTON AVENUE. DEPT SGARDENA, CA 90248

(INpA

4'dr. AO°1

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CAL AUDIO LABS CARVER CELESTION CLEARLIELD COUNTERPOINT (WDDAHL QUIST DUO EAROLIDIA 10SuAl1 GENESIS GRAD() HAILERHARMAN ARMIN HUGHES SRS LABS INFINITY 1000 IBL LEXICON

MAGNUM DYNAL AB MELDS MERIDIAN NOD NE STOROVIC NILES 0Nre0OARASOuND PHILIPS PIONEER POWER WEDGE PROEON PROAC PSB

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CALL FOR PRICES C04- ROCKFORD PP1-00.1.04-040w

2 PARK AVENUE, DEPT. 15. NY, NY 10016212 684-6363 FAX:

CAR STEREO212 684-8046

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DEHP615cap KEHP7200

KEHP6200can 7510... ........179

7511..................199CDE7820 319C0E7821 349

DE11515...... KEHP5200 For TDM7528 239 CDM7823S 429DE11415 Low KEHP4200 Low TDM7531ESS 269 CDM78245 509DEF1215

CDXF610...CDXP1210 Pries

KE1919COXFM128CDXFM67

L"FRCSS

T0M7532STDM7534SMRVF300

299319309

CHMS600 329CHMS650RF 4397982 599

SONY M815250 389 ERE0180 239CDX4090 219 X9C610 319 MRV10410 369 ALARMS CALLCDX5090 249 XRC 190 169 3342................439 Al-NET..........CALLC005290CDX5490

279339

X9C210XRC410

219229 * BOSTON

CDX51CDX51RF

259319

CDX71CDX71RF

229379

5.444

279249

/8/067 8810.4 per 299

3 ADS RX97 149 727 894 25X 239 32515 389 RC41..159 RC51 1793001S 249 2501.40 299 RC61 189 CXI New ... 4964210 199 450MX 5296 2 139 1150MX 699 CX7 .New ... 49 CX9' New _796 250 349 RS100 New 349 pr CX9' ..New .. 89 RX87 99AL5AL4

249219

588 NewAL6

179279

AVRIVRY

* KENW000 RS400 129 52K 99

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can RS5029S6903

79129

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269369

ARX5170 .. 269X807170....... .339

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pricea 09X9175L 439 944310 179

HOME AUDIOLAGUNA

BLAUPUNKT239 129 * YAMAHA 8 DEMON

VENTURA 329 MEMPHIS 159 RXV670 509 DRA565 289

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T62T827102

159

219 pr159 ea

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*SONY ES.STRGX800 529CDPCOS 419TCWA8 419

OCD615 199CDM340 229DRW660 229DCM460 309

'Factory Warranty-AuthOmed Factory WarrantyNon-Authorized$ NY Wholesale Warranty-Non-Authonzed ASK FOB OETAKS AI TIME OF ORDER

In(I)

00-

AUDIO/VIDEO/CAR yBRAND NEW vr4a627'1111

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Mail Order Calls1-800-328-0069in NH 431-8244

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THREE BEST $1,500 LOUDSPEAKERS!!! THXHOME THEATER!!! B&W - Alon* - Celestion* -KEF - Signet* - Fosgate* - Alchemy* - Mirage -Harman/Kardon* - Bang & Olufsen - Denon -Adcom - Polk - McCormack* - Eminent Technol-ogy* - Carver* - Unity - Velodyne - VMPS* + 29More Brands - Honest Advice! TECH ELECTRON-ICS. (904) 376-8080.

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WANTED TO BUY

LP's & CD's. BOUGHT & SOLD: Classical, Rock, Jazz, Audi-ophile, Etc. PRINCETON RECORD EXCHANGE, 20 Tulane St.,Princeton, NJ 08542. (609) 921-0881.

CASH for USED AUDIO & VIDEO EQUIP. BUYING and SELLING byPHONE CALL for HIGHEST QUOTE. (215) 886-1650 Ext. SR. Since1984. The Stereo Trading Outlet. 320 Old York Road. Jenkin-town. PA 19046.

