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IS THERE ONE INYOUR FUTURE?

THE EQUIPMENT AUTHORITYFEBRUARY 1995

EASY UP -GRADETO HOMEACILi"."" 200X3

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Only YamahaCinema DSPcreates phantomspeakers thatfully replicatethe experienceyou get in multi -speaker movietheaters. Itsounds so realyou'll swear youhear soundsfrom places youdon't even havespeakers.

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©1994 Yamaha Electronics Corporation, USA. Cinema DSP is a trademark of Yamaha Electronics Corporation, Dolby Pm Logic is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation.

Ching a movie and actually being in one.of home theater components that outperform other comparatively priced products on the market.

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FEBRUARY 1995 VOL. 79, NO. 2

THE EQUIPMENT AUTHORITY

Reviewed:Krell, Dana,and Acurus

departmentsFAST FORE -WORD Eugene Pitts IIIWHAT'S NEWAUDIO ETC Edward Tatnall CanbyCURRENTS John Ear&MONDO AUDIO Ken KesslerSIGNALS & NOISE

AUDIOCLINIC Joseph Giovanelli

recordingsCLASSICAL

46

1014182432

87

The Cover Photographer: Bill Kouirinis StudioThe Cover Equipment: Krell Reference KPE MC phonostage, Dana Audio Model 1 speaker, and Acurus 200X3three -channel amp

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FAST

Henry Kloss with the Editor

There was a birthday party held notso long ago in the east balcony ofNew York City's Grand CentralTerminal for Acoustic Research.An odd place, you might think, tohold a birthday party, but AR for

many years had a music room on thewest balcony of the terminal. While Ididn't earn my college tuition byworking in that demo room, I know thatthere are some professionals still in thebusiness who did. For many thousandsof commuters, AR's music room was aconvenient place to stop, prior toboarding a train home, and listen to a bitof music to "soothe the savage breast?'

AR was founded in 1954 with EdgarVillchur as the principal, along withHenry Kloss, who did much of theengineering. Villchur wrote severalarticles that were published in AudioEngineering, which later on becameAudio magazine. These articles weregathered up into a small book entitledReproduction of Sound and publishedfirst in 1962 by AR and then in 1965 byDover. Attendees of AR's party weregiven a new commemorative edition,and as the dedication page says, "thebook remains a lucid and accuratedescription of audio basics...." Villchurhad another article published in Audiolast July, on the least noticeable changein frequency response, while Kloss wasthe subject of an interview back inFebruary 1992.

For me, the most important thingabout Acoustic Research is that itsspeakers embodied a new principle,

FORE-WORD

acoustic suspension, wherein the stiffmechanical suspension in a speaker conewas exchanged for a very compliant one.In addition, the acoustic suspensionspeaker required a closed box, one of justthe right size, to supply a restoring forcefrom the stiff air -spring. My first "realhi-fi speaker" was an AR 2a.

Both Villchur and Moss were inattendance at the party. I had met Mossseveral times, since he's been active inthe audio industry ever since the ARdays. Villchur, on the other hand, hadbeen in virtual retirement from theaudio business until getting involvedwith Roy Allison to start up RDLAcoustics. I had met Villchur only once,in the lobby of New York's Waldorf

The Editor with Edgar Villchur

Astoria many years ago during an AudioEngineering Society Convention, when Iproposed he write something for Audio.He politely demurred, and I could hearhim thinking "Who is this young up-start?"

Thus it is with some large amount ofplayfulness that we publish these photosof Mr. Moss and Mr. Villchur. Note thatin the second photo, Ed Villchur istelling me what he thinks of my editingskills.

AUDIO13:11113MEIRIZEIRIMIIM

V.P./EDITOR-IN-CHIEFEugene Pitts III

ART DIRECTORCathy Cacchione

ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTORLinda Zerella

TECHNICAL EDITORIvan Berger

MANAGING EDITORKay Blumenthal

ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITORSTeresa Monge, Douglas Hyde

DIRECTORY EDITORKen Richardson

ASSISTANT EDITOR/MUSICMichael Bieber

ASSISTANT EDITORGerald F. McCarthy

ASSOCIATE EDITOREdward Tatnall Canby

SENIOR EDITORSD. B. Keele, Jr., David Lander, Edward M. Long

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS/ARTISTMichael Aldred, David L. Clark, Anthony H. Cordesman,

Ted Costa, John Diliberto, Frank Driggs, John Eargle,Edward I. Foster, Joseph Giovanelli, Ken Kessler,

Bascom H. King, Robert D. Long, Paul Moor, Jon W. Poses,Jon R. Sank, John Sunier, Michael Tearson,

Jon & Sally Tiven, Michael Wright

V.P./GROUP PUBLISHERTony Catalano 212/767-6061

V.P./ADVERTISING DIRECTORScott Constantine 212/767-6346

GENERAL MANAGER Greg RopertiBUSINESS MANAGER Christine Z. MailletPRODUCTION DIRECTOR Silvia Coppola

PRODUCTION MANAGER Lynn 0. OnoyeyanRESEARCH MANAGER Dru Ann Love

OFFICE MANAGER Aline J. PulleyOPERATIONS MANAGER Sylvia Correa

AD COORDINATOR Linda Neuweiler

ADVERTISINGREGIONAL V.P./AD DIRECTOR, EAST COAST

Charles L P. Watson 212/767-6038REGIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER

Christine B. Forhez 212/767-6025MIDWEST ADVERTISING MANAGER

Jerry Stoeckigt 312/923-4804REGIONAL V.P./AD DIRECTOR, WEST COAST

Bob Meth 213/954-4831WESTERN MANAGER

Paula Mayeri 213/954-4830NATIONAL RECORD LABEL SALES

MAG Inc. Mitch Herskowitz 212/490-1715Steve Gross 212/490-1895

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CHAIRMAN Daniel FilipacchiPRESIDENT, CEO, AND COO David J. Pecker

EXEC. V.P. AND EDITORIAL DIRECTORJean-Louis Ginibre

SR. V.P./GLOBAL ADV. Paul DuCharmeSR. V.P./DIR., CORP. SALES Nicholas MatarazzoSR. V.P./CFO & NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Paul DeBenedictisV.P., GENERAL COUNSEL Catherine FlickingerV.P., MFG. & DISTRIBUTION Anthony Romano

V.P., CIRCULATION David W. LeckeyV.P., RESEARCH & MKTG. SERVICES Susan Smollens

V.P., COMMUNICATIONS & SPECIALPROJECTS Keith Estabrook

V.P., MAGAZINE DEVELOPMENT Marcia SacharV.P., DIR., CREATIVE SERVICES., CORP. SALES

Lynn Chaiken

AUDIO/FEBRUARY 19954

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N

CreekMM Phono Pre-Preamp

The Creek OBH-8 amplifiessignals from MM phonocartridges to line level, andadds RIAA equalization. Inputsensitivity is 3.5 mV, and inputimpedance is 47 kilohms, with220-pF capacitance. Frequencyresponse is 20 Hz to 20 kHz,+0, -0.5 dB; RIAA deviation iswithin ±0.5 dB. THD is lessthan 0.05%, and S/N is betterthan 70 dB. An MC version,the OBH-9, is also available.Prices: OBH-8, $229;OBH-9, $299.For literature,circle No. 100

AT'S

Pietsch Signal Processor

Notch filters at 60, 120, and180 Hz let the Pietsch ElectronicsASP 100 minimize a.c. hum insignals; the filters have a Q of 4and 95% signal rejection;adaptive logic is used to allowmusic at these frequencies topass. A harmonic enhancercircuit is also included, to restorepunch and clarity without addinghiss. Slightly larger than a radardetector, the unit can be operatedfrom 12 V. Price: $229.95.For literature, circle No. 101

31et55ch ASP 100Audio Signal Processor

Bypass lin]

Power Engage lout]

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inergehcsTHX Surround Decoder

Amplification circuits in theTHX-certified Kinergetics KSP-2are hybrids using discrete bipolarand J-FET devices, operating inClass A, and incorporate ahysteresis -cancelling circuit. Thedecoder section uses a custom

algorithm to decorrelate the rearchannels. Both the Dolby ProLogic decoding module and thesurround module can be removedand replaced for upgrading orupdating, and the controlsoftware is on reprogrammableEPROMs. Price: $4,500.For literature, circle No. 102

RVMIT Video Enhancer Cable

A circuit network within theMIT RES-LinQ video cable is, saidto optimize connections betweenhome video components andcounteract deficiencies in suchequipment. Claimed benefitsinclude improved detailreproduction and a reduction inhaze and bloom on older ordubbed tapes. Price: $79.95 fora 1 -meter cable.For literature, circle No. 103

SharpLCD Video Projector

Convertible for ceiling ortable -top mounting, theSharpVision XV-S9OU projectoruses three LCD panels, one percolor, to produce 500 lines ofhorizontal resolution. The 250 -watt lamp produces 600 -luxpicture brightness. Motorizedlens shift minimizes

Mark LevinsonMonaural Amp

The Mark Levinson No. 33Reference amplifier delivers300 watts into 8 ohms, and candeliver 2,400 continuous wattsinto a 1 -ohm load. Each 300 -pound amp includes 1239,000-0 capacitors and about1,200 joules of energy storage.Fully balanced from input tooutput, the No. 33 achievescommon -mode noise rejectionin the loudspeaker voice -coil.Vertically oriented design reducesfloor -space requirements.Price: $32,000 per pair.For literature, circle No. 104

"keystoning" picture distortionwhen the projector is angled upor down. Variable maskingallows for normal (4:3 aspectratio) and wide-screen (16:9 and21:9) projection. The unit weighsonly 30 pounds, for a degree ofportability. An amplifier andspeaker are built in. Price:$9,995.95.For literature, circle No. 105


N

Concentric SpeakerCST's Monitor uses

cylindrical enclosures built upfrom computer -cut concentricfiberboard rings, 11/2 inchesthick, for extreme rigidity.Damping is further enhanced byalternating layers of lead andhigh -density felt in varyingthicknesses; the outside is finallywrapped in leather. The two-waysystem has separate enclosuresfor its 7 -inch woofer and 1 -inchtweeter. Separate Cardas bindingposts for woofer and tweeterconnections of the externallymounted crossover make bi-wiring and biampingconvenient. Sensitivity is 89 dB.

Frequency response is 41 Hzto 25 kHz, ±3 dB. Price: $11,995per pair.For literature, circle No. 106

Legacy Speaker

With the goal of providing"even more versatility

and tighter bass" than thecompany's Focus loudspeaker,Legacy Audio has introduced theFocus II, which includes a passivenotch filter centered at 63 Hz tohelp eliminate room -gainproblems. The filter can bedeactivated by a switch on thebiamp-capable terminal plate.Bass is handled by a pair of12 -inch woofers, midrange bytwo 7 -inch Kevlar cones, andhighs by a 13/4 -inch soft -dometweeter and a 31/2 -inch ribbonsupertweeter. The tweeter andsupertweeter are placed betweenthe two midrange units, whosespacing is said to reduce floorand ceiling reflections by 20 dBthrough the midbandfrequencies. Response is 16 Hz to30 kHz. Prices: $4,850 per pairwith oak, walnut, or blacklacquer finish and $5,100 per pairwith rosewood or ribbonmahogany.For literature, circle No. 107

Advent Speaker

The two pivoting sections ofthe Advent HT204 home theaterspeaker each hold one 23/4 -inch,full -range driver. The pivoteddesign, the drivers' magneticshielding, and optional floorstands and wall mounts

allow a wide variety of placementoptions. Frequency response is100 Hz to 20 kHz, and thespeaker is compatible with ampsup to 100 watts at 8 ohms. Thespeaker is 111/2 inches high,33/4 inches wide, and 31/2 inchesdeep. Price: $149 per pair.For literature, circle No. 108

The SV552 from HubbellSound Systems is a bookshelf/mini -monitor design with a51% -inch poly -cone mid -bassand a 3/4 -inch aluminum -dometweeter; the latter's silverinternal wiring is said toimprove resolution throughoutits frequency range. Hubbellphysically separates the mid -bass and tweeter crossovercomponents to help preventcrosstalk and any associateddistortion. With a response of70 Hz to 20 kHz, ±3 dB, theSV552 may be used with orwithout a subwoofer. Amprequirements are 10 to 100 wattsper channel. Sensitivity is 87 dB,and impedance is 8 ohmsnominal, 6 ohms minimum.The cabinets are 3/4 -inchmedium -density fiberboardwith lacquered -oak or black -oak veneer. Price: $559 per pair.For literature, circle No. 109


AUDIO ETCEDWARD TATNALL CANBY

AR ANNIVERSARY

A

nniversaries are becomingmore and more mathemati-cally absurd. One outfit Ibelong to has been celebrat-ing its 50th for three years.There was also the anticli-

max of my own 81st after two glori-ous 80th parties-neither on mybirthday. Our Presidents' Day, com-bining both Linc and Gwash, to usemodern terminology, is a mathe-matical absurdity, while the officialbirthday of the Queen merely cele-brates spring. And does anyone re-member the year we had twoThanksgivings? So, taking the bullby the horns, I'm inclined to cele-brate any old time, whether thearithmetic is right or no, if an up-date seems useful.

My first update was precipitatedby a current show on CBS calledRescue 911. You've probably seen it.And 57 years ago-plus a few odd

months, days, and hours-there wasanother show, same network, at asymbolic moment -9 p.m. on Octo-ber 30, 1938, Halloween eve.Spooky. If you are elderly, you mayremember that program-the Mar-tian invasionof the earth, aradio dramaheard acrossthe countryand taken forreal by mil-lions of listen-ers. It was puton the air by adynamic, magnetic, positively pho-tonic genius actor of 23, OrsonWelles, one of the great innovatorsin the adaptation of literary anddramatic classics to the broadcastmedium. His unexpected success onthat occasion shows how much healready knew, a master of believable

radio technique in the terms of thatparticular era.

Quick synopsis for the youthful:Thousands and thousands of Ameri-cans, mostly hearing only a frag-ment of the broadcast, rushed theirfamilies into the family car and tookoff wildly at full speed, in any old di-rection, to escape the Martian hor-ror. Giant machines emerging froma huge rocket-like cylinder thatburied itself in the earth at tremen-dous speed-spewing out instantdeath rays and poison gases, wreck-ing everything in their path. It tookhours and hours all over the countrybefore the incredible resulting con-fusion was untangled and everybodyback home. Not a soul died by adeath ray or poison smoke, but a lotof people ended up with red facesthe next morning.

Could it happen again today? Yes,I say. But very differently. A differentmedium.

As previously told (a good whileback), I heard that broadcast, butdid not panic. Right away I was ableto recognize it as a fabrication, andthen suddenly I remembered thesource, one of my favorite sci-fi sto-ries by H. G. Wells, "The War of theWorlds," written in 1898 just 50years earlier (anniversary) as a Mar-tian invasion of England. The broad-cast script relocated it to the presentand to more familiar territory, theU.S.A. Indeed, the cylinder landed at

a specific NewJersey hamletnamed GroversMills, arbitrarilypicked off a roadmap by thescript writer! Bythe sheerest co-incidence thiswas only a fewI sat, listening. I

CELEBRATING ITS

40TH ANNIVERSARY,AR HELD A PARTY IN

NEW YORK'S GRAND

CENTRAL TERMINAL.

miles from wherewas unperturbed. At the end of thehour I went quietly to bed, totally tunaware of the incredible panic out-side. I knew nothing of it until the rzlnext day.

As we all know, broadcast shows '15,

are team affairs, even if it is mainly


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"The HCA-2200" has all the features and flexibilityany audiophile could want...;' notes Stereophile.

Sure, it's nice to be hailed as a "benchmark:'

But what, exactly, does that mean? Well, let's

read the quote in context:"While the HCA-2200" has virtually

unlimited brute power, it has enough finesse

to let the music come through largelyunscathed. Over the last six months it hasproven, with a variety of speakers in bothmy listening rooms, that it's a benchmark

product against which other amplifiers can be measured. If an amp of equal or greater price isn't at least

as good as the HCA-2200", it doesn't cut it."It's clear that Mr. Stone has discovered the virtues of our amplifier. And while we're pleased he

found the process so enjoyable, we aren't surprised. It's all part of our design philosophy, whose essence

he captures nicely when he says, "...a middle-class audiophile like myself no longer has to take out a

second mortgage on his house to afford a musically satisfying amplifier."

"...A BENCHMARKPRODUCT AGAINST WHICH

OTHER AMPLIFIERS CAN BEMEASURED."

- STEVEN STONE, STEREOPHILE, VOL. 17 NO. 3, MARCH 1994

But what did surprise us, as well as flatter us, was being thrown into the ring with $12,000monoblock behemoths. The result of this apparently absurd comparison? Not carnage, but rather: "...theParasound HCA-2200" gives them all a run for the money, and even beats 'em in flexibility and price."He continues, "...a pair of HCA-2200"s performed with Apogee full -ranges on a par with a pair ofBoulder 250 AEs and four VTL Deluxe 300 amps.Dynamic impact and attack were excellent...Comparedto the VTL300, the HCA-2200" had a greater sense ofextension..."

Enough quotes. It's time to experience one yourself.Just visit your local Parasound dealer and learn that"benchmark" is the expert's way of saying you don't have

"to break the bank to get the best. And you can quote us ...prodigious bass output and sense of unlimited powerand effortlessness; says Stereophile. And no wonder. It

on that. delivers over 90 amps of peak current per channel.

riPARASOUND

affordable audio for the critical listener

Parasound Products, Inc. 950 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111 415-397-7100 Fax 415-397-0144

the principals who get the credit. Morethan 30 years after that broadcast, the manwho actually wrote the script, includingGrovers Mills, put together a book that in-cluded not only the script itself but a splen-did collection of pictures, news clippings,exhaustive discussions as to what happenedand why, and interviews with numerousparticipants (including the panicked).Howard Koch was the writer, and his bookis The Panic Broadcast, published in 1970.You surely can find it through your local li-brary. My reaction to that book, 32 yearsafter the event, was different-how aston-ishing that in 1938 we fell for what in 1970seemed an incredibly outdated, old-fash-ioned broadcast style. (You should hear therecorded broadcast itself, even more old-fashioned.) It struck me then how rapidlyour broadcasting had changed, without mynoticing. In 1970 the script was simplyquaint. So courtly and formal! So long-winded, full of "And now, ladies and gen-tlemen, we take you to ..." Can you imag-ine an "anchor" today (replacing the oldannouncer) calling a TV audience "ladiesand gentlemen"? Even in 1970 this waswholly anachronistic, from another time.

And now, another 25 years? Today wehave a visual broadcast world. Eyes are farmore specific than ears. We are brought upon precise visual stories, marvelously craft-ed for the eyes. Advertising, too, has invad-ed every area with half-truths, easy to swal-low. All this is now so familiar that we takeit for granted as an accustomed back-ground to our real lives. Could we ever goso far as to take it literally? And panic? Wehaven't yet.

We are so used to fantasy on thescreen-broadcast, cabled, by satellite,from the VCR, not to mention movies andhome video-that we have learned to dis-criminate. Still, a faked -up news broadcast,though not likely (we learned that lesson),could send us off again-if the illusionwere perfect down to the smallest detail.Otherwise we wouldn't believe.

I have been watching Rescue 911 the lastyear or so with considerable interest be-cause it is an excellent example of the sortof persuasion that is possible today. Actual-ly, this program is as rigidly fixed in its for-mat as any soap opera or ancient fairy tale,invariably ending with the almost -victimliving happily ever after. What distinguish-

es it, and makes it uniquely dramatic, is theuse of the actual people involved in the res-cue by the ever -virtuous 911 forces-i.e.,it's a true story. Racing ambulances,screaming police sirens, helicopters, theworks, but what is amazing is that the dra-ma seems to involve scenes actually takenon the occasion-the perpetrators, the vic-tims, the families and friends. Other scenes

MANY SPEAKER DESIGNERS

GOT THEIR START

IN THE BUSINESS

BY WORKINGAT ACOUSTIC RESEARCH.

just have to be reenacted after the fact. Ormaybe all of them? You simply cannot tell.The drama comes from not knowing whatis real and what isn't.

If there were to be another panic broad-cast, it would have to be done with the ex-traordinary expertise of this program, sothat we would not know what to believe.Yes, we could go for the worst. And panicagain.

I mustn't forget-I do have a real, math-ematical, genuine anniversary to mention,celebrated at an immense press party on, ofall places, the balcony of that great indoorspace, Grand Central Terminal in NewYork. AR, Acoustic Research, had its 40thanniversary, and it was again sheer coinci-dence that New York's subway system hadits 90th that very day-so I rode the shuttleto GCT on a train of 1917 cars, their roofsweirdly painted a bilious lime green. Pub-licity? If NYC ever saw a working subwaycar with that coloration, I'll eat a lime inone bite.

I've told so many stories about early ARdays that I will wait maybe for its 50th onthat score. But it must be said that AcousticResearch and the revolutionary speaker

suspension with the cone supported by anair -spring (and limp surround) was a ma-jor influence on our audio world and in-deed continues important today, thoughthe AR company is now part of a conglom-erate, International Jensen. The present ARgot together a remarkable assemblage ofpeople including, of course, the founder,who had the idea, Edgar Villchur, and anumber of his early collaborators, notablythe ubiquitous K, Henry Kloss-K in KLH,then Advent, then his present CambridgeSoundWorks. The audio speaker field, infact, is sprinkled with AR spinoffs mostlystill in Cambridge, Massachusetts, AR'slongtime (and former) home.

The AR speakers were, of course, pre -

computer, minus the immense benefitsnow available for speaker design. Neverthe-less, by hook or crook, they sounded goodand still do. Do I hear a rumor that the fa-mous AR 3a is to be "reissued"? It wouldbe easy to add a bit of update, not toomuch, and come out with a terrific speakeronce again. Using AR's peculiar algebraicnomenclature, might it be the AR 3a'?

Finally, I was interested to discover, inour November 1994 issue, that Tom Stock -ham was also involved in a problem thatsuddenly became important with the ad-vent of stereo. I was intensely interested atthe time-I called it double liveness, thetwin acoustics of the original recordingplace and the playback space, superim-posed. AR's well -remembered "live versusrecorded" demos depended on an under-standing of this phenomenon: For a directcomparison, the prepared recording had tobe "absolute," as I called it-totally dead.No liveness. AR used an open meadownear Villchur's home, and I was there. Al-ternatively, I remember a scary session in alarge anechoic chamber, room -size. Ab-solutely claustrophobic! All the sound wasinside your head, no space whatsoever. TheAR demo with live string quartet and two3a speakers was incredible; even I, knowingthe music, was fooled. (The musiciansmerrily "played" at some points soundless-ly, while the speakers projected the music.)Stockham, working with Amar Bose, callsit "Second Venue." Same thing.

We would have better Virtual Reality to-day if more audio people understood theSecond Venue. It's still with us and alwayswill be. No anniversaries. A


WHERE DOES THE TWEETEROF A HIGH FIDELITY

LOUDSPEAKER BELONG?

Q- S fr: R 1

This question may confuse those who believe that the measure of a loudspeaker is the number of its

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T

CURRENTSJOHN EARGLE

REVIEWINGEVEREST

he first 12 CDs in VanguardClassics' ambitious Everestreissue series are now on themarket, and what a mar-velous venture it is! Accord-ingly, I am devoting this

month's column to capsule reviewsof most of these items-but first, abrief look at the series overall.

The basic A/D transfers from the35 -year -old masters are nearly flaw-less. What problems were encoun-tered have apparently been so suc-cessfully dealt with that no blemishis obvious. Supervised by Vanguardpresident Seymour Solomon, thetransfer process employed vintageequipment to accommodate theoriginal three -track masters, someof which are on 35 -mm magneticfilm, the others on standard half -inch 15-ips magnetic tape. Furtherrestoration, using Sony's Super BitMapping, was carried out primarilyby Sony Classical. (See last month's"Currents.") You will not be awareof any striking technological differ-ences between the two formats ofthe original masters, but close listen-ing will reveal that the film -basedrecordings are slightly quieter.

STJOSEF KRIPSBEETHOVEN

THE NINESYMPHONIES

LondonX OrmpchestO ra

Syhny

The CD packaging is simple butappropriate. Excepting the 16 -pagebooklet for the Beethoven Sym-phonies, liner notes are given in aninsert of two or three panels, suffi-cient space to carry the originalnotes or a slightly abridged versionof them. The notes were written byprominent individuals in record an-notation, including David Hall andPaul Affelder. A generic insert ineach CD gives technical informationcommon to all the releases as well asdetails on future releases (the nextgroup is expected momentarily).

The recordings in this first waveof reissues were all originally re-leased over a busy four-year period,from 1958 to 1961. Most of themwere made in London-and ofthese, all but one were recorded atWalthamstow Assembly Hall in thesuburbs. Walthamstow, as it is

known, is still used for town meet-ings, boxing matches, and, when it isavailable, recording sessions. Thereis a stage at one end, and the mainfloor seating can be removed, mak-ing it possible to place the perform-ing ensemble directly in the middleof the acoustical space.