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BUY ACI SPEAKERS HASSLE FREE. Factory Direct. Money bockguarantee. ACI is the manufacturer of the renowned Sap-phire IIL patented Subi subwoofers ACI Home Theater speak-ers. Free catalogue. (608) 784-4579. 901 S. 4th St., La Crosse.WI 54601.

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Parts Express is a full -line dis-tributor of electronic pans andaccessories geared toward theconsumer electronics industryand the technical hobbyist. Westock an extensive line ofspeaker drivers and accessoriesfor home and car. Call for yourFREE 212 page catalog today.

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Index to AdvertisersReader Page

Service No. Advertiser Number

I Adcom 17

20 Acoustic Research C3- Advent 91

America Online 60a,b

4 Bell 'Ogetti 86

The Binaural Source 97

BMG CD Club 36a.b- Bose 10, I I, 39. 55- Bose -Wave Radio 69- Boston Acoustics 63

6 Cambridge Sound Works 19, 21. 23, 24. 25

64 Cerwin-Vega 95

17 Chase Technologies 82- Clarion 13

12 Crutchfield 18

15 Definitive Technology 30, 31, 33. C4- Denon 28-29

25 Digital Phase 17

27 Direct Electronics 101

Electronic Depot 108- Electronic Wholesalers 107

2 Energy 74

- Home Theater Systems 109

33 J&R Music World 104-105- JBL 97, 99, 101

37 M&K 81- Marlboro 26-27

52 Mitsubishi 7

39 Mobile Fidelity 89

40 New West 113

55 NHT 35- Nintendo 2-3

34 NuReality 50

28 One Call 110

PARA ..48

47 Paradigm 45

45 Paradigm 47

46 Paradigm 49- Pioneer -Car 56-57- Pioneer -Home 41

51 Polk Audio 4

63 Polk Audio .67

53 Rock Solid

18 Rotel

- 6th Avenue Electronics III

Technics 8-9- Toshiba 42

- Uncle's Stereo 112- U.S. Air Force 65- U.S. Army 41

57 Vandersteen 98

61 Velodyne 14

Warner Music 96a,b

- Yamaha C2-1

September

HE EN ENDBY PETER W. MITCHELL

hat's in a Name?ecently, while visiting Los Angeles,I spent an interesting morning withthe eponymous Mark Levinson. Be-fore you march off in search of adictionary, I'll tell you that "epony-mous" refers to a personal name

that also identifies a company, institution,or the like. Thus "Donna Karan" identi-fies both a line of fashions and the de-signer who created them. "Dolby" identi-fies a series of noise -reduction systems,film -sound improvements, and the engi-neer (Ray Dolby) who designed them.

"Eponymous" is an adjective thatshould be familiar to audio enthusiasts,since many companies and product lineshave been named after the engineers whofounded the companies and designed theirfirst products. Of course, as in the exam-ples of Bob Carver (Carver and Sunfireamplifiers) and Roy Allison (Allison andRDL loudspeakers), eponymous foundersmay eventually leave their namesakecompanies and start new companies. Andcompanies are not always founded solelyby the engineers who designed the prod-ucts. For example, in the companieslaunched by (Saul) Marantz, (Frank) Mc-Intosh, and (Avery) Fisher during hi-fi'searly years, many circuit designs werecreated by Sid Smith and others.

Mark Levinson has been an influentialforce in high -end audio for two decades,but he's not an engineer. He's a musician,from a family of musicians. Perhaps hismost important gift is that he knows whatmusic actually sounds like, and he is ded-icated to improving both its recording andplayback. In contrast, many professionalmusicians are poor judges of sound quali-ty. They translate a score into such a vividmental image of the music that they oftenfocus on that instead of the actual sound.While responding to musical values (tem-po, phrasing, expression), they may notnotice differences in the actual sound it-self, such as its timbre and stereo imaging.

Levinson first gained attention amongaudiophiles as the creator of a series of"purist" recordings that were issued onLP during the 1970's. Then, as now,many microphones had obvious inaccura-cies that colored every sound, and record-ing engineers often selected microphonesfor specific tasks according to the way

their colorations complemented the toneof the instrument or voice being recorded.Levinson, on the other hand, chose themost accurate microphones he could find- a pair of omnidirectional B&K mea-surement mikes. He recorded mostly clas-sical music, in recitals around Yale Uni-versity. Recently those recordings werereissued on CD, and, aside from somelow-level tape hiss, the CD's deliver finesound. Timbres are tonally authentic, withrealistic live -concert ambience.