SSTOKOWSKI

BARTONCOPICERIO SOS OROIESTRA

. . ..* I

In Walthamstow, original Everestrecording engineer Bert Whyte hadhis ideal recording venue. The roomsounded back immediately, and thebalance between direct and rever-berant sound could easily be adjust-ed, section by section, by movingthe players as required. No wonderthat Walthamstow could handle

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music from just about all corners ofthe repertory. (All recordings listedbelow were made at Walthamstow,unless otherwise indicated. Datesgiven are original release dates.)

Falla: The Three -Cornered Hat,London Symphony Orchestra/Jorda(1960); Bartok: Dance Suite, Lon-don Philharmonic Orchestra/Fer-encsik (1959); Everest/VanguardClassics EVC 9000. The Falla is veryidiomatic, and Enrique Jorda knowsexactly when to bend and shape thetempos, particularly in the non -dance sections. While present-dayconductors are apt to rush this mu-sic, Jorda keeps the dance tempos onthe moderate side. The sound is vin-tage Walthamstow. Janos Ferencsikshows much the same attention tothe Magyar aspects of Bartok's grip-ping Dance Suite. Appropriately, themikes are a bit closer, emphasizingthe sardonic, diabolical aspect of thework. The six dances are basedlargely on Bartok's extensive ethno-musicological research into nativeHungarian folk music. They areplayed without interruption and areconnected by a ritornello whose

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haunting and wistful nature is the veryessence of BartOk.

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9,LPO/Boult (1958); Arnold: Symphony No.3, LPO/Arnold (1959); EVC 9001. TheNinth Symphony was recorded just hoursafter the composer died, andthis reissue includes (for thefirst time on disc) a short eulo-gy spoken by Sir Adrian Boult.The music has much the samebrooding, often jarring, non -pastoral quality that had beenintroduced in the Sixth Sym-phony. The writing iscomplex but alwaysclear, and it makesskillful use of a saxo-phone section clearlyindependent of thestandard orchestralwinds. Boult's affinityfor Vaughan Williamsis shown better herethan in his EMI recordings. Arnold's sym-phony is reminiscent of his many overtures(short movements, lilting rhythms) and isthoroughly entertaining.

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances;Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, LSO/Goossens (1958, 1960); EVC 9002. This isone of the great Symphonic Dances. Today,most conductors take the first movementtoo fast, robbing it of majesty and elegance.Sir Eugene Goossens gets it just right. Thewaltz and the final Allegro vivace are takenat more familiar tempos. The Stravinsky,with Bert Whyte's normal Walthamstowsetup, comes across at what you might call"mid -perspective," which I prefer over theclose-up perspectives favored by manyconductors and producers today. Sane tem-pos throughout.

Copland: Appalachian Spring; Gould:Spirituals for String Choir and Orchestra,LSO/Susskind (1958); Gershwin: An Amer-ican in Paris, Pittsburgh Symphony Or-chestra/Steinberg (1960); EVC 9003. Thereare many accounts of Appalachian Springto choose from, and this one measures upnicely. But the real find here is Gould'sSpirituals, by far the best available record-ing of this marvelous work. Here is theessence of what Whyte's three -mike ap-proach was all about: The balance betweendirect and room sound is ideal, and the

sense of depth is remarkable. Listen for thevarious percussion details. They are all justwhere they should be-bass drum, anvil,cymbals, and all the rest. As for An Ameri-can in Paris . . . , in the entire body of Ever-est recordings, there are no more than a

handful that do not measureup to Whyte's high standards,and this recording is one ofthem. The Pittsburgh orches-tra does not play at its best,and the recording in HeinzHall simply does not havethe bloom of Walthamstow.

Strauss: "Till Eu-lenspiegel's MerryPranks"; "Don Juan";"Dance of the SevenVeils" from Salome,Stadium SymphonyOrchestra of NewYork/Stokowski(1959); Canning:Fantasy on a Hymn

Tune, Houston Symphony Orchestra/Stokowski (1960); EVC 9004. The StadiumSymphony is, in fact, the New York Phil-harmonic Orchestra. At the time of thisrecording, the NYPO was under contractto Columbia, so another name had to beused. Manhattan Center, the recordingvenue for the Strauss, is a large ballroomthat was much used for orchestral record-ing back in the 1960s and is still availabletoday. The Strauss is played as only Stokycould do it, with grand sweep and momen-tum. And certainly the orchestra couldkeep up with him technically. Sonically, theimmediacy of the room's reverberationfleshes out the music, giving it a qualitysimilar to Walthamstow but not quite asexpansive. The Canning work, taped atJones Hall in the Houston Civic Center, issort of an American version of VaughanWilliams' Fantasia on a Theme by ThomasTallis. It is played and recorded beautifully.

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6, LPO/Boult (1958); Symphony No. 9, LSO/Sar-gent (1960); EVC 9005. The Sixth openswith a 20 -minute Largo that moves freelyfrom tension to release, followed by a con-trasting pair of short scherzos. The Ninth isas different as it can be, a set of five rela-tively short movements in the classical mold.

Vaughan Williams: Job; Overture to TheWasps, LPO/Boult (1959); Arnold: Four

GEMININ...crocks

THE RECORDING OF

GOULD'S SPIRITUALS

DISPLAYS THE ESSENCE

OF BERT WHYTE'S

THREE -MIKE APPROACH.

Scottish Dances, LPO/Arnold (1959); EVC9006. The cavernous acoustics of the RoyalAlbert Hall give something of a medievalmystery -play quality to the work based onWilliam Blake's Illustrations for the Book ofJob. Literal representations abound, andthe depiction of the devil by oily slides onthe saxophone is typical of the composer'stone -painting. The Overture to Aristo-phanes' play is one of Vaughan Williams'most engaging short works, and Arnold'sspritely Scottish Dances (recorded atWalthamstow) complement it nicely.

Villa -Lobos: "The Little Train of theCaipira"; Antilb "Corroboree"; Ginastera:"Estancia," "Panambi," LSO/Goossens(1958, except Villa -Lobos, 1960); EVC9007. These works draw on ethnic materialfrom the composers' native countries ofBrazil, Australia, and Argentina. The scoresare all gorgeous, with lots of exotic percus-sion, and acoustics to match. The record-ings are still of demonstration quality.

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, Hous-ton/Stokowski (1961); Kodaly: "PsalmusHungaricus," LPO/Ferencsik (1959); EVC9008. This Bartok recording shows onceagain how underrated Leopold Stokowskiis today. It is a beautiful performance thatholds its own with any in the catalog. JanosFerencsik's account of Kodaly's "Psalmus"suffers a little from its English translationbut otherwise is idiomatically well done.Jones Hall in Houston, the venue for theBartok, sounds very good.

Hindemith: Violin Concerto, J. Fuchs/LSO/Goossens (1959); Symphony in E -flat,LPO/Boult (1958); EVC 9009. Hindemithwas still in his heyday when these record-ings were made. His star has since set-let's hope temporarily. This music is toogood to be missed, and a generation hasgrown up knowing almost nothing of theman. Both performances are beautifullydone and highly recommended.

Apart from a sampler, The Sound ofEverest (EVC 9050), the one remainingitem in this first wave of Everest reissues isa five -CD set given over to Josef Krips' tra-versal of the Beethoven Symphonies withthe London Symphony Orchestra (EVC9010/14). Time and space don't allow asurvey here, but take my word that it is ahandsome, well -annotated set, with notesby Krips himself. A


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Peter Walkerand his originalQUAD ESL.

MONDO

A

AUDIOKEN KESSLER

INTERVIEW:PETER WALKER

sk a group of British audio-philes to name the grandad-dy of hi -ti in the U.K., andthe majority will say "PeterWalker" without hesitation.This quick, natural, almost

instinctive response is the result of alegacy that includes a run of classicproducts and the creation of a com-pany that is probably the oldest spe-cialist hi-fi manufacturer still underthe ownership of the original family.

QUAD Electroacoustics Ltd.-born as S. P. Fidelity Sound Systemsin March 26, 1936, before changingits name that year to The AcousticalManufacturing Company-has anuninterrupted history matched byno other producer of audio compo-nents, and Peter Walker controlled itfor the first 50 years before handingover control to his son, Ross. PeterWalker wrote, in G. A. Briggs' AudioBiographies, that "By 1952, my firmwas of sufficient size to enable me to

delegate nearly all management anddepartmental responsibilities; infact, shed myself of all those aspectsof business which did not appeal tome." Luckily for us, he immersedhimself in research and design.

Any com-pany wouldbe proud tohave createdone milestoneproduct, yetWalker's canclaim at leastfour of them:The QUAD IItube preamp and power amp, theoriginal electrostatic loudspeaker,and the current electrostatic, theESL -63. Although it's as the seminalproducer of electrostatic speakersthat the company is known, QUADactually began with public addressequipment and, eventually, pro-duced a successful ribbon -hybrid,

the horn -loaded Corner RibbonLoudspeaker, in 1949.

I recently had the privilege oftalking with Peter Walker about hiscompany's remarkable achieve-ments.

Why did you move from the origi-nal ribbon speaker to what becamethe original QUAD electrostatic?From a theoretical point of view, anelectrostatic is an ideal way to makea loudspeaker-it matches the airperfectly and it's all predictable, asordinary loudspeakers are rathervariable. It has some problems thatare rather difficult, mainly due tothe stretching of the diaphragm. Itmustn't shrink and that sort ofthing. Very high voltages, 10,000volts, make it difficult. But it's anideal. I think most loudspeakermanufacturers have looked at it andsaid, "What a lovely way to make aspeaker, but it's not very practical."And a lot of manufacturers havetried it, too, and most of them havesaid, "This is not profitable. Get backto putting loudspeakers in boxes andsell 'em, lad!" (Laughs.]

I've always thought, from about1945, that an electrostatic would bea nice way of doing it. But in theback of your mind is the question:How can you do it? It had a lot ofproblems. But the ribbon was avery good way of getting very

good-I dare

SOME PEOPLE THOUGHT

QUAD'S ORIGINAL ESLWAS A ROOM HEATER;

THEY'D STAND BY IT

TO FEEL THE WARMTH.

say, excellent-high-frequencyresponse.

The ribbonwas a hybrid.The ribbon it-self had verygood responsefrom 2,000 cy-

cles upwards, and the bass unit wasvery good up to 500 cycles. It wasn'tvery good in the middle, which I canadmit now, but there you are.Did working with the ribbon helpyou learn techniques for later use inthe electrostatic?Not at all. A ribbon is just a little bitof aluminum in a very large magnet


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a r ray-aradar magnet, in fact, that wouldonly go down to about 2,000 cy-

cles unless you had lots of magnets. Youcould make a long strip one, but it wouldhave been very expensive in those days.At the time you introduced the ribbon, cir-ca 1949 to 1950, who was serving the hi-ficommunity in the U.K.?At that time the hi-fi industry hadn't reallytaken off. It never really took off until wehad the LP record, where you could playthrough a whole symphony without mess-ing about, jumping up and down, andwithout having surface noise from the disc.It was a very small market. You perhapsremember the days of P.G.A.H. Voigt; I admire

him greatly. He made an excellent speaker,and he sold two a week. That was the sortof market. You made amp and speakers foryourself and your friends and afew fanatics, and that's

as far as itwent until the LP

came along.During the ribbon speaker's life, we sold

less than a thousand units. It wasn't pairs;it was all mono-there wasn't any stereothen. And they were £95 at the time, whichin present-day money is quite a lot.

Around the same time that the LP wasintroduced-around 1954, 1955-the elec-

Original QUAD ESL speaker

trostatic was introduced. I think ourfirst public demonstration of thespeaker was in 1955.

How many years had you beenworking on it?

Well, you don't work on it for yearsand years. You have a little go andget rid of a few problems, and then

II you forget that and get on withother things that you can make.

But it stays in the back of yourmind, and you think, "Oh, we couldget over that-what about dust and

these high voltages?" And you think ofanother idea and go on a little bit more.And then you forget it again for a longtime; you're not working every day onthe same thing. It's like the ESL -63 loud-speaker. It took us 18 years to develop,but it wasn't 18 years every day. [Laughs.]Not at all.

QUAD's roots, though, appear to be inamplification, especially since theacronym stands for Quality Unit Ampli-fier Domestic. Or was there a speaker be-fore the ribbon hybrid?Well, there was, but it wasn't very good.The SL15, I think it was called, a quarter -wave resonant. Don't forget, we startedoff in 1936 making amplifiers for publicaddress, dance bands, and things, and then

started making high-fidelity equipmentbecause you were interested in it,

for yourself, and your friendswere interested.

We made a jolly good ampli-fier before the war, with triodeslike PX4s. It was excellent; itwould sell nowadays. Direct -coupled and all the rest of it,but there was no market for thatin those days at all. Two PX25s

QUAD II amplifier

driven by an MH4, an ML4 before that-and a bit of feedback on it, actually. Oh yes,feedback came out in 1936; it wasn't used alot, just a little bit. They were good ampli-fiers, 12 watts.

Were there any other earlier electrostaticswith which yours had to bear comparison?There was certainly the Janszen in the U.S.There was one before the war which wascalled the Primastatic, I think, that was just

a tweeter. Several German electrostaticswere made, but they really didn't make abig market at all. None of the Janszenscame to England unless you went over witha suitcase. The original ESL just competedagainst other loudspeakers, and it wasn't asloud, so people who wanted to shake thewindows didn't buy a QUAD electrostaticspeaker.

Was it an immediate hit? Did the audiojournalists of the time recognize it as revo-lutionary?

QUAD ESL -63 speaker

Some of them did, and some of themdidn't. It was quite an oddball sort ofthing. "What's this funny -looking thing?"They thought it looked like a room heater.In fact, we'd have people stand by them tofeel the warmth.

Was it easier to launch in the U.S.?No. We had a very, very good review inAmerica. A man came over and said it ismost wonderful but it's not loud; it doesn'tshake the windows, but it gives the mostnatural reproduction, by a wide margin,more than we've ever heard before. Andthat got us some orders from America. Butit wasn't very good with American high-powered amplifiers, which would just bust'em, spark 'em to bits.

Americans had larger rooms, their wholebasements given over to hi-fi, and it had tobe pretty loud. The poor old ESL wouldn't


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do that. But a number of people liked itvery much. You either did, or you didn'tlike it at all. And when stereo came along,you had to have two of 'em. The ESL was abit big for that, but it worked very well. Infact, after we made 400 of them-serialnumber 409, I think it was-we modifiedthe directivity because of stereo. The direc-tivity pattern was made for mono-notquite the same as stereo.How did you change it? Driver shape?No. It was just the electrical distributionbetween the elements. There were no othermodifications, as far as I know.At what point did you feel that transistorswere acceptable for your amplifiers?In 1968. Prior to that, you only had germa-nium transistors, which didn't do high fre-quencies very well. They would blow up abit and weren't as good as valves. But in1968, we could make a transistor amplifieras good as or better than valves. Not every-body believes that, but that's what wethought.But do you ever think back that, while thesolid-state equipment measured very well,maybe it didn't sound as good as the valveequipment?No. I think this going back to valves ispartly fashion and partly the fact that youcan make a valve amplifier fairly easily andit will always sound good. Transistor am-plifiers are much more difficult to design,and it's easy to make one that measuresquite well but gives current overload.Things go wrong like that-secondarybreakdowns and all sorts of things-so it'snot so easy. But if you make it properly anddo all the measurements properly, and doall the proper listening tests, oh, yes, thenit's the right way to make an amplifier. Itstill is. The fashion for valves is, I think,just a fashion.If you were starting QUAD all over againtoday, what areas in the hi-fi chain do youfeel would still need to be addressed?The relationship between the loudspeakersand the room, and to somehow try to im-prove stereo. Stereo comes out of two loud-speakers, whereas from an orchestra, forexample, sound comes out of a whole lot oflittle sources, and two loudspeakers-though extremely good-don't quite dothat. Binaural could do it if you had specialheadphones designed to suit your ownears, pinnae, which is very difficult to do.


Particularly if you take into account thedistance between your ears, but it's quiteimpractical from a commercial point ofview. But if it is done, and the recording ismade with little microphones in your ownears, then what you hear is as perfect as it'sgoing to get.And if you were to produce a QUAD ESL -95? How would it differ from the ESL -63?I don't know whether it would.Bass response?

Bass response on the 63 is quite good. Itdoesn't get the oomph-oomph-000mphlike lots of cabinet speakers. But if youmeasure it, then it's only 6 dB down at 36cycles, which is not bad. There are somethat will go lower, but not many.And maximum SPLs?We can get just over 100 dB at two meters,which is adequate for me and 95% of ourcustomers. With some sorts of music, thelouder you play it, the better it sounds.And what would you have changed in theoriginal electrostatic?[Laughs.] Ooh, dreadful question. Well, Icouldn't have made it better at the time.You take a silly old man of 78 and ask himwhat he would have done in 1950. Well, if Ihad my present experience, I'd have madesomething like the 63, which I made to im-prove over the first one in the first place. Ina lot of respects, anyway. Let me tell youwhat was difficult about the first one. Ithad what was, in effect, a woofer and atweeter. Getting those two exactly level,and matching in response, wasn't easy be-cause they'd vary slightly-variation in thegap or variation in the tension of the di-aphragm would upset it a bit, you see. Onewanted to avoid that. I can't think of any-thing else. Would I have made it bigger?Well, it would have upset a whole lot ofpeople who wanted a small speaker. WouldI have made it smaller? No, because thenyou wouldn't have enough bass. It wasroughly the right size.

The original electrostatic cost £52 whenit came out-what the price would be now,goodness only knows. But there was alwaysa waiting list for them. We allocated themand the amplifiers at that time to dealers,and they were allowed only a few a month.You didn't ask a dealer how many he want-ed; you told him what he could have. Wedidn't have any salespeople; we didn't needthem. [Laughs.] Wonderful situation! A


How Do You Imgove On"...TheBest Value InThe World"?

Cambridge SoundWorksIntroduces

New Ensemble,New Ensemble H-and a new member

of the family,Ensemble III.

Audio magazine once said our Ensemble®speaker system may be "the best value in the world."Since then, numerous critics have applauded ourEnsemble and Ensemble II systems. Designed byHenry Kloss (founder of AR, KLH and Advent),they became best sellers by offering qualityconstruction and accurate, wide -rangemusic reproduction - at factory -direct prices.

We're pleased to introduce newversions of our Ensemble andEnsemble ff systems, as well as ournew, ultra -compact Ensemble III.

The New EnsembleNew Ensemble is an improved

version of our original dual-subwoofer/satellite speaker system.New Ensemble maintains the dualsubwoofer design, which allows formaximum room placement flexibility.Placement of bass and high -frequency speakers hia room (and how those speakers interact with theroom) has more influence on the sound quality of amusic system than just about anything. NewEnsemble's ultra -slim (4 1 /2") subwoofers give youmore placement flexibility than any system weknow of.

So What's New?New Ensemble maintains the tonal balance,

frequency range and quality of construction of theoriginal. There are two basic differences.

1. New Ensemble uses a new 8" woofer with avery long "throw" for linear cone excursion andmore accurate bass. An integral heat sink providesimproved power handling.

2. New.Ensemble's satellitespeakers use the samespeaker drivers andcrossover as the original, butwith new midrange and highfrequency balance controls.

The midrange control lets youchoose the same output in the key 800-1600 Hz octave as in the original, or youcan emphasize that octave by 2 dB. Ensemblesatellites have relatively less output in this range toavoid the "boxy" sound typical of many speakers.This results in an "open" sound on large-scalesymphonic works. For small -scaled music, thehigher output position proves a "warmer" sound.

A high frecuency control has three positions:A) The same balance as original Ensemble.B) A 2 dB high frequency increase. C) A 2 dB highfrequency decrease. The switch can subtly increasethe system's "airiness" (Increase) or it can reduce

any tendency towards"ec.giness" (Decrease).

In terms of "real life"performance, we believeour New Ensemblesystem competes head-on

with speakers sellingfor hundredsmore. Availablewith black -laminatesubwoofers for$629, or withvinyl -cladsubwoofers for

$549.

The New Ensemble IINew Ensemble II is an improved version of our

best-selling speaker system. It's more affordablethan New Ensemble because it uses one cabinetto house both subwoofer speakers. NewEnsemble ff maintains the tonal balance,frequency range, power handling and construc-tion vary of the original Ensemble ff. But itssatellite speakers use the same tonal balancecontrols as New Ensemble's.

New Ensemble if also uses a new flaredsubwoofer port. The subwoofer cabinet enclosestwo 6 1/2" long throw woofers mounted in a sealed"acoustic suspension" chamber. They project into asecond chanter fitted with the flares port, whichprovides smoother air flow, eliminating extraneousnoise on strong bass notes.

Stereo Review said the original Ensemble if"performs so far beyond its pnce and size it can becompared only with much larger speakers atsubstantially higher prices." New Ensemble ifcarries on this tradition, outperforming otherspeakers in its category, including well-Imownmodels for about twice the price. Factory -directprice, $439.

The Ensemble IIINow you can bring the clear, balanced wide -

range sound of Ensemble speakers to a small,crowded room. Our new Ensemble Ill's satellite


speakers are only 41/2" x 6 1/2" x 3"and its subwoofer is 8" x 8" x 15".

Compared to New Ensemble ffEnsemble N gives up a little in

power handling, low bass range, andefficiency. Unlike the "cube" satellite

speakers you'll find in most similarly pricedsystems, Ensemble N's satellites are two-way

speakers. Ensemble N's 61/2" woofer uses twovoice coils in acabinet with aflared Jon forsmoom air flow.

With most

N willrecordinjrEnsembsound virtuallyidentical to NewEnsemble 11 Itsimply won'tplay as loud.Its construc-tion quality isnormallyfound only inmuch moreexpensive speakers.Factory -direct price, including connecting wire,cutter/stripper and Hook -Up Guide, is only $329.

30 Day Home Audition.All Cambridge SoundWorks speakers are backed

by a 30 -Day Total Satisfaction Guarantee. So youcan audition your speaker the right way - in yourhome, with no salesman hovering nearby. If within30 days you're not happy, return your system for afull refimcl.

nue acousticsuspension,

cavity.

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For A Free Catalog, Call

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154 Catfornia Street, Suite 104FEB , Newton, MA 021581-800-367-4434 Fax: 617-332-9229

Canada: 1-800-525-4434Outside U.S. or Canada: 617-332-5936

e 1994 Cambridge SoundWorks. Ensemble is a registered trademark ofCambrilge Sound Works, Inc. KLH is a trademark of KUL Inc. AR and

Advent am trademarks of International Jensen Inc. Cambridge SoundWorksis not affiliated with KLH, Advent or AR.

331:714111011E

SIGNALS

Brand -Similarity RecognitionDear Editor:

Ever since A/V receivers have been onthe market, I have noticed how similarmany models look, regardless of theirbrand. But now I'm wondering if there'smore to it than meets the eye.

Last fall, I purchased a Pioneer VSX-D602S receiver. When I saw the "Equip-ment Profile" of the Optimus STAV-3400in the April 1994 issue, that unit's uncannyresemblance to my Pioneer made me real-ize this was way beyond the A/V receiversimilarities I'd seen in the past.

Except for the "Power" switch, every sin-gle thing on the front panels of the twomodels was identical, even down to thetiny gold buttons for surround mode, thedisplay, and all the specs. But what reallygot me was your photo of the STAV-3400'sremote, which is exactly my remote but forthe word "Optimus" replacing "Pioneer."

Can you tell me what gives? Did Pioneerbuy from Tandy [parent company of Opti-mus] or vice versa? Did some other manu-facturer crank these products out with noname plate, ready to sell to whoever want-ed them? If that is indeed the case, howmany other distributors are selling this fineinstrument, perhaps having more cleverlydisguised it?

John R. Peterson

Pleasant Grove, Utah

Editor's Reply: The odds are that Pioneerbuilt the Optimus for Tandy. Consideringthe companies involved, it's unlikely(though not impossible) that some thirdmanufacturer built both. And it's very like-ly that the remote handsets came from yetanother company.

Nobody-even companies big enough tobuild their own ICs-builds everythingfrom scratch. Companies routinely buyparts (capacitors, line cords, knobs), sub-assemblies (tuner modules, tape or CDtransports), or even entire componentsfrom other companies. Unless you plan tomake a heap of something, it's cheaper tobuy it from outside-and selling it outside

& NOISE

helps raise production to the economical"heap" stage.

A company's own -brand products andwhat they sell to others aren't always iden-tical, however. Buyers often specify circuitsand features that they want added or omit-ted to suit their own markets or pricepoints; suppliers sometimes withhold pro-prietary circuits and features to maintain amarketing edge. Such differences may ormay not show up in specs-and identicalproducts may have slightly different specsif, for example, one company chooses torate an amplifier at a very low distortionpoint while another rates it at a distortionlevel higher up the curve in order to claima few more watts.

As for the remote, such ancillary devicesare very commonly purchased from spe-cialist companies. For example, I've no-ticed strong similarities between the re-motes of a Luxman surround decoder anda Denon tuner, which have nothing else incommon.

The odds are, no one is selling a betterdisguised version of your unit; front -paneltooling costs are high.-I.B.

Tube SourcesDear Editor:

I inherited a Hallicrafters TW-500 four -band radio from my grandfather. It con-tains tubes with the following markings:1V5, 3V4, 1V4, and 1L6. All of the tubesare imprinted "Hallicrafters."

Do you know of a source for such tubesor a place that can test them? Additionally,I would be interested in hearing from anyreader who has (or knows where I can ob-tain) the instruction or repair manual,preferably both. Only the AM band ap-pears to pick up any stations, and I wouldlike to restore the unit to working condi-tion, for sentimental reasons.

Steven Tadlock

1080B Cold Stream Circle

Emmaus, Pa. 18049

Editor's Reply: Our own "Classified Adver-tising" section carries ads for tube purvey-

ors. In a recent issue, I saw ads for thefollowing:

AccuTech Audio, 87 Church St., EastHartford, Conn. 06108; 203/290-8979.

BWS Consulting, 5609 North 23rd St.,Arlington, Va. 22205; 703/536-3910.

Michael Percy, Box 526, Inverness, Cal.94937; 415/669-7181.

Sonic Frontiers, 760 Pacific Rd., Unit 19,Oakville, Ont., Canada L6L 6M5; 905/847-3245.

Some other tube purveyors that I knowof include:

Antique Electronic Supply, 6221 SouthMaple Ave., Tempe, Ariz. 85283; 602/820-5411.

ARS Electronics, P.O. Box 7323, VanNuys, Cal. 91406; 818/997-6279.

New Sensor, 133 Fifth Ave., New York,N.Y. 10003; 800/633-5477.

I can't guarantee that any of these sup-pliers will have the tubes you seek, as Idon't think I've ever seen these tubes usedin audio, as opposed to radio, circuits. Weare therefore running your letter, in hopessomeone will be able to help.

If the radio picks up the AM broadcastband as is, it's likely that the tubes are

MANY A/V RECEIVERS

OF DIFFERENT BRANDS

LOOK SIMILAR.

IS THERE MORE TO THIS

THAN MEETS THE EYE?

working, though perhaps not well. The ra-dio might be able to pick up other bands ifyou added a proper antenna. Check yourlocal library for books on short-wave oramateur radio, or get a book catalog fromthe American Radio Relay League (New-ington, Conn.).-I.B.

AM BandwagonDear Editor:

As a longtime fan of AM broadcasting, Ihave been delighted with the number ofletters in this column expressing interest inthe subject. Unfortunately, just as interestin nighttime listening of those clear -chan-nel powerhouse stations seems to be in-creasing, we are now witnessing the trash-ing of the entire AM band by the FCC at


the tt-Michat 4:'glass.teristi.or 263cism, cthe GE

If I hlikenin:I'd corGenenterrificand sr,dynamihas mucsion, tig

1919.1104 41/14/941114

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1919..r.. Nno 004444094014941.00

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spuriae (h -octavedashed).

4WD

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NMI44 44.4

Fig.4 Adcom GDA-600,linearity (right chanr2dB/vertical div.).

112

"Nothing less than a steal."-Robert Harley, Stereophile

There's something in this review of our

GDA-600 digital -to -analog converter that the

competition doesn't want you to see. Maybe

it's the fact that the GDA-600 makes digital

formats sound richer and more musical. Or that

it has advanced 20 bit conversion architecture

and a Class "A" analog output stage. But

what they really don't want you to see is that

the GDA-600 costs much less than you might

expect. For the full review see Stereophile,

Volume 17, No. 3, (March '94). Or, if your

copy has been stolen, give us a call.

ADCOMdetails you can hear

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the behest of the National Association ofBroadcasters (NAB).

In spite of the fact that in many marketsacross the country there are far too manyAM (and FM) stations splitting the adver-tiser's dollar, the FCC has accommodatedvirtually every rule change proposed by theNAB to allow ever more stations to be li-censed in a given market. Approximately10 years ago, new "short -spacing" ruleswere adopted that allow nighttime co -channel stations to operate on the samefrequencies as those of the traditionalclear -channel stations. For example, a sta-tion licensed here in Denver may operate atnight on the same frequency as Chicago'sWMAQ, effectively ending the latter's sta-tus as a clear -channel broadcaster.

Is the public interest truly being servedby this "whoring" of the AM broadcastband? Only if the present situation of sta-tions going bankrupt and off the air is. On-ly if the proliferation of cheap, shoddilyproduced programming with maximumshock value to suck in listeners is. Andonly if the lousy technical quality of broad-

casts (due to maximum compressiontechniques, overmodulation, or even lack

THERE'S LITTLE WE CAN

DO BUT WRITE TO OUR

FAVORITE CLEAR -CHANNEL

STATIONS AND TELL THEM

THEY DO HAVE LISTENERS.

of routine maintenance) that are designedto sound loud, and nothing more, on aWalkman is.

An unfortunate fact also appears to bethat as more and more clear -channel sta-tions are bought up as leveraged invest-ments by corporate conglomerates, theyare no longer interested in the out-of-townlistener who doesn't show up in the all-im-portant Arbitron surveys that make orbreak a station in terms of what can becharged for an ad spot.

In order to save what's left of the AMband, there's little listeners can do but

write their favorite clear -channel station-be it KNX, WBAP, WLW, or WCBS-andtell them they do have listeners in the sticksand that those listeners buy their adver-tised products. I'd also suggest writing theFCC (Chief, Mass Media Bureau, FCC,Washington, D.C. 20554) and telling themthat the trashing of today's AM broadcastband is a consequence of the Commis-sion's actions. A copy of listeners' corre-spondence sent to the head of the Houseof Representatives' TelecommunicationsCommittee might be helpful.

The NAB, like any kid, has gotten all thecandy it wants at the FCC for years, and asa direct result, the broadcast industry issick. More public involvement in decision -making is long overdue.

Bill Kleronomos

Lyons, Colo.

Buy for the Sound, Not the NameDear Editor:

I am one who loves music. My library ishome to Eric Clapton, John Mayall, B.B.King, Ray Charles, Benny Goodman, Art

For 40 years we've been building

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It's time weintroducedourselves.

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Blakey, The Mills Brothers, and manymore. Reproduction of such music is, forme, fascinating. Trial and error, with time,has been an excellent instructor. Appropri-ate literature answers questions of how andwhy. My music system today is excellent-the best system I have owned, the best sys-tem I have listened to.

In years past, my living room, and myears, have grown familiar with names suchas Yamaha, Sony, Altec Lansing, Dual, JBL,

Kenwood, Nakamichi, Akai, Tandberg,Bose, etc. For the most part, a very pleasantexperience. For the most part. Here andthere, not so pleasant. To be specific . . .

Sony and JBL. In one word, pitiful. Look-ing back, my mistake is easy to find: Sonyand JBL were judged by my eyes, not myears. I bought the name, not the sound.The common magazine, such as Audio, en-dorses these brand names 100%.

Consumer, buy the component for thesound, not the name.

Lawrence O'ConnorNorman, Okla.

The Editor -in -Chief's Reply: Mr. O'Connor,

I think you mean we endorse Sony andJBL. Curiously, prior to an item that ap-peared in last month's "PlayBack," we hadnot done a review of a JBL product for atleast two years. In any case, we agree withyour motto: Buy for the sound, not thename-or the looks.-E.R

Reel -to -Reel RequestDear Editor:

I want to thank you for the superb mag-azine you publish month after month. Youoffer almost everything: New product re-views, interviews, technical help, critiquesof new and old CDs of various types ofmusic, and questions and answers for vari-ous audio problems.

For years I've been trying to locate anAkai 1722W reel-to-reel, and any Ampexmachine with a built-in amp and detach-able speakers. My first recorder was a Ra-dio Shack 909 reel-to-reel. Obsolete? Ofcourse! Nostalgic? Definitely.

Hence, one area I wish you would dis-cuss occasionally is reel-to-reel equipmentand tapes. They were the backbone of theindustry until recently. By adding this, youwould truly cover all audio from cover tocover, with no publication able to touch


Only NordicTrack works your total body.Ordinary treadmills, steppers and bikes Superior fitness takes justcompletely neglect your upper body. 20 minutes with NordicTrack.

Treadmills, steppers and bikes neglect all musclesin your back, arms, chest, stomach and shoulders. Buta NordicTrack® exerciser works every major musclegroup. In just 20 minutes, three times a week, it tonesyour entire body. And it strengthens your heart forincreased energy and stamina.

Research shows you'll burnmore calories with NordicTrack.Studies reveal NordicTrack burns more calories

and more fat than treadmills, bikes andsteppers. It's simply more effective at taking weightoff and keeping it off.

Lower impact on your body.Our legendary patentedflywheel and one-way

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It may be small. But the Bose® Acoustic Wave® music system is definitely anoverachiever. The unit holds a compact disc player (or cassette), AM/FMradio, and Bose's patented acoustic waveguide speaker technology. And pro-duces a rich, natural sound quality comparable to audio systems costing thou-sands of dollars. We know, that's hard to believe. So we're ready to prove it.Call or write now for our complimentary guide to this award -winning system.Because, like the system itself, it is only availabledirect from Bose. Bettersound through research®

Ciry State Zip

Or mail to: Bose Corporation, The Mountain,Cal: 1-800-898-BOSE, ext. W155. Dept. CDD-w155, Framingham, MA 01701-9168.

you. I know many others still love thosereel -to -reels.

Nevertheless, I deeply appreciate yourmagazine, as it is enjoyable to read and re-lieves me of the stress I experience as a pas-tor. Thank you very much!

Don Vincent

Bald Eagle St.

Box 203

Blanchard, Pa. 16826

Kudos to Boston AcousticsDear Editor:

I recently ordered from Boston Acous-tics a replacement woofer for my A70

SOME MANUFACTURERS

SPEND CAPITAL ON THEIR

IMAGE, ONLY FOR ITTO BE DESTROYED BY

CARELESS REPAIR SHOPS.

Series 1 loudspeaker system. I was told itwas out of stock and would have to bemanufactured-but I was perfectly will-ing to accept this, since a year ago I wentthrough a similar situation.

I had ordered the same part through theservice department of Pittsburgh's mostestablished audiophile retailer and waitedfor more than two months to receive theitem. They gave numerous excuses, andwhen the woofer finally arrived at the shopby UPS, it was severely damaged. The shopwas more than an hour from my home, soit was frustrating to have to make yet an-other trip to pick up the next woofer. Theshop was unwilling to ship the woofer tomy home and made no apologies for theinconveniences.

When the woofer in my other A70 wentdown (the speakers are more than 10 yearsold), I called Boston Acoustics directly. Iordered the item, delighted to hear itwould arrive at my home within a week.When the speaker did not arrive, I calledabout its status. I was told it would have tobe manufactured, and the service represen-tative assured me that the situation wouldbe addressed promptly.

Three days later, the woofer arrived viaUPS overnight delivery, and I noticed thatit had been manufactured just two days

previously. Furthermore, Jeff Litcofsky,customer service supervisor, enclosed anote stating the item would be free ofcharge. I was astonished.

In my experiences as the director of aprivate university's audio/visual center, Ihave dealt with many electronics compa-nies and repair centers. I am always befud-dled by major manufacturers spending in-ordinate amounts of capital on their publicimage, only for it to be destroyed by care-less repair shops. I encourage all readers totake the bull by the horns and deal directlywith the manufacturer, not with these re-pair shops.

It is quite refreshing to encounter a com-pany that truly cares about its customersand is willing to do whatever it takes tomake them happy. Boston Acoustics,you've a friend and customer for life.

Mark Wydareny

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Manuals WantedDear Editor:

I have several pieces of equipment forwhich I don't have owner's manuals. I washoping your readers could help me obtainthem. The equipment is as follows:

dbx: SNR-1 single -ended source noise -reduction system, 1BX-DS one -band dy-namic range expander, and 120X -DS sub -harmonic synthesizer.

SAE: Two P10 power amplifier and TwoPAIO preamplifier.

I would appreciate any help. Thank you.James T Jones

969 Broadhead Lane

St. Louis, Mo. 63138

DCC: No Love LostDear Editor:

I'm sorry to read that the Philips DCCsystem is selling poorly-but it doesn'tsurprise me. With only 45 minutes of con-tinuous recording time before there is anaudible gap while the system changes di-rection, DCC is essentially useless for liverecording.

This was incredibly shortsighted engi-neering. A small digital buffer would haveallowed 90 minutes of gap -free recording.Why Philips failed to include such a bufferis beyond me.

Norm StrongSeattle, Wash.


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AUDIO CLINICJOSEPH GIOVANELLI

Archiving Radio ProgramsQI have several hundred 7 -inch reels of

old-time radio programs. To reducethe cost of recording media, I recorded one of

these monophonic programs on each of thetape's two channels. I recorded at 33A ips be-

cause 1%.9 ips would not have been practical

for trading shows with other collectors. I amconcerned about finding a more lastingmedium on which to archive these programs.

It would also be nice if I could do all thiswithout going broke. Taking into considera-tion both cost and recording density, whatmedium is best? I have considered DAT,MiniDisc, and even 8 -mm videocassettes.Am I missing some other possibility? I would

have to buy new equipment for DAT or MD,but I already have an 8 -mm deck. My con-cern is that 8 mm is still tape and subject to alimited life. MiniDiscs are optically recorded;

this would seem to offer the hope of long life.

With any of these formats, can I still contin-ue using the left and right channels to recordseparate programs?-Ronald Riemer,Phoenix, Ariz.

AI'm also thinking of copying mymany reels of old-time radio shows

to some other medium. However, I knowof no machine in any of the formats whichyou mentioned that can record each chan-nel separately. That will be no problemwhen copying your existing tapes, whichalready have two simultaneous programsrunning together. When you copy new ma-terial, you may have to sacrifice the econo-my of your current double -tracking sys-tem, unless you can simultaneously feedtwo mono programs into the recorder atonce, using one channel for each.

As to long life, all the systems you name(and one more contender, which I'll get tolater) use tape, except for MiniDisc. Itsmagneto -optical recording system, whilepossibly not offering the life expectancypredicted for CD, may well be the safest ofthe lot for archival recording.

To determine recording density, we mustsee how the various formats stack up. Ifyou record at 33/4 ips in quarter -track monoand use 1 -mil tape, you will get six hours

on each reel. That would double if youcould simply recopy the programs ontoreels at 17/8 ips. (Whatever you do, though,don't consider using half -mil tape.)

You can use conventional C-90 cassettes.If you can arrange to simultaneouslyrecord two programs, one on each channel,you will really get 180 minutes of recordingon such a tape. However, I am not con-vinced of the really long-term stability ofmost audio cassettes. (Good open -reel tapeholds up quite well.) I have used MaxellUD tape and to date have not had problemswith it. And the cost is low: 90 -minute cas-settes usually sell for less than $3 each.

With MiniDisc (MD), you can record 74minutes or so-but again, if you canrecord two separate programs at one time,you'll double that. The resulting 148 min-utes isn't bad, but even so, if you're record-ing half-hour programs, you'll only be ableto get two of them on each track. Later thisyear, there should be MD recorders thatwill be able to make 148 -minute monorecordings as well as 74 -minute stereoones. Aside from the convenience for yourpurpose, this would let you get five, insteadof four, programs per disc, allowing 29.6minutes for each program. However, MD ismuch more expensive than cassettes-about $18 for a 74 -minute disc.

At standard speed, DAT cassettes offermaximum stereo recording time of 120minutes; most DAT recorders also have along -play mode that gets double thisrecording time. When you record separateprograms on each channel, you then haveup to eight hours per DAT cassette. It isvery, very unlikely that any of your showshave upper frequencies above 10 kHz, soyou shouldn't mind that the frequency re-sponse at this speed is flat to only about14.5 kHz. The Minidisc can rival that, butthere are some problems with transients onthis medium. Discount mail-order housessell R-120 DAT tapes for about $10 each. Itherefore think that this is a very competi-tive price compared to the others.

We can throw in another system, VHSHi-Fi. In the six -hour mode, when record-

ing separate programs, it can actually holdup to 12 hours of programming. I havefound some good -quality VHS tapes at lessthan $3 each, so this system can prove eco-nomically practical. I have had some prob-lems here and there with edge damage,which can cause flutter and distortion attimes. This can sometimes be corrected ifthe machine has a manual tracking control;I have yet to see how well these problemscan be compensated for when using an au-tomatic tracking system. So, I am not trulysure if this medium is really good for ar-chival purposes, although I use it that way.

Last, we have the 8 -mm video format.Just how well this stacks up depends on themachine. At a minimum, it will let yourecord up to two hours per reel, doubled ifyou use your recording scheme. Some ma-chines can also record in an all -audiomode, like VHS Hi-Fi. Some machines letyou record six pairs of stereo channels,each of which can record up to two hoursper tape, for a total of 12 hours -24, if yourecord as you do now. Still other 8 -mmmachines have six stereo pairs that caneach hold up to four hours per channel,which will double to eight hours whenrecording in simultaneous mono. This isan astounding 48 hours of taping on a littlecassette! That's impressive! I can't say forsure what the price for each tape may be,but you can bet that if you figure a priceper hour, this 8 -mm system will beat thepants off any other system.

I do not know for sure what the life spanof these tapes is, but I suspect that it maybe better than standard VHS Hi-Fi tapes. Ialso do not know the frequency responseon a machine of this type. Unfortunately, itis very hard to find machines of this type asnew items. Kodak used to make a machinethat provided the six stereo pairs at twohours per pass. Sony, with its SV-3000,could record our 48 hours per reel. Theseare no longer made. If you want to find anyof these machines, about all I can suggest isthat you place an ad in our Classified sec-tion. I have been told, too, that Audiomart

If you have a problem or question about audio,write to Mr. Joseph Giovanelli at AUDIO Maga-zine, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. Allletters are answered. In the event that your let-ter is chosen by Mr. Giovanelli to appear in Au-dioclinic, please indicate if your name and/oraddress should be withheld. Please enclose astamped, self-addressed envelope.


(Rte. 3, Box 692, Crewe, Va. 23930) cansometimes come up with odds and endslike this.

Before we get completely carried away,we are forgetting that the more informa-tion packed onto a small space, the harderit will be to retrieve. You will have to main-tain very careful records of counter settings,

for both left and right channels, versusprogram name. If we are talking 8 -mm, wemust keep track of all this plus the particu-lar pair of channels on which to look forthe program. This is a formidable task ofrecord -keeping. It can be done, but be pre-pared to spend long hours compiling yourdata base, and you had better make goodbackups of the information.

The DAT and MD formats are the onlyones I know of that can solve the retrievalproblem to any extent. During the record-ing process, whenever you start recordingor when both channels are silent, therecorder will set an index mark that themachine can readily find in playback. Ifyou're recording in simultaneous mono,where the silences might occur in only onechannel at a time, you can put an indexmark on the tape or disc by pressing a but-ton. The DAT system won't retrieve infor-mation as fast as one can search for infor-mation on a MiniDisc, but it is certainlyfast enough for most applications.

Audio on IceQI have heard a great deal about pow-

er amplifiers getting hot, about theneed to position amplifiers where ventilation

would not be a problem, and about howmanufacturers employ heat -sinks and fans to

keep equipment operating at a safe tempera-

ture. I was wondering if dry ice could be used

as a coolant. Would it damage equipment by

lowering the temperature too much, orwould the amplifier operate better than atroom temperature?-Name withheld

AI think that using dry ice to cool apower amplifier is an extreme ap-

proach; it should not be used. Chances areyou would need a fan to blow over the icein order to direct the cold air onto theheat -sinks. If you try using dry ice, be sure

to protect your hands.Amplifiers are designed to run warm,

somewhat above ambient room tempera-ture. Running the amp at really low tem-peratures could easily change the output


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stage's operating characteristics. Thischange would likely lower output and in-crease distortion.

Recording in Your CarQI have sought in vain to acquire a car

cassette system that is capable ofrecording. If I can't buy one, is there a stan-dard outlet on any car cassette system thatwill allow me to connect a portable recorderto it?-Jay Wilfong, St. Petersburg, Fla.

AI don't know of any current carstereo units that can record as well

as play. Many car systems do have line -level

outputs designed to drive external ampli-fiers, and a portable recorder could be con-nected to such an output. However, the sig-nal level at these outputs depends on thevolume -control setting. If you adjust yourlistening volume while you're recording,you'll also change the signal level going tothe recorder-and if you turn the volumedown, there may not be enough signal todrive your recorder to full modulation.

A skilled electronics technician couldprobably add output jacks that tap the sig-

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nal before the volume control, and possiblyeven buffer the new outputs so turningyour recorder on or off won't affect the sig-nal you're listening to. But any recordingsyou make off the air while driving will beaffected by interference, fading signals, andother problems common to car radio lis-tening; these problems will become moreannoying each time you listen to the tape.

There has always been some demand forcar stereo units that record, and manufac-turers have occasionally produced them.However, the demand has never beenenough for anyone to keep such a model inproduction very long.

Recording by TimerQI was very disappointed that Audio's

Annual Equipment Directory issue(October) fails to note whether analog cas-sette tape recorders have timer -controlledrecord/playback capabilities. I do lots of off-the -air recording, so, all else being equal, this

is a deciding factor in my purchase of a deck.

I am concerned that manufacturers willeventually eliminate this feature.-KenMassey, Indianapolis, Ind.

AAudio does not ask companiesabout timer recording because the

available space must be used for featuresand specifications of widest interest. How-ever, as long as there's substantial interestin a feature, manufacturers will continue toprovide it. (Editor's Note: Timer recordingwould seem to be a more popular featurein Japan, where electronics stores usual-ly carry suitable timers; such timers arecomparatively rare in the U.S. However,since most cassette decks come from Japan,the feature seems likely to remain avail-able.-LB.)

I recently worked with a Technics DCCrecorder; timer control was a well -imple-mented feature. Although your concern isanalog decks, you should be heartened tosee the feature appearing on new designs.

I have found that some machines permittimer control, even when it was not specifi-cally intended. If you have an older deckwith a wired remote control whose buttonsstay down once they're depressed, plug themachine into your timer, set up for record-ing, and press the remote's play/recordbuttons. When the deck starts getting pow-er from the timer, it should begin torecord.


The old piano -key decks can also beused this way. However, leaving the idlersand capstan roller engaged while waitingfor the timer to start can create flat spotson the idler, causing wow and flutter. It'sbest only to use this trick for short periods.

The pads or soft -touch buttons on deckswith all -electronic control do not remaindepressed. I once got around this difficultyby wedging the desired buttons so that theycould not pop out. When powered, thedeck immediately went into its recordmode. This may not work with all ma-chines, and problems might arise if thebuttons are still jammed down when thetape comes to an end.

Headphones vs. SubwoofersQMy powered subwoofer is connected,

as recommended, between my inte-grated amplifier's pre out and main in ports.This puts the subwoofer's crossover in thepath to the headphone outlet. Therefore,when I listen through headphones, I get nobass below perhaps 90 Hz, the subwoofer'scrossover point. My attempt to bypass thesubwoofer, using two four -pole double -throw

switches, worked but gives me a lot of hum.What else can I do?-Robert A. Keeler,Grand Rapids, Mich.

AYou have already partially solved the

problem. Actually, the switching canbe done with just one four -pole double -throw switch. The switch and its associatedtie points and/or connectors should bemounted in a metal project box. The metalwill act as a shield.

To minimize the number of phonoplugs, I suggest that all wiring to and fromthe box be "captive cables." In other words,do not mount any connectors on the box.(You could, but I don't recommend it.) Ca-bles will exit the box, and they should bemarked as to where they are to be connect-ed: Pre out, main in, crossover in, andcrossover out (this last is for the satellites).Of course, you duplicate these cables forthe second channel. Be sure to run allgrounds through, or you won't have a sig-nal path; you will not be switchinggrounds. (Your use of the second switchsuggests to me that you did just that.) Ifhum persists, you might try breaking theground path for one channel.

Use two poles per channel (thus, thefour -pole switch). We will consider each

pole as a separate switch, for ease of discus-

sion here, but we'll just talk about SW1and SW2, for the left channel; you needsimply to duplicate this wiring for the right

channel.The center terminal of SW1 is connected

to the pre out cable. The center terminal ofSW2 is connected to main in. Position A ofSW1 is wired to position A of SW2. Posi-tion B of SW1 is wired to crossover in. Po-sition B of SW2 is wired to crossover out. A1-megohm, 1/4 -watt resistor is wired be-tween pre out and ground. A second such

resistor is wired between crossover out andground. (The resistors are used to removethe possibility of a transient click when theswitch is moved from one position to theother.)