Levinson's recording activities led himinto a quest for improvements in electron-ics - modifying tape recorders for im-proved sound, developing better phonopreamplifiers, and so forth. He hired JohnCurl and other circuit -design engineersfor these projects. Then he and a businesspartner launched the Mark Levinsonbrand to manufacture state-of-the-art elec-tronic components.

In the mid- 1980's the company wasbought by Madrigal Audio, which contin-ues to design and sell superb electronicsunder the Mark Levinson name - andunder other brand names, too, such asProceed. Meanwhile, Mark Levinson (theperson) returned to his first interest, im-proving the sound of analog tape record -

on the same design principles and high -quality parts that are used in the best pho-no preamplifiers. Cello tape electronicsare now used in many of the country'sleading disc -mastering studios.

Other Cello products are used equallyby audiophiles and recording studios. Thebest-known example is the Cello Palette,an equalizer based on circuit designs bythe engineer/audiophile Richard Burwen.And when home theater became thefastest -growing segment of high -end au-dio, Levinson and his partners launchedthe Cello Music and Film division, sellingCello systems through dedicated show-rooms in New York, Los Angeles, Milan,and Moscow.

Levinson also assembled a state-of-the-art digital recording system based onB&K measurement microphones, low -noise mike preamps, and two digital mod-ules designed by Apogee Electronics -asuperb 20 -bit analog -to -digital converterand the Apogee UV -22 redithering pro-cessor. The latter recodes 20 -bit record-ings so that their finest details may be re-produced within the confines of the I6 -bitCD format. The Cello system has led tothree unique recording ventures: The Cello Cafe, opening soon in NewYork, will be an amplifier -free nightclubin which performances will be recordedlive. After each concert, listeners will beable to hear the recording. Selected re-cordings will also be issued on CD. Gene Pope, manager of Cello's Mos-cow showroom, has launched a new CDlabel, PopeMusic. Using just one B&Kmike per channel (no mixing!), the re-cordings capture spectacularly accuratedynamics. The label's first two releaseshave won rave reviews. One features bal-let music by Shchedrin and Shostakovitchrecorded by Pope in the concert hall atthe Moscow Conservatory. The other disc

Mark Levinson has been an influential

force in high -end audio for two decades, but

he's not an engineer. He's a musician.

ings, and started another company, Cello,Ltd., to develop state-of-the-art products.

The signal that is retrieved from an an-alog tape by the playback head is a verysmall waveform, typically measuring lessthan a thousandth of a volt. It must beamplified a great deal to bring it up to linelevel, and it also needs elaborate equal-ization to restore flat frequency response.But the preamplifier circuits in most taperecorders are considerably less sophisti-cated than a high -end phono preamp. Cel-lo developed its own electronics packagefor use with studio tape recorders, based

is an album of pop vocals by Lori Lieber-man recorded in the U.S. by Pope andLevinson. The Music Maker Relief and Record-ing Foundation is a joint project byLevinson and Tim Duffy to record au-thentic blues performers who are elderlyand destitute in the rural South. Incomefrom a $100 sampler CD will providemedicine, food, housing, and further re-cording opportunities for the artists.

For more information on these projects,contact Cello at 41 E. 62nd St., New York,NY 10021; telephone, 212-472-5016.

120 STEREO REVIEW SEPTEMBER 1995

0 THE AR STORY

AcousticResearchinvented the

modern home

loudspeaker in

1954.

For over forty years,

they have been the

leader in bookshelf

loudspeaker design,

technology and

sound reproduction.

To this day, you can

not buy a better

loudspeaker for the

money.

AR loudspeakers are designed for

optimum performance in real

world use.

Their sound patterns are designed

to interact with the boundaries in

your home - doors, bookshelves,

walls,furniture - so they are less par-

ticular as to their exact placement.

Their wide baffle design and exposed

dome drivers produce a wide and con-

sistent sound field, resulting in a proper

tonal balance from more listening

positions throughout the room.