When the switch is moved to position A,the pre out is directly wired to main in.This permits either full -range satellite orheadphone listening. When the switch ismoved to position B, pre out is wired tocrossover in; main in is wired to crossoverout. The subwoofer will then be placedin service. A

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Continuing this article on betidinghigh -end Class -A amplifier (100 wart,; into

8 ohms, 0.1°A) or less TIM], l will describethe power supply and output stage part I

covered the low-level stages and storyand philosophy behind the design.

I) ()wt.!. Sup F.,

Nelson Pass, a designer of hiA -crui au-dio equipment v..ho helped me with thisamplifier, was concerned that the localfeedback scheme might inject lois,: intothe amplifier. He indicated that this objec-tion would he removed if the driver stagewere operated from a separate regulatedsupply. This was good news, becausr theintent from the heginn ng was to do this,albeit for another reason: The MOS-FETsused here are all enhancement -mode de-vices, which means that a gate to -source

dr. norman e. thagard

PART II 1 * ******* a *

voltage of 5 V or so is required to saturatethem. If the di iver stage were operatedfrom the same supply as the output, the

amplifier front -ends have current -e:uire-ments well within that capability. The al-

riaative to the doubler would be al nde-pendent supply requ ring either a se.raratepower transformer or additions -n.indings

on the main power transformer la riy ex -output swing co-ukt never be closer than -5- --pe-knee, single tiamfoimeis with the de -

V to the output -rail voltage,which wouldsignia:antly reduce the amplifier's ratedpower output. This is evtm more onerousfor a (lass -A amp, where the already highquiescent power dissipation would be un-necensArilv raised and Guise even grouterinefficiencies.

The 55-V driver rails allow the output toswing almost the whole 100-V (+50 to -50V) output power -supply differential. All ofmy amplifier designs have used half -wavevoltage doublers, 1011ovve,d by voltage regu-

lator., to power the front -ends. Such dou-blers have limited current' capability, but

AV910/FEBRUiRY 199536

sired additional windings are impossible tocome by, and it is difficult to physically lo-cate a second power transformer in theusual cramped chassis.

The emphasis of this article is on the sig-nal circuitry. Even so, I would be remiss toignore the design of the voltagedoubler/regulators. I use

Norman E. Thaga-d, M.D., is a NASAastronaut who has Seen selectee a; therime crew member for a thr.?.e-r-n:;nth;light on the Russian ;pace statian Mir this:pring.

DOUBLER REGULATORR105 0103 cm

C105

7MI 0101 C10T

'1,V;F 02- 1

2102

R101*C103

*RLI

,IC102

i i 8102

L -J F103 DO54,7M2 D102

"-aloeC106

F I G . 2-Power-supply schematic.

+ 50 V

CENTER C103ICONDUCTOR

CHASSISGROUND 50V

C104

(VOLTAGE REGJI BOARD I

I NO I

'CONNECTION IL _J

R104 D104

IFRONT-ENDiI BOARD

I NO I

'CONNECTION'L. __I

0107

1111E11111E-

11812 RliefC110 010E1

i° "811460102

DRIVE

(OUTPUTI STAGE I

°± OUTPUTGROuND

- I

CABLESHIELD

+55V

420V

750V

not be exceeded. Too high a value for R113will cause the output to drop below 20 V.Transistor Q107 is the shunt, while Q109 isa 7-V reference. Output voltage is deter-mined from the formula:

FRONT-ENDP.C. BOARDGROUND

50V( 7 + 0.7 )

IN.117+Rii5 =R117

20V

55V

(7= 20 V.619,780),7.870)

INPUT

1041

F I G . 3-Grounding scheme. L _ _J

from my 30 -year -old electrical engineering

text for the doubler design. A descriptionof the positive supplies follows; the nega-tive supplies perform similarly, as can beinferred from Fig. 2.

Initially, C105 will charge through D101to a level approaching the a.c. peak voltageof the power transformer's secondary, i.e.,about 50 V. The D101 anode voltage willdrop below cathode voltage as the cyclecontinues, cutting off D101 and preventingC105 from discharging through that diode.During the next cycle, the positive terminalof C105 will approach 100 V, as its negativeterminal will rise to the transformer sec-ondary voltage (remember, the voltageacross a capacitor cannot change instanta-neously, and C105 was previously chargedto 50 V). Because the required voltage rat-ing of C105 is thus seen to be at least 50 V,use a 63-V capacitor. Capacitor C107 willcharge through R103/D103 to a level lessthan twice the peak secondary voltage. Re-sistor R103 will lessen the charging currentpulse amplitude, which will make the volt-age at the doubler output (D103/C107junction) somewhat less than it would oth-erwise be. You can increase R103 at the ex-pense of that voltage, but the doubler out-put voltage needs to be 85 V or more to

Here, The 0.7 V of the formula is the Vbe ofQ107.

Seven -volt zeners can be substituted fortransistors Q105, Q106, Q109, and Q110.Precision 5-V references are also available,but their use will require changes in the re-sistor values to give correct voltages for

I regulator output.1

1

ensure proper operation of zener Z102. If Iyou measure less than 85 V here, reduce Ithe value of R103. Clearly, C107 needs tohave a voltage rating significantly greaterthan 85 V.

The R105/Z102/R107 scheme is some- Itimes called preregulation. Its use should Iimprove performance of the downstream

1

regulators. A simple discrete series voltageregulator is formed by Q101/Q103, for Iwhich Q105 is a stable 7-V reference. Out- Iput voltage is set by the formula: 1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

+017/ \R111

+8109) =Ril

(7.7 ) (55,180) = 55 V.7,680

The 0.7 V in the formula is the Vbe forQ103.

The 55-V regulated output is then fur-ther regulated down to 20 V by a simple,discrete shunt regulator. This regulator be-haves somewhat like a zener in that it willconduct whatever current is required tomaintain 20 V at the output. Thus, thefunction of R113 is to limit that current sothat regulator component limitations will

rOther Circuitry.The grounding scheme (Fig. 3) is worth

a quick comment. The star ground tech-nique, in which a single ground point ex-ists, is employed; all system grounds are re-turned to this point. I used heavy gaugebrass bus bars to connect the ground ter-minals of the main power -supply elec-trolytic capacitors, C103 and C104. This isthe system ground. The ground trace onthe doubler/regulator p.c. board is inten-tionally broken, that is, the board's inputground is not continuous with its outputground. Instead, the wire lead from theoutput ground trace goes directly to thefront -end's p.c. board ground connectionand from there is routed back to the systemground point. This part of the groundingscheme keeps voltage spikes from the half-wave doubler out of the ground bus for theregulators, which results in a cleaner regu-lated supply rail.

To prevent ground loops, the signal in-put ground is not continuous with thefront -end's p.c. board ground discussed inthe preceding paragraph. Instead, only theinput components C2/R2 and the feedbackresistor R34 have their grounds connected

1 to the ground terminal of the input RCAjack. The jack's ground terminal is con-nected to the chassis through a 10 -ohm re-sistor. The chassis itself is connected to thesystem ground from one point only, with a


heavy gauge wire. I have used well -shielded

audio cable to connect the RCA jack to thefront -end's p.c. board, but this is probablynot required.

But I digress, and shall now return to thecircuit description. The output MOS-FETsdo require biasing for linear operation, soQ21 is at the heart of a variable voltagesource that provides the 10 or 11 V fromthe p- to the n -channel gate. Used as a V,multiplier, Q21 has a collector -to -emittervoltage adjustable by trimpot P2. While apotentiometer could be used directly toprovide the gate -spreading voltage, it is notprudent to run much current through one.Therefore, the circuit here-the one usedin all but the simplest amplifiers-is de-signed to give some protection against in-advertent high biases or failures that mightfully turn on the output transistors. Thisarrangement should be a d.c. voltagesource and an a.c. short. Capacitor C7 of-fers some noise suppression and lowers a.c.impedance at higher frequencies.

I mentioned in Part I that no globalfeedback is used. That is true for the com-plete amplifier, but the front-end does in-corporate feedback from driver to input.Driver output is sampled and fed back tothe input via R31 through R34. The closedloop gain is set by the ratio:

( R31 x R32 )

( R31 + R32 )+ R33 + R34

R34

5k + 16.9k + 1.0k 22.9k= 22.9

1.0k 1.0k

and is about 20. This sets the amplifier'ssensitivity to a fairly typical value. Capaci-tor C8 is another form of compensationand was used here to shape the square -wave response [5]. The value of 5 pF gave avery slightly overdamped response, whichlooks very good on an oscilloscope.

In the output stage, Z3/D4 and Z4/D5form a protection network to safeguard thegates of Q24 through Q35 from damagingovervoltages. With the use of global feed-back, a reactive load that lags the outputwill cause drive voltage to increase as the

The mo t importantcon eration

FO LASS -A

mplevel

THE ALTA

feedback loop attempts to force the outputto follow the (amplified) version of the in-put. This can easily produce gate -to -sourcevoltages which imperil the output MOS-FETs. While this open -loop amplifier willhave no such tendency, it is still wise to in-corporate this inexpensive protective net-work to avoid the cost and trouble of re-placing the MOS-FETs.

Transistors Q22 and Q23 are constant -current sources. Without them, bipolarpower transistors Q36 through Q47 wouldrun out of base -current drive as the outputvoltage approached the supply rails. This,then, is another case where the amp's pow-er rating would be unnecessarily limited ifappropriate countermeasures were not tak-en. As a rule of thumb, I use a bias currentthat is about 10% of the output bias cur-rent, which is almost always sufficient tofully drive the output while not so excessiveas to place unreasonable burdens on Q22and Q23. Since R37 and R38 are 3.9 -ohmresistors, bias current is 0.23 ampere (0.9divided by 3.9), which is about 10% of the2.5 -amp output bias. (The 0.9 in the equa-tion is, of course, the voltage drop acrossthe series diodes D6 and D7, which isabout 1.5 V, less the 0.6-V Vbe of Q22.)

Since the 0.23 ampere flows through R66(R67), base voltage of the output bipolarsis 6.2 V (0.23 times 27), which means a lit-tle less than 5.6 V (6.2 minus 0.6) is acrossthe output MOS-FET channels. This is an-other advantage of cascoding: Devices withlower power and voltage ratings may beused in a critical application. These MOS-FETs are responsible for the thermal be-havior of the output, and cascoding them

improves performance since they dissipatefar less power than if they had the entiresupply voltage across them.

The most important consideration for aClass -A power -output stage at this powerlevel is its thermal stability. If biased by aconstant -voltage source, a bipolar transis-tor will exhibit a negative thermal coeffi-cient. Some authors choose to call this apositive coefficient. I use the convention inthe International Rectifier MOS-FET DataBook, which refers to the effective resis-tance of the device. As it heats up, the ef-fective resistance of the channel decreases,which results in more current, which re-sults in more heat, and so on. Self-destruc-tion can be the outcome. The output inthis design is biased by a constant -voltagesource, namely the Vbe multiplier, Q21.However, no tendency to thermal runawayoccurs, because it is the MOS-FETs, not thebipolars, which are so biased.

Now, in spite of what you may haveheard about positive thermal coefficients ofMOS-FETs, in a linear application such asthis, MOS-FETs will also conduct a littlemore current as they warm up. This hap-pens because the positive thermal coeffi-cient of the channel is more than offset bythe thermal behavior of the gate -to -sourcevoltage [6]. For a given drain current, therequired Vg5 drops with increasing temper-ature. At the high drain currents seen inswitching applications, the channel charac-teristics predominate and the often toutedthermal advantages of MOS-FETs do, in-deed, exist.

There is no need for alarm. Even in thepresent application, this increase in draincurrent with increasing temperature is self -limited, so that thermal runaway will notoccur. As a matter of fact, Q21, which is amedium -power bipolar transistor, will ex-perience a drop in its V, as it warms up.Since it functions as a V multiplier, out-put MOS-FET bias will drop. The overallthermal characteristic of this amplifier isthe desirable one, that is, output bias willtend to fall somewhat as it warms up. Ob-viously, then, Q21 should be mounted on aheat -sink. Even though a heat -sink is notrequired for its modest power dissipation,it is required to keep the output bias fromsagging excessively. (Otherwise, this Class -A amp will degrade to high -bias AB as itwarms up.)


I did not match either the MOS-FET orthe bipolar output transistors. Nonethelessit is important that the MOS-FETs be rea-sonably well matched, or they will notequally share the output bias current. Forthe reason given above, inequalities in cur-rent sharing will actually be aggravated asthe MOS-FETs warm up. Source -degenera-

tion resistors R52 through R63 will im-prove the current sharing and improveoutput linearity; they could be increased to1 ohm at the expense of lowering dampingfactor. With carefully matched MOS-FETs,these resistors could also be eliminated, butI like to use them because it would other-wise be difficult to determine the perfor-mance of a particular leg of the paralleledoutput. MOS-FETs from the same lotwould likely be adequately matched. Pur-chasing all of the MOS-FETs from the samevendor at the same time usually gives youtransistors from the same lot, which wascertainly my experience with this amplifier.The 250 -watt bipolar output devices haveno choice but to conduct whatever currenttheir cascode partner sends them, somatching the bipolars is unnecessary.

Since power output = (rms current)2 xload impedance, then the rms current =4power/8 = .4113 = 3.5 amperes. Peakcurrent = rms current x -42 = 3.5 x 1.4 = 5amperes. At 100 watts, current will varyfrom near zero up to the peak of 5 am-peres. For Class -A operation, the currentmust never go to zero (output devices mustconduct throughout the cycle), so the out-put bias must be set to at least 2.5 amperes.

Paralleled MOS-FETs can self -oscillatedue to parasitic device reactances. Gate re-sistors R40 through R51 should preventsuch oscillations. Not enough is said aboutoscillations in power amplifiers; even somecommercial amps have had such problems.This was my third scratch -built amplifier,and all three initially had oscillations. (Letme add that the first two scratch -builtamps that oscillated were not of my de-sign.) Stray coupling can be the culprit.Keeping input separated from output canhelp with this, as can ground -plane con-struction of p.c. boards and groundingheat -sinks (I have seen stray coupling totransistors mounted to ungrounded heat-

sinks). I routinely do these things, as is evi-denced in this design. Inadequate bypass-ing of power -supply runs can cause

The ampingfac oesn't

VARY H WITHo thisII G

mpI ARLY IDEAL

AGE CE

problems, since the power supply shouldideally be an a.c. short circuit. There can beenough inductance in the wire carryingpower from the supply to the p.c. board tocause onboard problems. Thus, the front-end board in this design allows for power-

supply bypassing. Although keeping leadlengths short is desirable, a 100 -watt Class-

A amplifier has massive heat -sinks, so it isimpossible to keep all lead lengths short.The prototypes were built with no concernfor layout other than a reasonable separa-tion between the input and output por-tions of the circuit. Nonetheless, the ampli-fier has no detectable oscillations; theopen -loop topology no doubt contributesto this stability. No series output inductor,of the kind frequently used in power am-plifiers to isolate the output from reactiveloads, is needed, and the amp has drivencapacitive loads with no apparent prob-lems. In this regard, it is an excellent pro-ject for those who would like to have assur-ance that the outcome of their efforts willbe successful.

The RC output filter formed by C13/R39is ubiquitous in power amps. Although Idetect no difference in bench tests of per-formance with or without the filter, Passassures me there is a load lurking out therethat will require it. The values used forC13/R39 are the most typical.

Diodes D10 and DI I protect the ampli-fier output from reactive loads which couldinduce EMFs high enough to reverse thepolarity across the output transistors. Thiscould even happen with lower EMFs in thisClass -A amplifier, because rail voltage fallsrapidly at power off. A reactive load could

hold the output well above virtual ground,leading to the polarity reversal. The diodesclamp the output voltage to a magnitudeno greater than one diode drop above therail voltage.

Fuse F1 protects the amplifier from in-advertent output shorts and the load fromamplifier failures or problems in signalsources connected to the amp. All ampli-fiers have failure modes that can result inthe output heading straight to the supplyrails. To deliver 100 watts into an 8 -ohmload, F1 must be rated at 4 amperes ormore. In Pass' experience, fuses smallerthan 6 amperes sometimes have adverseauditory effects. A 6 -ampere fuse may ormay not blow if a fault occurs, thus placingthe amplifier or its load at risk. You mustbe the judge of the efficacy of Fl.

Some argue that output fuses lower anamplifier's damping factor. Indeed, outputfuses can do so, because they increase theoutput impedance by the amount of theirown impedance. In a feedback amplifier,the fuse impedance can be the major con-tributor to output impedance. That is lesslikely in this open -loop amplifier, sinceoutput impedance is inherently higher.(Feedback has several effects; in addition tolowering THD, it also reduces output im-pedance by the amount of the feedback).In the rush to extremely high damping fac-tors, the already low absolute value of theoutput impedance is often overlooked. Ofmore importance, I think, is the frequencydependence of the damping factor. I mea-sured 45 at 1 kHz, 40 at 10 kHz, andgreater than 35 at 20 kHz. Since dampingfactor is the ratio of load impedance toamp output impedance, the output imped-ance for the standard 8 -ohm load at 20kHz is 0.23 ohm (8 divided by 35). Look-ing at this from another perspective, we areless than 0.25 ohm from a perfect voltagesource, which is the ideal.

A few words are due concerning themain power supply. If rated output is to berealized, the rail voltage must drop no low-er than 46 V in operation. The current re-quired from the supply will be around 3amperes at that voltage. Rounding offyields a power dissipation of 300 watts. Thepower transformer, T1, must be capable ofproviding this kind of power, and a goodrule of thumb would be a VA rating ofabout twice the 300 watts. Since the 300


watts is somewhat conservative, a 500 -watttransformer is probably adequate if theamplifier is properly ventilated. A toroid ispreferred but not essential.

There is no need to regulate the mainpower supply, but it must be adequately fil-tered. I recommend that filter capacitorsC103 and C104 be at least 15,000 µF. Theirvoltage rating should be at least 63 V.

Large filter capacitors will result in weld-ed contacts unless the power switch has avery high current rating or in -rush currentlimiting is provided. The relay/thermistorarrangement of RL1, TM1, and TM2 usedhere works well. At power on, the filter ca-pacitors look like a short circuit. The trans-former/rectifier doesn't see this short, be-cause the 10 -ohm cold resistance of thethermistors is interposed. As the filter ca-pacitors charge toward the 50-V level, thepull -in voltage of the relay is finallyreached, which bypasses supply currentaround the thermistors. There is always achance that the relay contacts would notclose. Even if such a failure occurs, no haz-ard exists since the thermistors are rated tocarry the full supply current. There wouldbe an increase in power -supply output im-pedance by the amount of the hot resis-tance of the thermistors, but this is lessthan 1 ohm.

The final installment of this article willcover construction methods and will in-clude a complete Parts List plus circuit -board patterns and board -stuffing dia-grams.

REFERENCESA

1. Leach, Marshall, "Build a Low TIMAmplifier," Audio, February 1976 ("Ad-dendum," April 1976, pg. 12).

2. Pass, Nelson, "Cascode Amp De-sign," Audio, March 1978.

3. Yunik, Maurice, Design of ModernTransistor Circuits, Prentice -Hall, 1973(pp. 144 to 147).

4. Joyce, M. V. and K. K. Clarke, Tran-sistor Circuit Analysis, Addison-Wesley,1961 (pp. 98 to 101).

5. Rosenstark, Sol, Feedback AmplifierPrinciples, Macmillan, 1986 (pp. 112 to118).

6. "Paralleling MOSFETs in the Linear

Mode," Power MOSFET Transistor Data,

Motorola, 1985 (pp. A63 to A65).

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Switched -On Amps:++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-1-1ower thse

ventional solid-state

witching amps have captured theimagination of many audio pioneersover the past 20 to 30 years. Thesiren song of this technology hasbeen-and still is-high efficiency,small size, and the potential formore linearoperation (orat least a dif-ferent type oflinearity) thanthat of con -

amps. Internally,switching amps handle signals entirely ason/off pulses, using pulse -duty -cycle modu-lation (PDM), or pulse -width modulation(PWM). Therefore, these amps are often re-ferred to as "digital"; they are also some-times described as Class -D amps. Theirdownside is the considerable difficulty inkeeping r.f. generated by the switchingaction from radiating out of the amplifier and interfering withone's FM tuner, TV set, and possibly other electronic equipment.

How do switching amplifiers work? Fundamentally, they consistof three main blocks: An analog input -to -duty -cycle modulator, aswitching output stage, and a power supply (Fig. 1). Assuming a

bipolar (positive and negative) power supply, the output stage canbe in only one of two states: Fully positive or fully negative.

Imagine that the output is switching between these two states ata rate of 500 kHz. With no incoming audio input, the waveformwill be a 500 -kHz square wave with equal positive and negativetime intervals. As shown in Fig. 2, this produces a 50/50 duty cycle:

The waveform spends half of its time at thepositive rail and the other half at the nega-tive rail. Under these conditions, the net av-erage (or d.c.) output is zero. Now, supposethat the duty cycle were to be proportionalto the incoming audio signal's amplitude (aproper supposition, as that is the functionof the modulator block pre-ceding the out-put stage). Asthe incomingaudio wave-form goes pos-itive, the duty

cycle changes so that the time spentpositive is correspondingly greaterand the time spent negative is corre-spondingly less, which produces anet positive output voltage. When the

SWITCH! NG AMPS

SING A SIREN SONG

OF HIGH EFFICIENCY,

SMALL SIZE, AND

GREATER LINEARITY.

THIS SWITCHING

AMP, USED IN

BOSE CAR

SYSTEMS,

DELIVERS

100 WATTS INTO

A 0.5 -OHM

LOAD.


Photo enhancement: David Hamsley

ABOVE, THE

ORIGINAL INFINITY

SWITCHING AMP.

A SWITCHING

DESIGN KEEPS

INFINITY'S CAR

AMPS, ABOVE

COMPACT

AND EFFICIENT.

incoming audio waveform goes nega-tive, a similar effect takes place, pro-ducing a net negative output voltage.Of course, with real audio signals, allthis takes place on an ongoing basis,making the average output of theswitching output stage an amplifiedreplica of the incoming analog audiowaveform. It is necessary to remove the500 -kHz switching components, sothey will not get into the actual outputto the outside world; this is the job of ahigh-level, LCR low-pass filter. Thecutoff frequency of these filters is typi-cally around 50 kHz.

Another way of thinking of all this isas a sampled data system with a 500 -kHz sampling frequency. This is a sim-

plified explanation, of course. In actuality, most designs allow theswitching frequency to come down for the signal peaks of each po-larity as the signal modulation approaches full scale, so as to moreeffectively allow the duty cycle to approach 0% and 100%. Fur-thermore, audio -frequency negative feedback is inherent in theoperation of most designs, helping to maintain overall input/out-put linearity.

Historically, I believe Infinity Systems had the first actualswitching amp on the market, back in 1976. This unit, informallycalled the Swamp (for switching amp), had some very impressivecharacteristics-among them some 300 watts per channel into 8 -ohm loads, a switching frequency of 500 kHz, use of a switchingregulated power supply, and the use of one pair of fast bipolartransistors per channel in the switching output stage. The design-

ers of this circuit originally thoughtthat it could be small and light, withvirtually no heat -sinking. Over time,they learned this really wasn't so, andthe final product ended up with a veryconsiderable bulk of extruded alu-minum heat -sinks on the rear of theunit. The nemesis of Infinity's Swampwas a propensity for failure that wasnot consistent from unit to unit. Someunits would be quite robust, whileothers would fail at the blink of aneye. This characteristic persisted de-spite considerable and ongoing effortsby the designers (I was later one ofthem) to improve reliability.

BELOW,

A 300 -WATT

ARNOUX AMP.

THE BOSE CAR

AMPS, BOTTOM ,

CAN BE MOUNTED

IN THE SPEAKER

ENCLOSURE.


Infinity came up with a new design, nicknamedSwamp 2, whose audio circuitry was similar to theoriginal Swamp's but which had a nonswitching pow-er supply. Only a few, if any, of these units were sold.Infinity shortly got out of the switching -amp business.

Around the time Infinity was working on theSwamp 2 (1977 to 1978), Sony came out with atwitching amp, the TA -N88, which used twn pain ofV-FET devices for the switching output stage. This de-sign also used a switching, regulated power supply. Itwas a nicely made unit and sounded pretty good, butit was on the market for only a year or two.

In car audio, there have been a number of switchingpower amplifiers. Around the early to mid -1980s, adeluxe sound system for the more expensive GM carsappeared. These systems, designed and built by Bose,utilized a switching design for the power amplifiers.The amplifiers didn't use a power converter to gener

FIG. I -

BLOCK DIAGRAM

OF A TYPICAL

SWITCHING AMP.

FIG. 2 -

PULSE -DUTY -

CYCLE

MODULATION.

ate a higher bipolar supply for the output stage; instead, they useda full bridge output stage operated directly off of the battery volt-age. This, in conjunction with nominal 2 -ohm speakers, producedsome 25 watts of power per speaker position. (Today's Bose caramps feed 0.5 -ohm loads, to deliver 100 watts apiece.) I haveheard that Alpine has also used a similar approach in some of thename -brand car systems that they have been involved with. Yama-ha also had a switching amp for cars on the market for a while, inthe late '80s.

In the sound -reinforcement field, I understand that a fewswitching amplifier designs have come and gone over the years.

_./Nosaiii.

ALTHOUGH THE

CONCEPT IS SIMPLE

MAKING SWITCHING

AMPS WORK HAS

PROVEN DIFFICULT.

SUPPLY

ANALOGLOW-LEVEL

HIGH-LEVEL

AUDIOOUTPUTANALOG -TO -POP

HIGH-LEVELLOW-PASS

MOCULATORPOWER

SWITCHESINPUT FOR POM FILTER POWER

INTOLOAD

- SUPPLY

FEEDBACK HCIRCUIT

50% DUTY ANALOG DUTY PWMDUTY CYCLE AUDIO CYCLE DIGITAL

CYCLE INCREASES SIGNAL DECREASES SIGNAL

+35V

/-35V

Currently, Peavey and others have switch ng amp ifiers intendedfor this market.

Infinity Systems has recently gotten back into the switching -amp business, this time with aftermarket amplifiers for car sys-tems. These products have been designed by my good friend andmentor, W. M. (Mack) Turner of Arnoux Corp. I have knownabout the development of these amplifiers from before Mr. Turn-er's relationship with Infinity was established. He calls his design"past stable," which really defines a topology whereby the circuit,from a linear systems feedback point of view, is unstable at highfrequencies and thus oscillates. Oscillate it does, at about 500 kHz,producing an overall pulse -duty -cycle, frequency -modulationscheme that produces a highly linear overall input -to -output rela-tionship. Infinity is currently selling these car amplifiers in vari-ous power levels and configurations.

As a separate effort, Arnoux is readying two models for homehi-fi use, under its own name: The Model 7B, a 60-watt/channelstereo unit, and the MB -300A, a 300 -watt mono piece. I have hada lot of listening experience with various versions of the smallerstereo amp, and I must say they sound very natural and satisfacto-ry. One thing I like about the 7B is that it consumes so little oper-ating power, some 7 to 8 watts; I happily leave it on all the time sothat it always sounds its best when I use it in my system. The larg-er MB-300As have an obviously more powerful sound and rivalsome of the best linear designs in overall reality of sound repro-duction. Look for these amps at selected dealers soon (and possi-bly direct from the factory in Santa Barbara, California).

I wouldn't be surprised to see more activity in switching ampsin the near future. Their newfound reliability makes them practi-cal, and their high efficiency has strong appeal in this energy -conscious era. A


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EQUIPMENT PROFILE

ACURUS 200X3THREE -CHANNEL AMP

Many articles have been writtensuggesting that the easiest wayto "expand" an existing stereosystem for home theater use isto buy a top-quality Dolby ProLogic processor, use your exist-

ing stereo amplifier for the rear channels,and buy a three -channel power amp forthe front. Sounds logical, until you peruseAudio's Annual Equipment Directorylooking for three -channel power amps. Inlast October's issue, I could find only threeof them listed. The first in the alphabeti-cal list is the Acurus 200X3, the subject ofthis review.

Yes, I know there are plenty of multi-channel amps in the Audio "bible," manyof which can be bridged for three-, four-,or five -channel operation. However, bridg-

SPECSFTC Power Rating: 200 watts/

channel, three channels driveninto 8 ohms at no more than0.06% THD, 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

Output Power: 250 watts/channelcontinuous, three channelsdriven into 4 ohms, 20 Hz to 20kHz.

S/N: 110 dB, A -weighted.

Input Sensitivity: 1.1 V for fulloutput.

Input Impedance: 20 kilohms.Dimensions: 17 in. W x 7 in. H x

15 in. D (43.2 cm x 17.8 cm x38.1 cm); 19 -in. (48.3 -cm) frontpanel optional.

Weight: 45 lbs. (20.5 kg).Price: $1,295.

Company Address: do Mondial, 20Livingstone Ave., Dobbs Ferry,N.Y. 10522.

For literature, circle No. 93

ing is a mixed blessing, as Mondial, themanufacturer of the Acurus 200X3, cor-rectly points out. When an amplifier isbridged, each half (i.e., each original am-plifier channel) sees an impedance equal tohalf the total. As far as the amplifier is con-cerned, 8 -ohm speakers look like 4 -ohmsystems, 4 -ohm speakers look like 2 -ohmmodels, etc. Under these conditions, eachamplifier works harder and typically gen-erates more distortion. Furthermore, whentwo amplifiers drive the same load, the fre-quency response anomalies of each com-bine, as does noise power. Amplifier out-put impedance doubles too. When anamplifier drives a frequency -dependentload-and all speakers present a frequen-cy -dependent load to some extent-nonuniformity in output impedance canplay havoc with overall system response.It's not that bridging doesn't "work"-it

does but performance in bridged opera-tion will invariably be somewhat worsethan with unbridged operation. That's thelogic behind the Acurus 200X3.

Design and ConstructionAlthough I was not provided a schemat-

ic with which to confirm my analysis, I'mpretty sure that the Acurus 200X3 is a tra-ditional Class -AB amplifier. That's how it

looks, based on a visual inspection of thelayout, and that's how it tests. The recentrash of esoteric amplifier topologies mightgive one cause to question whether ClassAB isn't passé. Hardly! There's nothingwrong with a well -executed Class -AB de-sign. In fact, Class H and its ilk were notdeveloped to improve on Class AB's soundquality but to improve on its operationalefficiency. Class AB may win no honorshere, but its performance is usually morepredictable, i.e., without the weirdlyshaped distortion curves that characterizemany of the newer designs.

From a layout point of view, the threechannels of the Acurus 200X3 are identical.The components for each channel, includ-ing clip -mounted fuses for each polarityof the power supply, occupy one of threesingle -sided glass -epoxy circuit boardsthat make up the system. Four pairs of


w

0

2

3

freouency Peso.. at 1 watt - Amp, we, vs Fre° OAr,

Ap

10 100 1k 10k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 1-Frequency response,channel 2.

90

100

7120

C

110

-130

-140

1/3-Octaws Noses UMW, wS Ouenc 012,

100k 200k

Apt

20 100

FREQUENCY-. Hz

Fig. 2-Noise spectrum,channel 2.

10k

curus 00X3 - C osstlie 1061 .........c. 0.1.1 Cnenols --, I- k

60

-70

80

90

-100

110

-120

100k

20 100 lk

FREQUENCY- Hz

Fig. 3-Crosstalk, best andworst directions.

10k 100k

ACUOy 200,3 - 0,4 MI vs Fre, 1,4z, 0 C...., 2 - All Drive, o m lope - 051.

0.1

z., 0.01

a

0001

AB

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Fig. 4-THD + N vs.frequency with 8 -ohm loadsfor channel 2 (A) andchannel 1 (B).

10k 20k

complementary -symmetry outputtransistors (eight transistors perchannel) and their drivers are sol-dered directly to the board and arephysically mounted to a good-sized,38 -fin heat -sink. Each boardmounts to its respective heat -sinkwith screws and spacers.

Each black -anodized heat -sink is113/4 inches long and 4 inches high,with 1 -inch fins. The three heat -sinks form the two sides and rear ofthe 200X3's enclosure, with the rearsink tied to those on the sides viabent metal pieces and the two sidestied to the front panel. A perforatedmetal plate ties the sinks together atthe top; a bent -metal tray forms themain chassis and ties them togetherat the bottom. It's a sensible layoutthat's efficient to manufacture (am-plifier channels can be built andtested individually and later assem-bled into final products) and easyto service by replacing an entiremodule.

The design is discrete (no ICs)and seems to use top-quality com-ponents (1% metal -film resistors,metallized -polypropylene capaci-tors, etc.). There was no evidence ofoutput protection chokes, so appar-ently Mondial considers the systemstable for unusual loads withoutsound -compromising series induc-tors. Board layout is neat, and thesoldering looks to be excellent.

Although each channel is physi-cally independent of the others, thethree share a common power supplybased on a toroidal power trans-former, a bridge rectifier, and onepair of electrolytic filter capacitors. Iguess that rules out calling the200X3 a "tri-mono" design, but thecommonality seemed to have negli-gible effect on channel separation inmy bench measurements.

The front panel is bare save for asingle illuminated power rocker atthe lower left. A three -wire detach-able power cord and line fuse -hold-er are on the rear lip of the chassis,directly behind the power switch.Three gold-plated RCA input jacks,each insulated from the chassis, are

on the rear ledge, on the far right as youface the front of the amplifier and as far re-moved from the power cable as possible.Three sets of gold-plated multiway bindingposts lie between the inputs and the powercable. The binding posts are on standardcenters, so GR-type dual banana plugs canbe used; the wiring hole is equally "stan-dard," i.e., will not accommodate heavy -gauge wire.

MeasurementsI ran my usual series of bench tests on

each channel with both 8- and 4 -ohmloads. Although each of the three channels

THE ACURUS IS

A GREAT -SOUNDING AMP:

FULL, RICH, AND

WELL BEHAVED.

performed similarly, channel 2 was margin-ally the least capable of the set vis-a-visnoise and distortion, so I've used it as thebasis for most of the data. Except for fre-quency response, channels 1 and 3 were al-most identical twins on my sample. I've oc-casionally plotted the performance ofchannel 1 for comparison with the "worst -case" channel 2 data.

Whether one uses the data taken onchannel 1, 2, or 3, there's nothing to com-plain of vis-a-vis frequency response. Inthis respect, channels 2 and 3 matched per-fectly. Response for channel 2 (Fig. 1), tak-en at 1 watt with 8 -ohm loads, is within+0.0, -0.1 dB from below 10 Hz to 50 kHz.Response is down 1 dB at 140 kHz anddown 2.3 dB at 200 kHz. I trust I needn'tpoint out that this is "wideband" perfor-mance indeed! The frequency response ofchannel 1 was even better: +0.0, -1 dB to57 kHz, -1 dB at 180 kHz, and -1.3 dB at200 kHz.


Ace Of Base.The Sign(Arista) 02354

Ker ny G: Mirac esThe Holiday A hum(Arista) 35044

Zhane:Pronounced srah-Nay(Motown) 00115

Gipsy Kings:Love & LberSe

Counting Crows AugustAnd Everything After(DGC) 02409

Pat Metheny 3roup:The Road To You -Live InEurope (Gen in) 11059

Santana: Sacred Fire:Live In Soutl America(Polydor) 24892

Buddy Guy:Feels Like RainSilvettone) (1264

CLASSIC ROCK'SGREATEST HITS

The Eagles: Greatest Hits1971-1975 Asylum) 23481

The Eagles: Greatest Hits,Vol. 2 (Asylum': 63318

The Very Best Of Cream,Strange Brew(Polydor) 00468

The Bonnie Raitt Collection(Warner BR, r 00569

Dire Straits: Money ForNothing/Best Of(Warner Bros ( 00713

Fleetwood Mac: GreatestHits (Warner Bros.) 00796

Buffalo Springfield:Retrospective (Atco) 00844

Lynyrd Skynyrd:Skynyres Innyrds(MCA) 01150

Creedence ClearwaterRevival: Chronicle:20 Greatest Hits(rantasyl 01520

vimi Hendrix: The UltimateExperience (MCAT 01527

Elton John( Greatest Hits(Polygon 03377

Paul Simon, NegotiationsAnd Love Songs 1971-86!Warner Bros 20461

Eric Clairton:Timepieces -Greatest Hits(Porydorl 23385

America: History (GreatestHits) (Warner Bros.) 23757

The Best Of The BeachBoys (Capitol) 23946

Foreigner: The VeryBest..And Beyond(Atlantic) 24722

The Steve Miller Band:Greatest Hits 1974.1978(Gaut); 33199

Moody Blues: GreatestHits (Threshold) 34284

Allman BrothersBand: A DecadeOf Hits 19691979(Palydor) 35(31

Bachman TonerOverdrive: ETO'SGreatest(Mercury) 35450

David Bowie:Changesbowie(flykodisc.) 4:693

The Best OfThe Dooble Brothers(Warner Broe.) 43738

Pat Banter Best Shots(Chrysalis) 44319

Yes: Classit Yes(Atlantic) 50=248

Bed Company: 10 From6 -Their Greatest Hits(Atlantic) 60121

Jethro Tull: OriginalMasters (Chrysalis) 63846

Elvis Presley: The NumberOne Hits (RCA) 72190

The John LannonCollection 73627

The Police: Every BreathYou Take-The Singles(MM) 73924

Steely Dan Gold(MCA) 74329

ZZ Top: Greatest Hits(Warner Bas.: 83411

Best Of The GratefulDead: Skebtons FromThe Closet(Warner Brits) 83892

The Who: Who's Better,Who's Beet (MCA) 00790

Rod Stewart:The Mercury Anthology(Mercury)

41161v

Peter Frampton:Shine

On:A Collection(A&M) 01845 .

Rush: Chronicles(Mercury)

74059

Chuck Berry: The Great28 (Chess 64137

The Best 3f The Doors(Elektra) 73407

HARD & HEAVY

Nine inch Nails: TheDownward Spiral(Interscope) 02767 r

Stone Temple Pilots( Core(Atlantic) 00981

Anthrax: Sound Of WhiteNoise Electra) 01517

Guns N'Roses:The Spaghetti Incident(Getter) 01570 4

Hole Live Through This(DGC) 03053

The CrowSdtriu(Atlantic) 03173

AC/DC:Back In Black(Atm() 05828*

Souarigarden:Bartmotorfinger,,,n`A) 05637

Collective Soul: H,10Aliegatiors & Things LeMUnsaid (Plants) 03309

Kiss My C"Mercury)

34907 *

Jackyl: Pash Comes ToShove (Geffen) 05875

Sugar: Fide Under: EasyListening (Rykohlisc) 060,.

Testament: Low(Atlantic) 46174

Nirvana: Nevermlnd(Geffen) 15600

AerosmIty. Get A Grip(Geffen) 20814

Motley CV.is: Decade OfDecadence (Elektia 4025,

Aerosmit: Pumpco

(Geffen) 43678

Pantera.Far Beyond Driven(East West America) 73909 I

Nirvana:In Utero(Geffen) 90124 /

Van Helen: Live:Right Here, Right NowrU'ar^cr Zen, 01165

Sarah McLachlan:Fumbling TowardsEcstasy lAristal 02536

Carreras,Domingo& Pavarotti:The 3 TenorsIn Concert(London) 35078

1400.1/41451teeV4th4" 1°/4e Doors:Th

LA. Woman(Elektra) 00215

Toni Braxton(La Face) 00420

R.E.M.: Eponymous(I.R.S./MCA) 00701

Tina Turner: SimplyThe Best (Capitol) 01195

Dr. Dre: The Chronic(Interscope) 01241 *

Sting: Ten Summoner'sTales (A&M) 01334

The Who: Tommy(MCA) 03223

Jimi Hendrix: Blues(MCA) 03240

The Best Of Joe Cocker(Capito) 01338

Al Jarreau:Tenderness (Reprise) 01650

James Brown:20 All -Time Greatest Hits(Polyclor) 01342

Boston: Walk On(MCA) 01617

Judy Collins: Judy SingsDylan Just Like A Woman(Geffen) 01569

Salt-N-Pepa: VeryNecessary (Loco, 01595

Nanci Griffith: The MCAYears- A Retrospective(MCA: 01606

Blackhawk (Arista) 01588

Gershwin Plays Gershwin:Rolls

iElektrallsionesuch: 01675

Mazzy Star: So TonightThat I Might See(Capitol) 01735

Rickie Lee Jones(Warner Bros 01789

A Blitz 01 Salt-N-Pepa:The Hits Remixed(London) 01822

The Best OfJohn Lee Hooker1965 To 1974 (MCA) 01958

The Best Of Chess Blues,Vol.1 ir,ess; 02121

Walk On The Wild Side:The Best Of Lou Reed(RCA; 02270

FOB;

PRICEOF

Reailtv Bites Sdtrk.(RCA)C2555

Gladys Knight:Juad For You (MCA) 02517

Frank Zappa: FillmoreEast- Jane 1971Reo inc.( 02307

Tor: Petty & TheHeartoreakers: GreatestHit; (h.(CA, 02390

Richard Marx: PaidVacation (Capitol: 02537

John MichaelMontgomery: Kickin' It Up:Atlantic Nashville) 02402

Faith Hill: Take Me As IAm (drainer Bros.) 02426

Richard Thompson:Mirror Blue (Capitol) 02441

Yanri Live At TheAcropolis(P ware Music) 02477

Heavy D. & The Boyz:Nuncr But LoveMCa 02525

All -4- 3ne 03267

The Mavericks:What A Crying Shame

02601

Keith Sweat. Get Up On ItElel.na) 02723

Eric Clapton:From The Cradle(Repose) 06025

PakhotkiaiPoke

15tal

Live: Throwing Copper(Rads,. rt.e Mira, 03085 t

John Scofield & PatMetheriy, I Can See YourHouse From Here(Blue Note) 02744

Rob Wasserman- Trios(MCA/r3RPI 02751

Rhythm, Country & Blues(MCA) 02752

Tom Petty & TheHearttreakers: HardPromises iMCA) 02811

John 3erry (Liberty) 03095

Outkast: Southern-playalisticadillacmuzik(La Face) 03062 1

Elton John, GoodbyeYellow Brick Road(Polycor; 03076

Green DayDock,

: .02753 t

John NICIencamp: DanceNaked (41eicury) 04906

Above The Rim Sdtrk.(Intersccoe 03156

Ali Fars Toure & RyCooder, Talking Timbuktu;Hannibal) 03178

Reba McEntire Read MyMind(MCA) 03243

Travis liritt: Ten Feet TallAnd Balletproof(Warner Bros.) 03244

Huey Lewis & The News,Four Cliords & SeveralYears Ago .Elektra; 03274

David Sanborn: HearsayE.eid-fir. 03279

John Pilliams: That'sEntertainment Pops OnBroad, ay l'; W;;,-. 05485

R E.M Monsterr h'rrt, 06164

Sheryl C,row,Tuesday Night MusicClub(A&M) 03061

Hootie & The Blowfish:Cracked Rear View(Atlantic) 05872

The Tractors (Arista) 05721

Jon Secede: Heart, Soul &A Voice (SBK) 03323

Jimmy Buffett: Fruitcakes(MCA) 03336

Patti LaBelle. Gems(MCA) 03338

Tracy Byrd: No OrdinaryMan (MCA) 03339

Vince Gill: When LoveFinds You (MCA: 03350

Earl Klugh: Move(Warner Bros.) 03370

The Lion KingiSdtrk.(Disney) 03533

Supertramp Classics (14Greatest Hits) (A&M) 04891

MAI Mme:MUSICINSERVICEE

BUSINESS REPLY MAILFIRST CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 5071 INDIANAPOLIS IN

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BMG MUSIC SERVICEP.0. Box 91300INDIANAPOLIS IN 46209-9254

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UNITED STATES

IJIJIHI111111111111114111h1111111111111111h1111

Brooks & Dunn:WaItin' On Sundown(Arista) 05888

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Soundgarden:Superunknown(A&M) 02515

Warren G:Regulate...G Funk Era(Violator/Rush) 05796*

The Best Or Woodstock(Atlantic) 04908

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BLACKstreet(1Merscope) 04922

Dazed AndConfused/Sdtrit.(Giant/Wamer Bros.) 04944

Emerson, Lake S Palmer:Trilogy (Victory) 05675

Paul Rodgers:The Hendrix Set(Victory) 05689

David Ball:ThInkin' Problem(Warner Bros.) 05791

Yes: Fragile (Atlantic) 05837

Joshua Redman: MoodSwing (Warner Bros.) 05845

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ow 14401.0 CSthesK foot!

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Wormer(DGC) 05943

HI -Five: Greatest Hits(Jive) 05972

Sinead O'Connor:Universal Mother(Chrysalis) 05979

Anita Baker: Rhythm 01Love (Elektra) 05980

Nand Griffith: Flyer(Elektra) 05982

Joe Sample And The SoulCommittee: Did You FeelThat? (Warner Bros.) 05984

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Alabama: Greatest Hits,Vo1.111 (RCA) 05996

Murder Was The Case(InterStope) 061491

Dave Matthews Band:Under The Table AndDreaming (RCA) 05998

The Rippingtons:Sahara (GR.) 06008

Tracy Lawrence: I See ItNow (Atlantic) 06017

Aaron Tipple:Lookin' Back At Myself(RCA) 06020

tuith11othiNhowto 1,14yfweld

Hiroshima: LA.(Reprise/Owest) 06024

Toby Keith: Boomtown(Polydor) 06038

If 1 Were A Carpenter(A&M) 06048

Mark Chesnutt: WhatA Way To Live(Dacca) 06124

The Judds: The EssentialCollection Of Number OneHits (RCA) 06137

Na(ee: Share My World(EMI) 06141

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Clint Black: One Emotion(RCA) 06155

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Big Head Todd & TheMonsters: Stratagem(Giant) 06161

Jade: Mind, Body & Song(Giant) 06162

Beasts Boys: IIICommunication(Capitol) 24717 $

Little Texas: Kick A Little(Warner Bros.) 06163

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Jeff Foxworthy:You Might Be A RedneckIf,.. (Warner Bros) 06173

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John Hiatt: Perfectly GoodGuitar (A&M) 10306

The Best Of Miles Davis:The Capitol, Blue NoteYears (Blue Note) 11000

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Start with 7Buy only 1Then get 2

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Gin Blossoms: NewMiserable Experience(A&M) 24884

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Aallyeh: Age Ain't NothingBut A Number (Joel 14701

Bonnie Raitt: Luck Of TheDraw (Capitol) 15567

The Best 01 ArethaFranklin (Atlantic) 20078

Eric Clapton: Unplugged(Warner Bros.) 23690

Common Thread:Songs Of The Eagles(Giant; 25071

Eric Clapton: Slowhand(Polydor) 25094

Tevin Campbell: I'm Ready(OwestANarner Bros.) 25112

Traffic: The Low Spark OfHigh Heeled Boys',Island) 25169

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Jimi Hendrix Experience:'Electric LadylandMCA) 25440

The Yngwle MalmateenCollection (Polydor) 25460

The Eagles: HotelCalifornia (Asylum) 30030

Air Supply: Greatest Hits(Arista) 34424

B.B. King: Blues Summit(MCA) 34700

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Channel balance was superb-within±0.03 dB between any two channels-andsensitivity was, if anything, a trifle higherthan is typical for a 200 -watt power ampli-fier. The Acurus 200X3 delivered 1 wattinto 8 ohms with an 89 -mV input and de-veloped rated power (200 watts) with a1.26-V input. Input impedance (18.6 kil-ohms) should not tax any decent preamp.

The noise floor was surprisingly low, es-pecially considering this amp's high outputpower, high sensitivity, and relatively highinput impedance. Many high-poweredamps claim a seemingly great signal-to-noise ratio when the noise is referenced torated output. Yet the great S/N often comesabout because of the high power rating,not from a low noise floor. Furthermore,many specs are based on measurementsmade with a shorted input, which may notbe representative of actual use.

I measured the noise of the Acurus200X3 using the IHF Standard input ter-mination (1,000 ohms). On an A -weightedbasis, it came in at -99.3 dBW, whichyields an S/N of 122.3 dB referenced to rat-ed power. The noise spectrum (Fig. 2) isremarkably free of power -line hum com-ponents, which, being coherent, can bemore audible than A -weighted noise mea-surements would indicate. The noise spec-trum shown is for channel 2, in whichthere's just barely a hint of hum at 60, 120,and 180 Hz. Channels 1 and 3 had slightlymore defined peaks but only because thebackground noise in the region was other-wise lower than appears on the channel 2graph.

Despite the common power supply, in-terchannel crosstalk was very good. Inter-estingly, this was especially true in the low -frequency region, where a common supplyis more likely to cause problems. Best- andworst -case conditions are shown in Fig. 3.Crosstalk is best going from channel 3 tochannel 1 and remains below -90 dB from20 Hz to 12 kHz. Crosstalk at the middleand higher frequencies is worst going fromchannel 1 to channel 2 but is still under-70 dB to 7 kHz and better than -61 dB at20 kHz.

Figure 4A shows channel 2's THD + Nas a function of frequency at four powerlevels (1, 10, 100, and 200 watts); the datawas taken with all channels driven into 8 -ohm loads. Figure 5A shows similar data,

taken with 4 -ohm loads and withthe curve at highest power at 250watts, the 4 -ohm power rating,rather than at 200 watts, the 8 -ohm rating. As mentioned, chan-nel 2 proved the least able, vis-a-vis high -frequency distortion, and,in fact, did not quite meet its0.06% spec (8 -ohm load) above 10kHz. For comparison, the datataken on channel 1 (which didmeet spec) is shown in Figs. 4Band 5B. Channel 3 performed justa tad worse than channel 1 (resultsnot shown).