Due to their true acoustic suspension

technology, they produce stunningly

powerful and accurate bass from rela-

tively small cabinet enclosures.

They are high -value, no compromise

loudspeakers engineered with the

essential materials and technology

needed to reproduce superior sound.

We wrote the book on thebookshelf loudspeaker.

No company in the history of audio has donemore to improve the sonic accuracy of musicalreproduction in the home than AcousticResearch.

For forty years, AR's sound philosophy has cen-tered on the belief that technical innovationwould only be incorporated for the benefit oftonal accuracy - not at its expense.

AR's design philosophy remains to this day, tofocus and improve on the fundamental speak-

er technology needed to reproduce music as accu-rately and beautikilly as the original source.

For AR, this means flat frequency response. Wide dis-persion. Low distortion. High power handling.Exceptional bass extension. Musicality.

AR began its journey to capture sonic accuracy in1954 with the intro-duction of acousticsuspension technol-ogy, an innovationwhich truly revolu-tionized the aucioindustry. Prior to AR'sacoustic suspensiondesign, loudspeakertechnology primarilyutilized some formof vented or baffledenclosure where arelatively stiff mech-anical spring force was applied to the moving coneto return it to its resting position. This spring forcetended to become increasingly non-linear in its

action as cone movement increased from eitherhigher output levels, lower frequency, or both.

In order to reproduce lower bass at higher output,large woofers were needed, resulting in larger cabi-nets. In addition, the large cones became moremassive, and in order to maintain reasonable effi-ciency without ar enormously costly magnet struc-ture and voice coil assembly, cones had to bedesigned with low density. The net result was the lossof stiffness which resulted in driver "break-up" anduneven frequency response with resonance, thustrading one form of distortion for another.

AR's solution was the revolutionary AR -1, the first loud-speaker to use the air compressed inside the sealedenclosure to control the excursion (movement) ofthe woofer. The woofer was given a very "soft'mechanical suspension, including the now leg-endary "half -roll" surround. The voice coil and mag-net pole piece ware redesigned for long excursionwhile a very stiff cone was fabricated for rigid, piston -like action. The woofer was then mounted in an air-tight enclosure. The trapped air within the speakercabinet exerted consistent pressure on all points ofthe woofer to precisely and evenly control anddampen the woofer movement. The result of thisacoustic suspension design was reduced distortionand greater bass response in a substantially smallerspeaker enclosure.(Story continued at your AR dealer)

AR Firsts Throughout The Years

The Acoustic Suspension Loudspeaker

The Dome Driver

The Belt -Drive Turntable

The High Current Amplifier

The Multi -Driver Vertical

Array Loudspeaker

The Liquid Cooled Driver

The Ambient Subsystem Loudspeaker

The Powered Partner

For the AR0 1995 Acoustic Research, 535 Getty Court, Benicia, CA 94510

aler n wrest you, call 1-800-969-AR4U.CIRCLE NO 20 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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1%that bipolar loudspeakers aresonically superior to all othersand Definitive is the leader inbipolar technology."Speaker of the Decade"

Now, with the BP2000, Definitiveliterally reinvents the loudspeaker.We have combined a six -driver duald'Appolito bipolar array with abuilt-in (side -firing) 300 -wattpowered 15" subwoofer. (Yes, acomplete powered subwoofer builtinto each speaker!) The result isextraordinary sonic performancebeyond anything you've ever heard.

Both music and movies arereproduced with unequalled purity,transparency and life -like realism.And the astounding high resolutionimaging and awesome bass impacttotally envelop you in sonic ecstacy.It is simply amazing!

Definitive's award -winning BP 2000 (from $1499 ea.) combinesexquisite designer styling with wumpassed sonic performance.

CIRCLE NO. 15 ON READER SERVICE CARD

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The complete system combinesBP2000s with a C/L/R 2000 center ($650ea) and a pair of BPX bipolar surrounds(from $399 ea.). Of course, the dual 15"powered subwoofers are already builtinto the sleek BP2000 towers. Trulythe ultimate listening experience!Visit your Definitive dealer today.

nitive Tech11105 Valley Heights Drive Baltimore. MD 21117See our dealer list on page 30 (410) 363-7148

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