Figures 6 and 7 show THD + Nversus output power at three fre-quencies. The curves in Fig. 6 weretaken with 8 -ohm loads and thosein Fig. 7 with 4 -ohm loads; in eachcase, all channels were driven. Al-though output power at clipping(which I defined to be 1% THD at1 kHz) is safely above the continu-ous power rating on all channelswith either load, it's probablyhigher than the data would indi-cate. With 8 -ohm loads, 1% THDis reached at 235 watts, 0.7 dBabove the 200 -watt (23.0-dBW)rating. With 4 -ohm loads, 1%THD occurs at 300 watts, 0.8 dBabove the 250 -watt (24.0-dBW) 4 -ohm rating. In both cases, allchannels clipped at the samepoint, suggesting that the limitingfactor was the power -supply railsand not the output stage.

Therein lies the rub. With allchannels driven, the power linehad sagged to 114 V with 8 -ohmloading and to 103 V when 4 -ohmloads were used. Had a 120-V linebeen maintained, I calculate thatclipping would not have occurreduntil the 260 -watt level (24.2dBW) with 8 -ohm loads and until405 watts (26.1 dBW) with 4 -ohmloads. To double-check that, I rana clipping test with one channeldriven, so I could maintain a 120-V line. Admittedly this is easier onthe power supply than when allchannels are driven, but thedata -315 watts (25.0 dBW) withan 8 -ohm load and 515 watts (27.1

0

A

B

01

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FREQUENCY - Hz

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Fig. 5-THD + N vs.frequency with 4 -ohm

loads for than lel 2 (A) andchannel 1 (B).

Z 0.1

A

B

0.0102 10

OUTPUT -WATTS

10k 20k

I WATT

10k 20k

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OUTPUT -WATTS

Fig. 6-THD + N vs. 8 -ohmoutput power for channel 2(A) and channel 1 (B).

100 500


c"7 2222 -'"2.22' 22' '22" '2' 2f "2""" 2 - " 2"22n 2 22 '22 -'''-E-_--E.-.4.

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Fig. 7-THD + N vs. 4 -ohmoutput power for channel 2(A) and channel 1 (B).

100

dBW) with a 4 -ohm load-tends to justifythe validity of the calculations cited above.

Dynamic power (again tested with allchannels driven, and using a 120-V line)

further confirms my supposition.With 8 -ohm loads, I measured amaximum output of 315 watts perchannel using the IHF tone burstand, with 4 -ohm loads, 500 watts

500 per channel. Dynamic headroom,therefore, was 2.0 dB above the8 -ohm rating of 23.0 dBW and3.0 dB above the 4 -ohm rating of24.0 dBW.

Output impedance data testifiesto the absence of output inductorsin the Acurus 200X3. Low -fre-quency damping factor (at 50 Hz)was 760, which is an admirable re -

500 sult but certainly no big deal thesedays. What I look for is low outputimpedance across the entire fre-quency spectrum, and the Acurusamp sure cuts the mustard in thisregard. Output impedance mea-sured 11 milliohms at 1 kHz, 14

milliohms at 5 kHz, 20 milliohms at 10kHz, and only 28 milliohms at 20 kHz.That's probably an order of magnitudebetter than is typical!

Use and Listening TestsOver the years, the one characteristic

that seems to have distinguished bettersounding power amps from also-rans ofequivalent power, response, and distortionhas seemed to me to be a low, uniformoutput impedance across the full audiospectrum. This makes a good bit of techni-cal sense, in that high and/or nonuniformoutput impedance is likely to result in re-sponse anomalies when the amp drives aspeaker rather than a test resistor. (Re-sponse anomalies are arguably more audi-ble than, say, the difference between 0.05%and 0.1% THD at 20 kHz.) The Acurus200X3, which is characterized by extremelylow and unusually uniform impedance,confirms my past experience.

This amp is great-sounding-full, rich,and well behaved; I heard no stridentstrings, no ear -piercing winds. And it hasgreat definition, image depth, and solidity.It's very smooth, very civilized-and veryquiet! The 200X3 is an amp that's easy torecommend-for home theater as well asfor music. Edward J. Foster

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EQUIPMENT

DANA AUDIOMODEL 1 SPEAKER

What costs only $199, weighs 24

pounds, and sounds prettydarn good? Answer: A pair ofDana Audio Model ls. TheModel 1 is a straightforwardtwo-way design using a small

metal -dome tweeter and a 61/2 -inch woofer

mounted in a 0.4 -cubic -foot (11.3 -liter)sealed enclosure. Dana Audio sells theModel is only by mail order through itsstore in Knoxville, Tennessee (walk-ins areallowed too). Dana Audio's whole speakerline consists of just two products, the full -range Model 1 and the Sub -1, a tubular -style ported subwoofer that sells for only$295. Although only the Model 1 system is

reviewed here, I was sent a Sub -1, which Iused in some of the listening tests. Earlythis year, several new speakers will beadded to Dana Audio's line.

Dana Audio was founded in 1989 byJohn and Dana Fish to market the Model1. In 1992, they contracted with Prof.James Carroll, founder and owner of Ap-plied Physics Labs (a full -line speakermanufacturer that has been around since1972), to design an inexpensive subwoofer.

This collaboration resulted in the Sub -1being added to the line in September 1992.In May 1994, the company was purchasedby Carroll and is operated completely sep-arately from APL. (Carroll is a physics and


mathematics teacher at Roane State Com-munity College in Harriman, Tennessee.)

The woofer of the Model 1 is a high -ex-cursion design sourced from KSC of Cali-fornia and manufactured in Mexico, whilethe tweeter is a titanium -dome version ofan off -the -shelf Audax unit, made inFrance. The Model l's crossover is a first -order electrical design using driver -imped-ance compensation on both the wooferand the tweeter. The impedance compen-sation essentially flattens the system's im-pedance throughout the whole audiorange, except for the system's closed -boxbass resonance below 100 Hz. Thecrossover contains eight components(three resistors, two inductors, and threecapacitors). All air -core inductors areused, with good -quality capacitors. The

THE DANA MODEL 1

GIVES MUCH MUSICAL

ENJOYMENT, ENHANCED

BY ITS LOW COST.

parts are wired point to point and hot -melted to a board that is mounted to thebottom of the enclosure. All connectionsare soldered. A pair of five -way double -banana jacks mounted on the rear of thecabinet accomplish the input connections;bi-wiring is not supported. Large wire, upto 5 mm (0.2 inch) in diameter, can beaccommodated.

The cabinet of the Model 1 is quite rigidand constructed with 5/8 -inch medium -density particleboard. No bracing is usedin the cabinet, which is small enough to berigid without it. The cabinet is availableonly in a textured black laminate finish.The grille, which is composed of blackcloth covering a 1/2 -inch -thick fiberboardframe, attaches to the front panel withfour plastic projections that mate withrecesses in the front panel. The driversare surface -mounted on the front panelof the cabinet. Speaker stands for theModel is are available separately fromDana Audio.

The bottom -ported subwoofer compan-ion to the Model 1, the Sub -1, contains ahigh -excursion 8 -inch driver mounted on

the top of a tube that is 38 inches high and10 inches in diameter. The subwoofer ispassive but requires that the power amplifi-er output connect directly to the woofer,with the Model 1 satellites in turn beingdriven from output connections on thewoofer. The subwoofer contains 80 -Hzlow-pass filtering for itself and high-passfiltering and a three -position level adjust-ment for the satellites. The vented -box tun-ing of the Sub -1 is a low 25 Hz, whichqualifies it as a true subwoofer.

MeasurementsThe 1 -meter anechoic frequency response

of the Model 1 is shown in Fig. 1, alongwith the effect of the grille. Measurementswere taken at 1 meter on box axis (which isvery close to the woofer axis, the manufac-turer's design point), with a signal voltageof 2.83 V rms (1 watt into the rated 8ohms). The curves are 10th -octavesmoothed. The response below 400 Hz wasderived from ground -plane measurements.The overall curve, with grille off, fits a tight5 -dB window (+1, -4 dB, referenced to 1kHz) from 70 Hz to 20 kHz. Major featuresinclude a moderate plateau between 400 Hzand 1 kHz and a slight downward trendabove 1 kHz, with some roughness evi-denced by dips at 5 and 12 kHz. Below 80

SPECSType: Two-way, acoustic -suspension,

bookshelf system.

Drivers: 61/2 -in. cone woofer and 3/4 -

in. titanium -dome tweeter.Frequency Response: 63 Hz to 20

kHz, ±3 dB.

Sensitivity: 87 dB at 1 meter, 2.83 Vrms applied.

Crossover Frequency: 3.15 kHz.Impedance: 8 ohms, nominal.Power Handling: 60 watts con-

tinuous, 100 watts peak.Dimensions: 143/4 in. H x 83/4 in. W x

71/2 in. D (37.5 cm x 22.2 cm x 19.1cm).

Weight: 12 lbs. (5.5 kg) each.Price: $199 per pair.

Company Address: 8807 KingstonPike, Knoxville, Tenn. 37923.


Hz, the response rolls off at the12-dB/octave rate exhibited by allclosed -box systems.

The grille affects the responseonly above 2 kHz, where responsedeviations of only +1, -1.5 dB areevidenced in narrow bands. Thesystem can be critically listened towith the grille on. Averaged from250 Hz to 4 kHz, the sensitivity ofthe Model 1 measures 85.5 dB,about 1.5 dB below Dana's 87 -dBrating. The right and left unitswere matched within a close ±1 dBabove 1.6 kHz but were not asclose between 900 Hz and 1.6 kHz,where the response of one unit wasabout 1.5 to 2 dB higher than itsmate's.

The phase and group -delay re-sponses of the Model 1, referencedto the tweeter's arrival time, areshown in Fig. 2. The phase rotatesonly an additional 206° between 1and 10 kHz. The group -delaycurve above 800 Hz indicates thatthe midrange lags the tweeter byan insignificant 0.1 to 0.15 mS.The large dip in the group delay atabout 190 Hz corresponds to theeffects of a minimum -phase dip inthe frequency response in thesame frequency range. If equalizedflat in this range, this group -delaydip would disappear.

The Model l's axial energy/timeresponse is shown in Fig. 3. Thetest parameters emphasize the re-sponse from 1 to 10 kHz, whichincludes the crossover region. Themain arrival, at 3 mS, is quiteslender but widens significantly atlevels 15 dB below the peak. Addi-tional peaks are noted, trailing themain peak some 21 to 23 dB down.

Figure 4 shows the horizontal"3-D" off -axis responses of theModel 1; the bold curve at the rearof the graph is the on -axis re-sponse. Because the on -axis re-sponse ripples are carried over intothe off -axis curves, the horizontalcoverage is very good. The hori-zontal high -frequency coverage isparticularly even because of thesmall size of the tweeter. Response

100

1k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 1-One-meter, on -axisfrequency response.

80

-380

-540

-72020 100 1k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 2 -0n -axis phaseresponse and group delay.

90

80

60

5 00

TEF

GROUP DELAY

10k

TEF

2 4 6 8 10

TIME - mS

Fig. 3-Ene-gy/timeresponse.

8110 dB

200 2kFREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 4-Horizontal off -axisfrequency responses.

180 REAR

20k

1.0

0.5

0.0

-0.

-1.020k


200 2k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 5-Vertical off -axisfrequency responses.

100

10

405-RZNT OAXFIFS-

-90 BELOW

DEGREES

90 ABOVE2 0 k

TOM

1 OHMS

TEF

A 5 OHMS

01-01S

12 0 100

Fig. 6-Impedance.

0

1k

FREQUENCY-Hz

10 20

RESISTANCE - OHMS

Fig. 7-Compleximpedance.

90

60

5020 100 1k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 8-Three-meter roomresponse.

10k 20k

30

TEF

10k 20k

is down only about 3 dB at 12 kHzat 45° off axis.

The vertical "3-D" off -axiscurves of the Model 1 are shown inFig. 5. The bold curve in the centerof the graph (front to rear) is onaxis. Excellent high -frequency cov-erage is evident above 5 kHz. Somenarrowing of response is apparentin the crossover range of 2.5 to 6kHz. The 0° and ±5° curves are veryuniform, but for greater angles theresponse is depressed in thecrossover region (not clearly shownin the graph). A broadening of re-sponse in the region from 1.5 to 2kHz is evident from the off -axesridge at 1.8 kHz.

Figure 6 shows the Model l's im-pedance from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.Other than an impedance maxi-mum of 26.5 ohms at the closed -box resonance frequency of 78 Hz,the impedance is very well behaved.

A minimum impedance of 6.3ohms occurs at 4 kHz. Above 130Hz, the impedance varies only froma minimum of 6.3 ohms to a maxi-mum of 8.5 ohms!

Over the whole audible range,the impedance has a max/min vari-ation of about 4.2 to 1 (26.5 divid-ed by 6.3). Cable series resistanceshould be limited to a maximum ofabout 0.10 ohm (100 milliohms) tokeep cable -drop effects from caus-ing response peaks and dips greaterthan 0.1 dB. For a typical run ofabout 10 feet, cable of 16 gauge orlarger should be used. However, ifonly the response above 130 Hz isimportant (which includes the im-portant midrange), the impedancehas a max/min variation of only1.35 to 1 (8.5 divided by 6.3). Cableseries resistance in this case can beallowed to rise to the quite high lev-el of 0.30 ohm (300 milliohms) forthe same 0.1 -dB response tolerance.In this situation, very small cable,in the range of 22 to 24 gauge,could be used!

Figure 7 shows the complex im-pedance of the Model 1, from 5 Hzto 30 kHz. Most activity takes placein the bass range, at the closed -box

resonance at 78 Hz, where a single circularloop is evident. A much smaller loop is evi-dent at about 750 Hz. Above 113 Hz, allthe complex variation of impedance occursin a very small window ranging from 6.3 to8.4 ohms on the real axis, and -j5.6 to+j1.4 ohms on the imaginary axis!

The impedance phase (not shown)reached a maximum of +23° at 60 Hz anda minimum of -44° at 100 Hz. Even if usedin parallel, Model is should be no problemfor any power amplifier or receiver.

The cabinet did not exhibit any signifi-cant wall vibrations when the system wasdriven by a high-level sine -wave sweep.Some activity of the front and sides was ev-ident at and near 350 Hz but did not causeany consequential problems.

The 61/2 -inch woofer had a maximumexcursion capability of about 0.35 inch,peak to peak. Higher input levels resultedin increased third -harmonic distortion butwith no bad sounds. The system couldhandle up to 20 V rms at any frequency inthe bass range without harm. There was nodynamic offset evident at any input level orfrequency.

The 3 -meter room response of the Mod-el 1, with both raw and sixth -octavesmoothed data, is shown in Fig. 8. Thespeaker was in the right-hand stereo posi-tion, sitting on a 28 -inch stand that raisedthe middle of the box to about 36 inches.The system was aimed at the listening posi-tion, with the test microphone placed atear height (36 inches), at the listener's po-sition on the sofa. The speaker was drivenwith a swept sine -wave signal of 2.83 V rms(corresponding to 1 watt into the rated 8 -ohm load). The direct sound and 13 mS ofthe room's reverberation are included.

Excluding a dip at 330 Hz, the averagedcurve fits within a fairly tight, 9 -dB win-dow. No major anomalies are evident inthe averaged curve except for generalroughness over the whole range and araised response between 500 Hz and 1 kHz.

Figure 9 shows the B1 (61.7 -Hz) bassharmonic distortion spectrum of the Mod-el 1 at input power levels from 0.05 to 50watts (20 V rms into the rated 8 -ohmload). The second harmonic reached 8.1%,while the third reached a high 24% at fullpower. Higher harmonics were 2% fourth,3.6% fifth, and 1.4% sixth. Uncharacteris-tically, both the third and fifth harmonics


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And justly so. Carver power amplifiers havegenerated critical acclaim year after yearmodel after model, with one - the TFM-35 -universally acknowledged as "one of the bestaudio amplifier values in the world." Upgradedto the TFM-35x, with high fidelity enhance-ments so advanced, it also exceeded the strictspecifications of THX® home theater.

One look, one listen, will confirm Carver'spassion for aural perfection. Gold platedinput jacks, 5 -way binding posts, dual analogmeters. Expansive headroom that faithfully -

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Enter No 8 on Rene( Service Card

z0It

O

0

an

10 -

1.0 -50 -

3

5.0 -POWER -WATTS 0.5 -

3rd. 24%,

0.05

MAXIMUM POWER: 50 WATTS

5th. 3 6%4th 2

6th. 1.4%

100 200 300

FREQUENCY -Hz

Fig. 9 -Harmonic distortionfor B1 (61.7 Hz).

100 -

10-z

0

10 -

50 -

2nd, 9.0 %

5.0 -POWER -WATTS 0.5 -

0.05

122ddB

T

400

MAXIMUM POWER. 50 WATTS

3rd, 5.8% 4th, 1.0% 5th, 1.0% 1122ddB

T

150 250 350 450 550 850

FREQUENCY -Hz

Fig. 10 -Harmonicdistortion for A2 (1 1 0 Hz).

100

A 10

2nd, 3.0 523rd. 1.3%

50 -

5.0 -POWER -WATTS °5

0.05 ,

MAXIMUM POWER: 50 WATTS

5th, 0.8%

500 1k 1.5k 2k

FREQUENCY -Hz

Fig. 11 -Harmonicdistortion for A4 (440 Hz).

a

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

0.1

12 dB

1

2.5k

1 10POWER - WATTS

Fig. 1 2 -IM distortion forA4 (440 Hz) and B1(61.7 Hz).

100

started out at fairly high valuesand maintained approximately thesame distortion values over a widepower range of about 0.05 to 5watts. At this frequency, the sys-tem did not sound very clean atany power level. With 50 watts in-put at 61.7 Hz (B1), the systemreaches 96 dB SPL at 1 meter.

The higher frequency, B1, notewas chosen instead of the usuallower E1 (41.2 Hz), due to thesmall driver size of the Model 1and its reduced low -frequency ca-pability. A test at the lower, El, fre-quency, with 50 watts applied, re-sulted in very high distortionvalues of 13.3% second, 90%third, 9% fourth, and 20% fifthharmonic.

Figure 10 shows the A2 (110 -

Hz) harmonic data. At full power,the second harmonic reached amoderate 9%, while the remainingharmonics are 1% or lower. With50 watts input, the system reachesa quite usable 100 dB SPL at 1 me-ter at 110 Hz. The A4 (440 -Hz)harmonic data is shown in Fig. 11.The second -harmonic distortionreached only 3% at full power,with the third much lower, at1.3%, and the fifth at a low 0.8%.

Figure 12 shows the Model l'sIM generated by tones of 440 Hz(A4) and 61.7 Hz (B1) of equalpower, covering the range from0.1 to 50 watts. The IM distor-tion reaches a high level of 27% at50 watts.

The Model l's short-term peak -power input and output capabili-ties are shown in Fig. 13 as a func-tion of frequency, measured usinga 6.5 -cycle, third -octave band-width tone burst. The peak inputpower was calculated by assumingthat the measured peak voltagewas applied across the speaker'srated 8 -ohm impedance.

The peak power handling startsout at about 17 watts at 20 Hz, ris-es to 70 watts at 63 Hz, reaches aplateau of 1,200 watts between 125and 315 Hz, and then increases toabout 3,200 watts above 800 Hz.

With room gain, the maximum peakoutput SPL of the system starts at 80 dB at20 Hz, rises rapidly to the mid -110s be-tween 100 and 315 Hz, and then increasesto the 120 -dB range above 400 Hz. In thebass range with room gain, 110 dB is at-tained at about 90 Hz, and 120 dB is notreached until 450 Hz. The peak output ofthe Model 1 in the bass range places it inthe bottom third of the systems I have test-ed, but ahead of some other small -formatsystems.

Use and Listening TestsInitial listening to the Model 1 disclosed

a well-balanced and smooth sound butwith a lightweight low end. However, thelow -end output of the system competedwell with, and sometimes surpassed, anumber of other small systems I have lis-tened to and tested. Although the Dana'slow -bass output was nil, it was not easilyoverloaded even by material with lots oflow end. Even though the system did notshake the walls on pipe -organ material, itstill had a satisfying level of bass. The Mod-el l's sensitivity was essentially equal tothat of my reference B & W systems.

Listening equipment included myOnkyo and Rotel CD players, Krell's KRCpreamplifier and KSA-250 power amp,and Straight Wire Maestro cabling plusthe B & W 801 Matrix Series 3 speakersas references. The Model is were set up on

THIS $199/PAIRSPEAKER OFTEN SOUNDED

NEARLY LIKE MY

$5,500/PAIRREFERENCE.

28 -inch -high stands, which placed the sys-tem's axis (the center of the box) about 36inches high, and were aimed at my listen-ing location. They were placed in my usuallocations, well away from the side and rearwalls of my listening room. The speakerswere separated by about 8 feet, and listen-ing was done from my couch, 10 feet away.Some listening was done with the systemsassisted by the Sub -1 subwoofer, which waslocated midway between the Model is butcloser to the wall. With the subwoofer


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installed, low -frequency power han-dling and output were much im-proved. My usual speaker positions,far from the walls, are not con-ducive to getting all the availablelow end out of small systems such asthe Model 1. With the Danas placedmuch closer to the rear wall, thebass response improved, but thiswas at the expense of imaging andresponse smoothness, which weredirectly affected by the higher levelreflections from surfaces immedi-ately behind the speakers.

The operating instructions forthe Model 1 are on a very brief, sin-gle 81/2 x 11 -inch page printed on bothsides. Speaker placement information con-sisted essentially of the sentence "All speak-

ers, including the Model 1, will exhibit bet-ter imaging, soundstaging, and tighter bassif mounted on stands at ear level and locat-ed away from the back and side walls." Theinstruction sheet did mention that theModel 1 is not as cable -sensitive as mostloudspeakers, and suggested that the userexperiment with double runs (two positive,two negative) of 20 -gauge, solid -core cable.In my installation, the Straight Wire Maes-tro cables were significantly more expen-sive than the loudspeakers to which theywere connected!

First serious listening was done with theLondon Brass playing Spanish composi-tions from iViva Espana! (Teldec 9031-76990-2). Here, the CD did not have anyheavy bass (nor did the material require it),and thus was well matched to the capabili-ties of the Model Is. On this program ma-terial, the Model is did surprisingly wellcompared with the B & W systems, pro-ducing a quite realistic brass sound, at nearlifelike levels, coupled with a quite pleasingoverall balance. The sound of the percus-sion and castanets on track 2 was nearly in-distinguishable from the B & W's repro-duction. The African drums and Indianpercussion sounds on the world music CDThe Goat Also Gallops, by Natraj (DoriaDiscovery DIS-80124, highly recommend-ed for those into jazz with an African/Indi-an influence), were also rendered quite re-alistically by the Dana Audio speakers.

On the pink -noise stand-up/sit-downtest, the Model is did quite well and exhib-ited only moderate midrange tonal changes


130

12 1204a. 110

a. 1002m 90j

80

7020 100 1k

FREQUENCY - Hz

PEAK ACOUSTIC OUTPUT TEF

WFTIIOUTROMGA

PEAK INPUT POWER

Fig. 13-Maximum peakinput power and soundoutput.

10k

(f)

1k

100 asSC

10 w0_

10k 20k

on stand-up. Horizontal coverage on pinknoise was excellent. Although the Model l'spink -noise spectral balance was quite closeto the B & W's, the Model 1 speakers hadmuch less bass and some lower midrangeemphasis. Some tonality was also evident,which indicates a non -smooth response.On third -octave band -limited pink noise,the Dana Audio systems generated no us-able bass output from 20 to 31.5 Hz. Somefundamental output was noted at 40 Hz,with slightly more at 50 Hz. It was betterat 63 Hz, with full output only availableat the 100 -Hz band and higher. Placingthese speakers much closer to the rearwall significantly increased the low bassoutput.

On wideband pop and rock material, theModel is could be turned up quite loudbut sounded somewhat congested whenthe material had any high-level bass. Onclassical male and female vocal material,such as Bach: Secular Cantatas (DorianDOR-90199), the Model is did quite welland presented a clean, full-bodied butsomewhat up -front sound. Mid/high bal-ance, however, was quite accurate andquite close to that of the B & Ws.

The Model Is should seriously be con-sidered as the main speakers in a low -bud-get situation or as a second system for abedroom, etc. With bass augmentation,such as Dana Audio's Sub -1 or a good sep-arate subwoofer or two, an excellent systemcan be put together that competes wellwith much higher priced contenders. TheModel is provided much musical enjoy-ment, and considering their cost, the en-joyment was much multiplied. Give them alisten. D. B. Keele, Jr.

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EQUIPMENT PROFILE

STAX SR -OMEGAEARSPEAKERS AND

SRM-T1S DRIVE AMP

was very interested in testing andevaluating the Stax SR -Omega elec-trostatic earspeakers to find out howthey compare to the SR -Lambda Pros,which I have been using for nearlyfour years (see "Auricle," April 1991)

as the reference when I have members ofmy listening panel judge the sonic qualitiesof earphones I am testing. (To avoid confu-sion, I must explain that "earspeakers" isthe name Stax calls its earphones. I use theterm "earphones" rather than "head-phones" because it covers all types, includ-ing those you wear on your head as well asthose you place in your ears.) Correlatingthe comments of panel members with themeasured performance of earphones isvery challenging. With the Stax SR -Lamb-da Pros, which are considered by many au-diophiles to be among the best earphonesavailable, the task is made easier.

Stax feels that the SR -Omegas improveupon the SR -Lambda Pros in three ways.The diaphragm has been enlarged andmade circular, rather than rectangular. Thefixed, gold-plated electrodes are moretransparent to sound. And the six -strand,

PC-OCC (Pure Crystal Ohno ContinuousCasting) cable is 11/2 times wider, which re-duces its resistance and capacitance.

As opposed to dynamic earphones, elec-trostatic earphones require no voice -coil.(The motion of the diaphragm is causeddirectly by electrostatic force.) This makesthe diaphragm lighter, which usually im-proves transient performance and extendshigh -frequency response. Electrostatic ear-phones require a high source impedance,high a.c. signal voltage, and high d.c. volt-age bias. Accordingly, they cannot be oper-ated directly from the earphone jacks onaudio components but instead must berouted through a drive amplifier that meetstheir special requirements. I used the SR -Omega earspeakers to compare two Staxearphone amplifiers, the hybrid (FET andtube) SRM-T1S and the older, solid-stateSRM-1/MK2. The former has a slight edgein clarity and detail, so I used it for thetechnical measurements and listening pan-el evaluations of the earspeakers. (I mustcaution anyone who might want to makethe same comparison of amps: The SRM-1/MK2 inverts the absolute polarity of the

sound, while the SRM-T1S has the correctpolarity.)

The SR -Omegas are larger than manyearphones I have tested, but they feelrather light despite their 13.4 -ounceweight; maybe it's because they are so verycomfortable. These earphones are designedto be circumaural and open to outsidesounds. As I have mentioned in previousreports, I prefer circumaural earcushionsthat completely encircle the outer earrather than pressing against it. Pressureagainst the outer ear is the main contribu-tor to discomfort, even more so than ear-phone weight. That said, the large synthet-ic -leather earcushions on the SR -Omegas

SPECSEARSPEAKERSTransducer Design: Electrostatic.Coupling to the Ear: Circumaural.Frequency Response: 6 Hz to 41kHz.

Impedance: 145 kilohms at 10 kHz.Capacitance: 110 pF, including

cable.

Sensitivity: 99 dB SPL at 100 V rms.Maximum Output: 120 dB SPL at

400 Hz.

Bias Voltage: 580 V d.c.

Cable Length: 8.2 ft. (2.5 m).Weight: 13.4 oz. (380 grams)

without cable.Price: $2,999.95.

DRIVE AMPLIFIERFrequency Response: 0 Hz to 44

kHz, +0, -1.5 dB.Gain: 60 dB.

THD: 0.02% at 1 kHz for 100 V rmswith earphone load.

Input Impedance: Unbalanced, 50kilohms; balanced, 100 kilohms.

Output Level: 300 V maximum a.c.signal output at 1 kHz.

Dimensions: 75/8 in. W x 4 in. H x143/4 in. D (19.4 cm x 10.2 cm x37.5 cm).

Weight: 71/2 lbs. (3.4 kg).

Price: $1,599.95.

Company Address: 16920 HalldaleAve., Gardena, Cal. 90247.



Movie Theatre Performance with FlexibilityThe Bryston 8B THX® Amplifier

8B THX

Bryston is pleased to announce our new 8B THX

four channel audio power amplifier. With today's interest in

quality home theatre the 8B THX amplifier provides state-of-the-art performance with the

unquestioned quality, value and Reliability for which Bryston has gained an international

reputation. All Lucasfilm Home THX certification parameters are easily met for its'

intended use within a multi -channel audio/video installation. The 8B THX is an extreme-

ly versatile and flexible amplifier designed for all Your THX theatre installations. The

amplifier can be instantly connected to provide 2 channel, (400 watt output), 3 channel,

(two @ 120W plus 1 @ 400W), or 4 channels at 120 watts output. This provides extreme

ease in integrating the power requirements for any THX Home Theatre system. The THX

stipulation for separate center channel, left and right main speakers, decorrolated dipole

surround channels and one or two subwoofers, is provided in a Simple elegant package.

Among the 8B's notable features is the use of four independent power supplies, one for

each channel, to prevent any signal interaction among the individual channels. This pro-

vides a sonic soundstage with images locked in position with an almost holographic effect.

Other features include both balanced XLR, 1/4" and unbalanced RCA input connectors to

allow for flexibility in a wide variety of installations. All connectors throughout the ampli-

fier are gold plated to provide freedom from corrosion, assuring perfect signal integrity for

many years to come. Tri-colored LEDs glow green for power -on, yellow for short-term

transient clipping and red to indicate continuous overload or any departure from linearity,

including shortened -output or strong out -of -band information like RF or DC.

Obviously, the goal of all this technology is to transport you to the scene of the movie.

Experiencing all the drama, excitement and emotions as if you were right there in the

show. We feel we have accomplished this with all the New Bryston THX amplifiers.

Experience the movie as intended and audition the Bryston 8B THX today.

For more information contact:57 Westmore Dr., Rexdale, Ontario, Canada M9V 3Y6Tel: (416) 746-1800 Fax: (416) 746-0308

Enter No 4 on Reader Service Card

. AIM%

EALLONG ASSOCIATESSTAR SR -0 EARSPEAKERS20 KNZ COSINE PULSE

INPUT

IF

OUTPUT

Fig. 1-Cosine-pulse test.

are among the best I have ever used. Theynot only encircle the outer ear completelybut are very comfortable for long-term lis-tening. Because the SR -Omegas don't ex-clude outside sounds, they might not besuitable in noisy locations or for monitor-ing recordings when you have to be in thesame room with the musicians.

The earcups are 43/4 inches in diameter,and the earcushions are deep enough tokeep the cloth barrier that covers the trans-ducer from touching your outer ear. Ametal screen protects the outer side of theearphones (as opposed to the plastic grilleof the SR -Lambda Pros). The chamois -likeheadband is anchored by plastic slidersthat move up and down in a plastic yoke;unlike some other earphones, the SR -

Omegas have a continuous adjustment,with no detents. The thin metal bails andthe swivels on the bottom of the yoke alsocontribute to easy adjustment and good fit.

The wide ribbon cable has six conduc-tors that run 7 feet from the special amp -input plug to a plastic clamp, which sepa-rates the cable into two three -conductorcables, each 15 inches long. A connectorplugs into each earcup, allowing for re-placement of the cable.

The SRM-T1S earphone amp can driveany of the Stax electrostatic earspeakers,supplying the necessary 580 V d.c. for thePro Series earspeakers and 230 V d.c. forthe standard models. The amp's hybrid de-sign uses dual FETs and twin -triode 6FQ7vacuum tubes in a direct -coupled circuittopology that is balanced from input tooutput; there are no capacitors or trans-formers in the signal path. The vacuum -

tube output provides an ideal, high a.c. sig-nal voltage and a high impedance to drivethe electrostatics. The balanced 100-kil-ohm and unbalanced 50-kilohm input im-pedances are high enough that they will

not cause loading problems with any pro-gram sources. The SRM-T1S has plenty ofoutput and can drive the SR -Omegas tovery loud levels.

The amp has two pairs of gold-platedphono-input jacks and a pair of XLR three-

pin balanced inputs. Three earspeaker out-puts are on the front panel; two are five -pin outputs for the Pro Series, whichincludes the SR -Omegas, and one is a six-

pin output for other Stax models. The vol-ume control, configured with four poten-tiometers on a dual shaft, sets the signallevels for each channel; the concentricknobs are friction -coupled and can beturned separately to adjust channel balance.

The acoustical design of the SR -LambdaPros requires separate electronics toachieve a diffuse -field characteristic; theSR -Omegas appear to have a diffuse -fieldcharacteristic without separate electronics.My measurements of frequency responsetended to verify this; the response was verysmooth and extended beyond 20 kHz, ex-cept for a sharp dip at 6 kHz and a corre-sponding phase glitch. The output versustime response of the SR -Omegas (Fig. 1)shows a delayed response that may be thecause of the 6 -kHz dip. The main outputpulse is almost identical to the input pulse,which verifies the excellent high -frequencyresponse; it also shows that the absolutepolarity is positive (whereas the polarity ofthe SR -Lambda Pros is negative).

Before I had the panel members listen tothe SR -Omegas, I spent some time listen-ing to them using both the new and oldearphone amps. I was quickly convincedthat the SR -Omegas are superior to mostearphones in just about every category.

Owing to their diffuse -field characteris-tic, the SR -Omegas have a more recessedsound than the SR -Lambda Pros do, whichenhances the sense of space and depth. Onthe Strauss Violin Sonata in E -flat fromStrauss & Dvorak (Sheffield Lab 10039-2F),

the Omegas place the violin and piano backin the acoustic environment; the LambdaPros bring the instruments more forward.The percussion instruments on "0 GrandeAmor" from Double Image's Open Hand(dmp CD -503) have a more pleasing soundwhen they are placed back, while retainingthe transients of the mallet hits. Organmusic played by Gillian Weir on Scherzo(Koss Classics KC -1013) sounds mar-velous, with a great sense of acoustic space.

I also had panel members listen to"Time Alone" by Freyda & Acoustic At-taTude on Midnight at Cabell Hall (RedHouse RHR CD 55; phone, 415/457-9052).The SR -Omegas did an excellent job withthis binaural recording, which was madeusing an Aachen Head. The vocalist isplaced back in a realistic space, and thesound of the strings is smooth and articu-late. The final test was "Salve Regina" froma new recording of Gregorian chants, An-gelic Voices (Renaissance Endeavors CD-

102; phone, 800/747-7486) by The Daugh-ters of Mary. The SR -Omegas place thechoir back in a reverberant environmentwhile still bringing out the clarity of thevoices; this is often an impossible combi-nation to achieve, and its success here is atribute to the SR -Omegas and the good ar-ticulation of the choir.

I recommend the Stax SR -Omega ear -speakers to anyone who is serious aboutearphone listening. Edward M. Long

EARPHONE EVALUATIONPARAMETER

Overall SoundBass

Midrange

TrebleOverall IsolationBass

MidrangeTreble

ComfortValue

RATING

ExcellentExcellentVery good

ExcellentLowLowLow

FairExcellentGood

COMMENTS

"Excellent bass," "Very smooth," and "Spacious""Deep and full" and "Good timbre""Slightly recessed" and "Very good articulation

on voice""Very extended" and "Very dear""Outside sounds are easily heard""Low sounds are easy to hear""Conversation is easy""Some reduction of treble sounds""Very light feeling" and "Easy to adjust""Top quality at a high price"

GENERAL COMMENTS: Excellent sense of spaciousness. Very good with binaural and conven-tional stereo recordings. Excellent bass. Clear and articulate on voice. Good value.


A speaker good enough to be appreciated by almost no one.

The new Infinity Reference

Standard Epsilon is designed to

appeal to an exceedingly small

segment of the population:

the impossible to pease, highly

critical, uncompromising

listener. Revolutionary in design,

Epsilon performs in a league

previously occupied only by the

most exotic, and much larger,

multi -enclosure systems.

An entirely new generation of

Infinity's unique EMIM7 EMIT;

and L-EMIM' planar drivers

respond instantaneously to even

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passages. And Epsilon's new

Servo -Controlled IMG woofer,

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personal demonstration,

visit your Epsilon dealer or call

1-800-8EPSILON.

k InfinityThe R S Epsilons ccilabOrationbelweenlindy and Christie DeSign. H ^Harread Intern dienal Comedy

Enter No. 15 on Reader Sery ce Card

I

EQUIPMENT PROFILE

AUDIO ALCHEMYDTIPRO

JITTER REDUCERAND RESOLUTION

ENHANCER

n the continuing quest to reduce thedreaded jitter in digital playback sys-tems, Audio Alchemy has introduceda new jitter -reducing device, theDTIPRO, an improved version of itstrend -setting DTI (which stands for

Digital Transmission Interface). Jitter is in-consistency in the timing of a digital sig-

nal's edge transitions. It is measured in thetime domain, either peak to peak or rms,and is expressed in picoseconds (pS) ornanoseconds (nS). However, the time mea-sure of jitter doesn't tell about the jitter'sfrequency content (whether it's random orperiodic, what the jitter frequencies are,and so forth), which can be looked at in

the frequency domain with the use of aspectrum analyzer.

In a CD playback system using a CDtransport and separate D/A converter, jittercan be generated in the CD transport itself,in the cabling between the transport andD/A converter, in the D/A converter's in-put receiver, or in the circuitry between theinput receiver's decoded outputs and theinput to the DAC chip inside the D/A con-verter unit. Of the three or four signals thatfeed the DAC-the digital audio data itself,the master clock, the bit clock, and theleft/right, or "word," clock-it is the wordclock whose jitter affects the converted au-dio signal. Error in either the timing of theconversion (caused by jitter on the wordclock) or the amplitude of the digital wordsgoing into the DAC can have the same ef-fect on the recovered audio: An error in theaudio output amplitude for that particularsample time.

It seems obvious that delivering a jitter -free signal to the DAC requires an input re-ceiver with both low intrinsic jitter -genera-tion characteristics and the ability to reject

AUDIO ALCHEMY'S

DTIPRO ISAN IMPROVED VERSION

OF THE ORIGINAL DTI

JITTER REDUCER.

the incoming jitter. These go together withcareful circuit design and layout in the cir-cuitry which follows the input receiver.

Audio Alchemy's original DTI took inan S/P DIF signal (from a CD transport,DAT, or satellite receiver) and fed it into alow -jitter interface receiver, a CrystalCS8412. The digital outputs of the receiverwere fed into a Crystal CS8402 transmitterchip and back out as an S/P DIF signal topass on to one's D/A converter. The ideawas to reduce incoming jitter by using thereceiver device with the lowest jitter thenavailable. The overall result could, in theo-ry, be better than going straight into a D/Aunit whose receiver had poorer jitter rejec-tion than the Crystal CS8412 in the DTI.One problem, however, was that theCS8412's jitter -reduction corner frequency


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is about 25 kHz-that is, it will only atten-uate jitter frequencies higher than 25 kHz.As is now well known, many jitter -modu-lation frequencies are related to, and inmany cases the same as, the audio fre-quencies encoded as the digital data.Therefore, a 25 -kHz jitter -reductioncorner frequency is not low enough.Nonetheless, many users reportedsonic improvements, or at leastsonic changes that were consideredimprovements, when using the originalDTI; some even went so far as to say thatthey could not stand to listen to digitalwithout it.

Enter the DTIPRO. This device, like theoriginal DTI, acts as an in -line jitter reduc-er. However, its action is different in twomajor ways. First, its clock recovery systemis enhanced by a second, crystal -refer-enced, phase -locked loop (the first PLL isin the CS8412 receiver chip), utilizing aprecision voltage -controlled crystal oscilla-tor (VCXO) with the very low jitter -cutofffrequency of about 5 Hz. Great pains weretaken in the design to make sure that anyjitter added by this second PLL was ex-tremely low. This addition of a secondPLL, with a much lower jitter cutoff fre-

SPECSResolution: 24 -bit internal pro-

cessing.

Jitter: Less than 25 picoseconds, rms,broadband.

Inputs: Coaxial, AES/EBU, andoptical (Toslink standard, SToptional).

Outputs: Coaxial, AES/EBU, optical(ST), and I'S.

Power Supply: ±8 V and ±18 V,from external supply.

Dimensions: 81/2 in. W x 2 in. H x 6in. D (21.6 cm x 5.1 cm x 15.2 cm).

Weight: 2 lbs. (0.9 kg), includingpower supply.

Price: $1,295; with ST input, $1,445.Company Address: 31133 ViaColinas, Suite 111, WestlakeVillage, Cal. 91362.


quency, should seriously reduce jitter inthe incoming S/P DIF signal over most ofthe audio frequency range. The second dif-

THE DTIPRO'S

ENHANCED RESOLUTION

COULD MAKE DIGITAL

SOURCES SOUND

EVEN BETTER.

ference is that a resolution -enhancementfunction has been added. This is a post -process or stand-alone enhancement, not acomplement to some process preceding theDTIPRO-such as High -Definition CD(HDCD). The resolution -enhancementcircuit uses a Star SemiconductorSPROC1400 DSP chip, running at 40MIPS (million instructions per second), torun an intelligent adaptive interpolator al-gorithm. This is said to increase resolutionby more than two bits. Program instruc-tions for the DSP are contained in a sock-eted EPROM (erasable programmableread-only memory). This allows for possi-ble user updates of the DSP program in thefuture by installing a new EPROM chip.

How does this process work? How canyou really get more meaningful bits outthan coming in? Audio Alchemy claimsthat an analysis of a long sequence of timesamples can be used by the interpolator tocorrectly predict the resolution removed atthe CD recording stage, i.e., the informa-tion lost by limiting the CD process to 16bits. The catch is that this only works atlow to medium frequencies. However, the

adaptive nature of the algorithm permitsthe resolution gains in the low and middlefrequencies to be realized, which, in itself,is a potentially significant improvementthat could make digital sources sound evenbetter than they do.

Thanks to an external power supply, thePower Station 4, the DTIPRO is smallenough to sit atop a CD transport or to betucked away behind other equipment. Theinterconnecting cable on the Power Station4 is long enough to place the containedpower transformer away from any compo-nents sensitive to transformer hum.

Control LayoutLooking at the rear panel first, we find

optical, coax, and AES/EBU inputs andoutputs. The AES/EBU connections are viaXLR jacks, and the coaxial jacks are BNCs,with adaptors provided for the more com-

mon phono-plug connections. Theoptical output is an AT&T (ST) type,

while the optical input is normally aToslink type, with AT&T optional.An I'S output is also available forconnection to other current andfuture Audio Alchemy products.(At present, this jack can be used to

feed the DDE V3.0 and XDP D/A convert-ers; connected this way, the DTIPROwould function as a superior digital front-end to the converter.) The d.c. power inputis via a six -pin female DIN connector thataccepts the matching male connector onthe Power Station 4's interconnect cable.

The front panel has 10 LED indicators,arranged in four vertical groups, plus twomomentary -contact pushbutton switches.At the left side of the panel, red, yellow,and green LEDs next to the input selectorindicate which input has been chosen.Next are three red "Power" LEDs for theunit's "Receive," "Transmit," and "DSP"sections. Toward the right are two LEDs,one green and one red, to indicate whenthe "Primary" and "Secondary" PLLs arelocked. Finally, one red LED and one greenLED, next to the "Phase" button at theright, show the relative signal polarity ofdigital audio in the outgoing data stream.If the "Phase" button is held in, pressingthe "Input" button sets the output wordlength and dither (to 16 bits without addeddither or to 18 or 20 bits with appropriatedither added).


k1 I. (01,S) vs 01,

- 70

- 80

-90

- 100

-110 -

- 120

-90 dB

-110 dB

- 13020 100 1k

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 1-Frequencyresponse, measured inthe digital domain, vs.signal level.

The whole interior of the DTIPRO istaken up by a multilayer p.c. board, fullypopulated with components. All of theinput/output connectors and front -panelLEDs and switches are mounted to this p.c.board, on which the Crystal CS8412 receiv-er and CS8402 transmitter ICs are alsoplainly visible. Eleven voltage regulators areemployed to effectively isolate the variousfunctions of the circuitry. All in all, this is anicely made unit.

The amount of power dissipation in allthis circuitry makes for rather hot running.It is advisable to allow for good ventilationaround and above the DTIPRO when it isin operation.

MeasurementsThere are several ways to measure a de-

vice that operates in the S/P DIF signal do-main, as Audio Alchemy's DTIPRO does.One way is to measure various propertiesof the device in the digital domain. Anoth-er is to feed the digital output to a D/Aconverter, to see the device's effect on therecovered analog audio output. I used bothof these methods during my bench tests.

I first looked at a fundamental propertyof any audio component, its frequency re-sponse, as a function of level. This wasdone in the digital domain. Digital signalsfrom my Audio Precision System One's S/PDIF output were fed into the DTIPRO viacoax cable. Coax output of the DTIPROwent into my Audio Precision SystemOne's S/P DIF digital input. Figure 1 showsa series of responses, at input levels from-80 to -120 dB full-scale (dBfs) in 10 -dB

10k 20k

steps, with the Audio Precision'sword length set to 16 bits and theDTIPRO set to a 16 -bit outputword length. Since the DTIPRO'soutput is digital, response wasmeasured using a digital -domaintracking bandpass filter.

Changing the output wordlength on the DTIPRO had only asmall effect on the way the fre-quency response looked between 8and 20 kHz (not shown). Thecurves in Fig. 1 are interesting, inthat they show a mild aberrationin the range from 8 to 20 kHz asthe level drops below -80 dBfs.Further, the response at -120 dBfsis not flat, but rises with frequency.

I am not sure how these deviations in re-sponse, as such, would affect the sound ofa system with the DTIPRO in operation.You might think of these curves as a sourceof data on input/output linearity as a func-tion of frequency.

I next resurrected a crude jitter genera-tor that I had used in past investigations.This device operates by frequency modu-lating the voltage -controlled oscillator

THERE WAS A

NOTICEABLE IMPRESSION

OF INCREASED SPACE

AND RESOLUTION

WITH THE DTIPRO.

(VCO) in a PLL circuit operating in con-junction with a Philips SAA7274A inputreceiver. The I2S outputs of this receiverare fed into a Crystal CS8402 transmitterchip to be converted to an outgoing S/PDIF signal. This arrangement permittedme to pass an S/P DIF signal (either frommy Audio Precision digital generator's out-put or from a CD transport) through myjitter modulator to add jitter to the signalbefore feeding it to a D/A converter undertest. The PLL in my jitter modulator fightsthe external modulation at low to mediumfrequencies, where the PLL loop gain ishigh, but allows good jitter modulationnear and above its jitter cutoff frequency.

For this jitter test, I used a jitter -modula-tion frequency of 10 kHz. Looking at the

word -clock output of the SAA7274A inputreceiver, I raised the external modulationlevel until the time variation at the end ofthe word -clock period was 100 nS, peak topeak. This was done by using my oscillo-scope's delayed sweep to magnify the endof one period of the word clock, up to 100nS per division. I then set my Soundtechdistortion meter to show the external mod-ulation level as 100%. When I dialled in ar-bitrary amounts of jitter at levels below100 nS, the meter indications correspond-ed to jitter, in nanoseconds, which I couldthen read directly.

Figure 2 shows the effect of this generat-ed jitter on the recovered analog outputfrom an inexpensive D/A converter. Thetest used a full-scale, 1 -kHz digital signalfed into the jitter modulator's S/P DIF in-put and a peak -to -peak equivalent perioddeviation of 5 nS at 10 kHz in the jittermodulator's word -clock output.

Figure 2A shows a spectral output of theharmonic distortion residue from the testD/A converter with the test signal's jittermodulation set to zero. Not world -class,perhaps, but not bad. The principal secondharmonic is at 0.0019%, and other har-monics are at or below 0.001%. Figure 2Bshows the result when jitter was increasedto 5 nS. The predominant effect is that 9-,10-, and 11 -kHz frequencies now appearthat don't show with the jitter modulationset to zero. Now for the good part. Withthe DTIPRO interposed between the jittermodulator's S/P DIF output and the testD/A's S/P DIF input, glory begorrah!These artifacts are essentially eliminated, asyou can see in Fig. 2C.

I also used the jitter test signal to look atseveral other D/A converters, including anoriginal PS Audio Digital Link, a CrystalSemiconductor CDB4328 developmentboard, an Audio Alchemy DDE V1.1, and aSonic Frontiers SFD-2. All these convertersshowed less effect from the injected jitterthan the converter used in Fig. 2B; withsome of the converters, I could increase thejitter modulation to 50 nS, peak to peak,and the DTIPRO would still eliminate thejitter sidebands.

Admittedly, 5 nS may be a lot of jitter,but for now, I think this sequence of testsnicely illustrates the effect of jitter reduc-tion from a device like the DTIPRO. Itwould certainly be nice to check out all this


Sunfire

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it to be, but it does share a very important characteristicwith one. It incorporates the current -source (high outputimpedance) properties of a triode. This enables you, whenyou choose the current -source output connections foryour system, to have a sumptuous high end, together with amidrange that positively glows.

At the same time, the new Sunfire amp, with its uncannytracking downconverter, has the ability to raise goose bumpswith its awesome power. Using 12 herculean InternationalRectifier Hexfets, it can drive any load to any rationallyusable current or voltage level.

A choice of outputs.

You can connect most speakers to the voltage -source output,with its near zero impedance, to experience the powerfuldynamics and tight bass you've always wanted more of.

Or let's say you own electrostatic, planar magnetic or ribbonspeakers, then connecting the higher impedance current -sourceoutput can coax forth a sensuous, delicately detailed musicalvoice associated with low powered classic tube amplifiers.

Or if you're able to bi-wire, you may just arrive at the bestpossible interface: voltage output to woofer for incredible

Voltage output:

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stereo amp by Bob Carver.bass whack, current output to midrange and treble for thesubtle cues of reality. Your options even include gold RCAstandard or XLR balanced inputs.

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The basis for all this is designer Bob Carver's versatility. He'sworked successfully with both tube and solid state designs, asthe path towards musical truth dictates.

For the new Sunfire, he insisted on an enormous 138 amperepeak -to -peak output current capability with 600 watts rmsper channel continuously into 4 ohms* and 2400 watts rmsinto one ohm on a time -limited basis. Courtesy of 24 massiveMotorola triple -diffused output devices, each capable of20 amperes without taxing current reserves.

Imagine all that in a single amp. Or better yet, visit aSunfire dealer. That's where you'll hear for yourself howit all comes together.

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BMX LABS Mr, ,ss Mat

- 80

03 -90

1

Z -100

B -110

-120

-1300 4k 8k 12k

A

MX LABS (tar) vs (As)

- 80

- 90

- 100

-110

B

FREQUENCY - Hz

4k 8k 12k

FREQUENCY - Hz

BHA LABS (dBr) va (11s)

-80

- 90

- 100

-110

- 120

- 130 ha0 4k 8k 12k

FREQUENCY - Hz

C

Fig. 2-THD spectra for1 -kHz signals at -90 dBfswith jitter modulation atzero (A), with 10 -kHz jittermodulation at 5 nS, peakto peak (B), and with 5-nS,10 -kHz jitter and DTIPRObetween jitter modulatorand test D/A converter (C).

16k

16k 20k

16k

as a function of jitter -modulation frequen-cy and check the effects of different jitteramplitudes as well. I hope to acquire theinstrumentation to do these things and,additionally, to measure the amount of jit-ter directly in S/P DIF signals-and atD/A converters' word -clock outputs-inthe near future.

To see if noise levels weresomehow improved by goingthrough the DTI -PRO, I looked atthe spectrum of recovered signals,using the Sonic Frontiers SFD-2D/A converter. A 1 -kHz, 16 -bitsignal from my Audio Precisionwas fed to the SFD-2 directly, and

through the DTIPRO. I used20k coax cable for the direct feed;

when the DTI -PRO was in line,I used an ST cable from theDTI -PRO's output to the ST in-put of the SFD-2. Figure 3 showsthe amplitude spectra of the SFD-2's balanced outputs for a -100dBfs, 1 -kHz signal fed straightinto the SFD-2 coaxial input andthrough the DTI -PRO. The shapeof the noise spectrum was slightlydifferent for the different outputword lengths. The curves shownare for 18- and 20 -bit words; thecurve for 16 -bit output words(not shown) was similar to thatfor 20 bits. However, the relativelevels of noise (measured from 10Hz to 22 kHz by notching out thefundamental with my test sys-tem's THD function) didn't showany appreciable difference withthe DTI -PRO in or out.

I next wanted to see if the20k DTI -PRO's output word lengths

did indeed correspond to itsfront -panel control settings. Forcalibration purposes, I set up anarrangement whereby my AudioPrecision's S/P DIF digital outputwas coupled to the input of theCrystal CDB4328 developmentboard. I then monitored the dataoutput of the onboard CS8412 in-put interface receiver to check fordata word length. When I variedthe word length coming out of theAudio Precision, it was easy tocount bits and see perfect correla-

tion with the data word length. I then putthe DTIPRO between the signal sourceand the CDB4328, set the Audio Preci-sion's word length to 16 bits, and set theDTIPRO's word length to 16, 18, and 20bits. It was not quite as easy to count bits,but the data word lengths seemed to agreewith the DTIPRO's settings.

The a.c. line current drawn by the AudioAlchemy DTI -PRO was about 200 mA.While I was operating the unit with its cov-er removed, I discovered that most of theheat was coming from several of the larger(TO -220) voltage regulators. One of theseregulators didn't have a heat -sink and, inmy opinion, was too hot. The DSP chip gotfairly hot in operation, too, although notexcessively so.

From the measurements discussedabove, it appears that the DTI -PRO doesremove jitter from the data stream. How-ever, I wasn't really able to demonstrate its

THE DTIPRO MADE

MY OLD TRANSPORT

SOUND BETTER THAN

IT HAD A RIGHT TO.

resolution -enhancement properties to mysatisfaction. To be thoroughly convincedthat the resolution was enhanced, I wouldhave to observe a less noisy low-level out-put signal in a measurement setup with theDTIPRO connected ahead of a monitor-ing D/A converter.

Use and Listening Tests

Digital equipment used during the re-view period included Counterpoint DA -

11A and PS Audio Lambda CD transportsfeeding a Sonic Frontiers SFD-2, a Para -

sound DAC 1000, and other (experimen-tal) D/A converters. Preamplifiers used in-cluded a unit from Quicksilver Audio anda Forssell balanced, tube line driver. Whena D/A converter was fed directly into apower amplifier with input level controls, Iused no preamp at all. Power amplifiers onhand were a Crown Macro Reference,Quicksilver M -135s, and a pair of Quicksil-

ver experimental 50 -watt triode units.Loudspeakers used were B & W 801 Matrix

Series 3s, augmented from 20 to 50 Hz by apair of subwoofer systems, each using aJBL 1400Nd driver in a 5 -cubic -foot port-ed enclosure.

I can remember listening to the originalDTI in my system about a year ago. At thetime, I remember thinking that it made the


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II WS (OW - 100

03 -1101

- -120

j. - -130

-140

- 1500

1 DTI PRO,20 -BIT OUT

4k 8k

WITHOUTDTI PRO

DT I PRO,18 -HIT OUT

12k 168

FREOUENCY - Hz

Fig. 3-Spectral responseof 1 kHz, -100 dBfs signalwithout DTI -PRO and withDTIPRO set for 18- and20 -bit output.

sound a little bit more palatable andsmooth-possibly more realistic in thatsense. However, after listening with it inand out quite a bit, I finally decided that ittook a little too much definition away, andopted not to use it.

In the case of the DTI -PRO, I first triedit out using the Counterpoint DA -11Atransport in combination with the SonicFrontiers SFD-2 D/A converter. In this set-up, I fed the DTIPRO with an AES/EBUbalanced cable from the transport and fedthe SFD-2 with an ST glass -fiber cablefrom the ST output of either the DTI -PRO

THE SOUND BECAME MORE

EXCITING, DETAILED, AND

DIMENSIONAL WITH

THE DTIPRO IN LINE.

or the transport. This, in effect, put theDTI -PRO in or out of the circuit. I usedvarious combinations of my favorite pre -amps and power amps in these listeningsessions. There was a noticeable impressionof increased space and resolution with theDTI -PRO in circuit. I could hear theboundaries of the recorded space moreclearly, and the overall impression of in-struments playing in space was improved.The musical rhythm and pace seemed to bemore involving also.

With this as reference -grade reproduc-tion, I connected a coaxial cable (that I've

AP

208

used a lot for S/P DIF intercon-nection) from the coax out of theDA -11A to the coax in of the SFD-

2. Oh! The imaging became flatter,and the texture or tonality becamemore irritating. I then pluggedthis cable into the coax input ofthe DTI -PRO and again used theST cable between the DTIPROand the ST input of the SFD-2.Ahh! The sound became more likethe reference but not quite asgood. This suggests that theAES/EBU cable and connectionare better than this coax cable andthat the DTIPRO is doing some-thing to improve or isolate thecoax cable's sonic effects.

I decided to try a few other combina-tions of CD transport and lesser grade D/Aconverters, with and without the DTI -PRObetween the transport and D/A converter.I first tried my old Magnavox 560 CD play-er, which I formerly used as a transport.Comparing what I heard with the above -mentioned coax cable from the 560 di-rectly to the SFD-2 and with the DTI -PROconnected between that cable and theSFD-2, I felt that the sound with theDTI -PRO connected was better than ithad a right to be with that particular trans-port. Without the DTIPRO, well, the 560goes back to the lab for use in testing,where it belongs.

Finally, I tried an Audio Alchemy DDEV1.0 D/A converter with the CounterpointDA -11A transport. Again, I used the samepiece of coax cable from the transport out-put into the D/A input or into the input ofthe DTI -PRO. When the DTI -PRO was inthe line, I used another short piece of coax,which I have used in the past with good re-sults, to connect the output of theDTIPRO into the DDE V1.0 D/A. Withoutthe DTI -PRO, the sound was a bit unexcit-ing (but palatable) and less dimensional,with less detail and, paradoxically, with abit of irritation. With the DTI -PRO in line,the sound simply got better in all of theseregards.

In conclusion, Audio Alchemy'sDTI -PRO seems to do its thing with con-siderable effectiveness. I would heartilyrecommend that you go get a demonstra-tion and judge this device for yourself.

Bascom H. King


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EQUIPMENT PROFILE

BAG END D1OE ELFSUBWOOFER AND

ELF -M INTEGRATOR

ag End is the home of Bilbo Bag -gins in J. R. Tolkien's book TheHobbit. I do not know what thishas to do with speakers exceptthat, as a company name, Bag Endevokes a psychedelic -era, offbeat

image. This may be appropriate for severalreasons. First, all Bag End loudspeakers aredesigned primarily for professional appli-cations. Also, Ron Wickersham, who co -developed the technology embodied in BagEnd subwoofers, designed a legendary

sound system for The Grateful Dead in the'70s. Last, the designs of the Extended LowFrequency (ELF) loudspeaker andcrossover are indeed somewhat unortho-dox. In the case of the small D1OE sub -woofer reviewed here, this approach resultsin response claimed to be flat down to 1.8Hz. (Editor's Note: The main difference be-tween Bag End's and most other compa-nies' subwoofer systems is the use ofpatented ELF, or Extended Low Frequencyresponse, technology. The patent is avail-

able for license, and Bag End has obtaineda license to use it in subwoofer systems.The patent is owned jointly by Ronald J.Wickersham, president of Alembic, famousfor its bass guitars, and Edward M. Long,owner of E. M. Long Associates and a Se-nior Editor of Audio. Long was not in-volved in the specific design of the Bag EndD10E or in the decision to review it; thatdecision was mine.-E.P.)

The D1OE, a sealed box housing two 10 -

inch woofers, is the smallest of Bag End'sELF series of subwoofers. The "Studio" fin-

ish on my review sample (D1OE-S) is amatte black laminate on the subwoofer'sends and bottom, with walnut veneer onits top surface. The front is covered with aperforated metal grille. It is attractive, butperhaps not sufficiently housebroken forevery living room. Connection is via dou-ble -banana binding posts on a recessedpanel on the back.

The ELF -M Integrator is the associatedsignal processor that is patched in ahead ofthe amplifiers. It feeds them high-pass sig-nals and derives a mono sum feed for thesubwoofer amplifier. Any decent poweramplifier rated at 100 watts or more into 4ohms should work fine. The ELF -M has asturdy little rack -mount chassis with a re-mote wall -plug power supply. For stackedcomponent systems, the ELF -M is too shal-low to fit in, except on top. Front -panelscrewdriver -adjust controls are subwoofer"ELF Gain" and "Concealment Thresh-old," an overexcursion protection circuit.LED indicators show power on and activa-tion of Concealment. Rear -panel connec-tors are professional XLR types.

The manual goes into some detail re-garding the philosophy of the ELF system.It seems to be based on achieving flat andextended frequency response, low phaseshift, and freedom from resonance. Thatthese lofty goals lead to the optimal designfor music reproduction is pretty much tak-en for granted. I don't wish to argue withthis, but things can stray pretty far fromtheory in the real world. Essentially, theD1OE's woofers are operated below theirresonance of 70 Hz in their sealed box.This produces an expected 12-dB/octaveroll -off below this frequency, which BagEnd calls "dual differentiation." The ELFtechnology supplies a dual integration tothe input signal, effectively cancelling the


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low -frequency roll -off and continuing upto replace a low-pass filter above 70 Hz. Ahigh-pass filter at 18 Hz keeps the low -fre-quency boost from continuing downward.

Certainly, this arrangement of filters isunique, but the result is a system frequencyresponse similar to that of other electroni-cally assisted systems. Examples are Allisonspeakers with the Electronic Subwooferprocessor, KEF speakers with their KUBEprocessor, M & K powered subwoofers,

SPECSSUBWOOFERSystem Type: Sealed box.

System Resonance: 70 Hz.Drivers: Two 10 -in. woofers.

Frequency Response: 18 to 100 Hz,±3 dB.

Sensitivity at 1 Meter for 2.83 V In,Measured in Half -Space: At 80 Hz,96 dB SPL; at 40 Hz, 86 dB SPL; at20 Hz, 74 dB SPL.

Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms.Dimensions: 13 in. H x 22 in. W x 13

in. D (33 cm x 55.9 cm x 33 cm).Weight: 49 lbs. (22.3 kg).Prices: $629 each with walnut topand black sides, $638 each withblack paint finish, or $828 eachwith oak finish.

INTEGRATORCrossover: High-pass section, -3 dBat 130 Hz and -6 dB at 97 Hz(internally adjustable); ELF section,dual -integration rise at 12 dB peroctave.

Input/Output Configuration:Balanced or unbalanced input,unbalanced output; XLR con-nectors.

Gain: High-pass, 0.0 dB; low-pass,variable from +10 to -10 dB.

Dimensions: 19 in. W x 13/4 in. H x51/2 in. D (48.3 cm x 4.4 cm x 14cm).

Weight: 6 lbs. (2.7 kg).Price: $898.

Company Address: P.O. Box 488,Barrington, Ill. 60011.


and Velodyne servo subwoofers. This is ahighly pedigreed pack, with which anymanufacturer should be delighted to run.

An ELF system has no acoustic reso-nance near its cutoff frequency, which is 18Hz for the D10E. This can be a benefit totransient response, but it places great de-mands on the inherent linearity of voice -coil and magnet of the woofer to avoid dis-tortion. As with all conventional subwoofersystems, the ELF ends up being a compro-mise between small size, low -frequencycutoff point, efficiency, and maximumacoustic output.

MeasurementsCertain assumptions were needed to test

the D10E. The first was that it would beused with normal power amplifiers, whichhave about 26 dB of gain. This works outto about 2.0 V input for full power. Thegain of the satellite -feed portion of theELF -M Integrator is unity, so we can figure2.0 V as an input and output maximum.For the woofer -feed portion, gain varieswith frequency. I used the front -panel"ELF Gain" adjustment to make this sec-tion unity gain at 50 Hz. This is very closeto its "0" setting.

Anechoic frequency response of the ELFsystem (Fig. 1) meets the claimed extendedlow frequency, although not quite BagEnd's claimed 18 Hz for the D10E. Thefall -off above 100 Hz is almost exactly theslope predicted from dual integration. Theintended crossover point is 97 Hz, wherethe response is supposed to be -6 dB fromboth the subwoofer and the satellites. In aperfect world, meaning no room reflec-tions, these speakers add, in phase, to pro-duce a seamless splice. Of course, that isnot the case in our real -world listeningrooms. A crossover control to "finesse" theoverlap by ear would be welcome.

Figure 1 seems to show a sensitivity ofabout 87 dB for 1 watt at 1 meter, but thisis only true at 50 Hz, where 2.0 V is appliedto the speaker. Near 25 Hz, the ELF -M In-tegrator applies 8.0 V, or 16 times the pow-er into a 4 -ohm load. At 100 Hz, 0.5 V isapplied, for one -sixteenth the power. A six-teenfold increase in power consumption at25 Hz would seem to dictate a gonzo am-plifier; however, this is not necessary be-cause the woofer will only handle so much.Preventing excessive power input at low

frequencies is the duty of the Concealmentcircuit. With Concealment, a 160 -watt am-plifier is safe and will extract all of theclean acoustic output available from theD10E subwoofer.

Figure 2 shows how much clean acoustic

output is available. The top curve is the ef-fect of the Concealment limiter, as I set it.

MI=

BAG END'S

UNORTHODOX APPROACH

YIELDS A SUBWOOFER

RATED DOWN TO 18 Hz.

This circuit limits the low -frequency signalto the power amplifier, which limits thedrive to the speaker. I set the limiter to al-low almost 20% harmonic distortionaround 20 Hz. This results in a maximumoutput of 92 dB SPL at 1 meter at 20 Hz.At 31 Hz, 98 dB SPL is available. The othercurves show the SPL when the woofer isdriven to just 3% or 10% harmonic distor-tion; I consider 3% to be very low distor-tion for a woofer and 10% to be acceptableon peaks. Note that my setting of the"Concealment Threshold" control allows amaximum of 10% distortion at 40 Hz and3% at 63 Hz. Concealment could be ad-justed to allow no more than, say, 3% dis-tortion at any frequency, but this would re-duce the maximum output at lowfrequencies considerably.

Use and Listening TestsThe ELF -M Integrator's professional

XLR-type connectors are likely to presentthe greatest difficulty to the hi-fi enthusi-ast. These high -quality connectors must beadapted to the lowly RCA connector withwhich we are familiar. Bag End's instruc-tion manual shows how to do this forquarter -inch phone connectors, which areelectrically similar to RCAs. To do it your-self, I suggest purchasing three femaleXLRs, two male XLRs, and three RCA -to -RCA interconnects. (All this will cost about


This is a handful of resistors, capacitors and a

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Enter No 32 on Reader Service Card

a.

90

85

80

75

70

6510 20 100

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 1-Frequencyresponse.

110

100

90

80

7016

200

MAX

10%

3%

20 25 31 40 50

FREQUENCY - Hz

Fig. 2-Output at 1 meter;see text.

63 80

$25, according to Radio Shack's catalog.)Cut the three RCAs in half, throw one ofthe halves away, and strip and solder theremaining five to the XLRs. Then you areready to go. (A dealer will probably providethis service for a small charge.)

The ELF -M Integrator is patched in justahead of the power amps that feed yoursatellites. A summed ELF output is intend-ed to feed a mono subwoofer amplifier.Since there are two 8 -ohm woofers insidethe DIOE cabinet, it would have been con-venient if both had been brought out toterminals on the box. This would have al-lowed a parallel -fed stereo power amplifierrated at 8 ohms to feed each driver with itsown channel. I advise turning the gain ofmost power amplifiers to maximum to givethe ELF -M Integrator enough headroom. Ifyou use a receiver to power your satellitespeakers (and wish to drive them through

100

the Integrator's high-pass), yourreceiver must have connectors forpreamp out and power amp in.

For my listening tests, I startedwith the D1OE cabinet placed mid-

way between a pair of CelestionSL -700 satellite speakers. I usedone channel of a modified HaflerDH -220 amp, which is good forover 200 watts into the sub -woofer's 4 -ohm load. The sealed -box Celestions respond flat downto 60 Hz, with a smooth and grad-ual roll -off below this frequency. Itseemed wasteful to high-pass themat 120 Hz with the filters in theELF -M Integrator, but this wouldtheoretically result in less phaseshift and a smoother crossover.When I fired up the rig, I found itnecessary to turn down the ELFsystem's gain to best match the rel-atively inefficient Celestions. Thiswas good news, because I was nowless likely to activate Concealmentat very low frequencies.

At first, I was not satisfied withthe blend of the subwoofer to thesatellites. My favorite test for this is"You Look Good to Me" on theOscar Peterson Trio's We Get Re-quests (Verve CD 810 047 2); theacoustic bass is played and record-ed with an evenly full sound foreach note up and down the scale. I

heard a variation in this fullness, causingsome notes to be scratchy and others to beboomy. After some experimentation, Iended up with a good blend by placing theD1OE 2 feet back-against the wall, behindthe Celestions and off center. Also, I re-versed the polarity of the woofer speakercable. These and other techniques, whenthey are feasible, should always be triedwhen interfacing a subwoofer to a roomand to satellites. A critical ear is required;neither a "technically correct" system nortest instruments are the answer.

On symphonic music, the Bag End sub -woofer simply became an extension of theCelestions' natural presentation down tothe lowest audible tones. An example is theorgan and orchestra duet in the adagiomovement of the Saint-Saens "Organ"Symphony (Telarc CD -80051). The lowestorgan notes accompanying the lush strings

are simply not audible on ordinary loud-speakers. With the D1OE subwoofer, I be-came aware of these pure tones rather thanhearing them. This is musically as it shouldbe; any emphasis or distortion that wouldcall attention to the tones or their harmon-ics would be a distraction.

I mounted a laser displacement trans-ducer to the front of the D1OE's cabinet tomeasure woofer displacement while I waslistening. Cone motion was monitored ona calibrated oscilloscope. Playing low bassat high level turned the Integrator's Con-cealment indicator on. This always oc-curred with a peak displacement close to±4 mm, which is not considered to be a lotof linear travel for a subwoofer. The indica-tor did not turn on during the "Organ"Symphony or other classical music.

With rock and "sonic spectacular" mu-sic, the D1OE maintained its composurebut failed to deliver all of the punch ex-pected at high levels. Let us remember thatwe are dealing with two 10 -inch sealed -boxwoofers in a very compact system that hasdistortion -prevention circuitry. "ThePlaces You Find Love" from Back on theBlock, produced by Quincy Jones (WarnerBros. CD 9 26020-2), was reproduced atmoderate levels with awesome deep bass.But played at rock SPL, the bass became avictim of the Concealment circuit. A turnof a screwdriver fixed that. With the settingof "Concealment Threshold" raised, thecone excursion increased to as much as±10 mm and was accompanied by someaudible distress. Now the DI OE soundedmore like an ordinary subwoofer.

On bass -extravaganza discs and moviesoundtracks, the DIOE doesn't cut it unlessyou like your explosions on the quiet side.With Concealment engaged, this sub -woofer never makes a rude noise; it justdoesn't get loud enough. An example is theentrance of T -Rex on the Jurassic ParkLaserDisc. I could hear the approachingfootfalls, but I was not scared and shaken.

In summary, borrowing the ELF tech-nology from professional systems andadapting it to home subwoofer use workslike a charm. You get clean, deep bass. Ifyou need more bass than a single D1OE candeliver, buy more of them or look into oth-er Bag End models, which go up to a pairof 18-inchers. That should be a match forT -Rex. David L. Clark


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AURICLE

KRELLREFERENCE KPE

MC PHONO STAGE

0

ne of the ironies of high -endaudio is that the soundquality of analog phonoequipment continues to im-prove just as fast as that ofdigital equipment. While

this may be an anachronism tosome, it is the twilight of the godsfor others. Having good phono re-production not only means access todecades of great analog recordingsbut also access to the superb newdiscs being pressed by an increasingnumber of small firms includingChesky, Mobile Fidelity, andSheffield Lab.

Company Address: 45 ConnairRd., Orange, Conn. 06477.


The Krell KPE moving -coilphono preamp is an outstanding ex-ample of the new equipment bright-ening this twilight of the gods. TheReference KPE is

a fairly compactphono preampfor moving -coil

cartridges; it re-

tails for $1,350

as a stand-aloneunit designed tobe powered by aKrell preamp orfor $1,850 with one of the heftiestseparate power supplies I have seenfor a separate phono stage. Thesame circuitry is available for $850as a p.c. board to be inserted intothe Krell KRC and KSL-2 preamps.There are also a Standard KPE and a

Standard board, which handle bothMM and MC cartridges and sell for$500 less than the MC -only Refer-ence versions.

The KPE provides both phonogain and equalization for low -out-put moving -coil cartridges, and canbe used with any line -stage preampor replace an older Krell preamp'sphono stage. The stand-alone unit'sonly apparent feature is a pilot light.The Reference KPE can, however, beadjusted internally to suit virtuallyany low -output moving -coil car-tridge. Switches allow you to selectgain of 58, 64, 70, or 76 dB, and car-tridge loadings of 10, 25, 47, 100,249, 475, 825, or 1,000 ohms. Fre-quency response is specified at ±0.1dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Crosstalkand signal-to-noise ratio are speci-fied at less than 80 dB (A -weighted),and THD at less than 0.1% from 20Hz to 20 kHz.

The Reference KPE uses a four -layer printed -circuit board. As muchgain as possible is placed early in thecircuit, amounting to 59 dB, whileonly 17 dB of gain is in the outputportion. Krell claims that each chan-nel in the high -gain portion of thecircuit uses three of the lowest noisebipolar transistors available, in a

parallel configuration, to reducenoise by a further 3 dB. Accordingto Krell, these transistors are opti-mally biased for low -impedancemoving -coil cartridges. This earlysection also has Mumetal shielding,

which will

reduce 60 -Hz

hum by an-other 20 dB,according toKrell. Theoutput fromthis sectionis also fullybuffered

from the equalization/output stageof the phono system. The RIAAequalization uses a passive networkfor the high -frequency corner and anactive circuit for the low -frequencycorner. The Reference KPE's RIAA ac-

curacy is specified at ±0.05 dB.

THE KRELL KPE IS

ONE OF THE QUIETEST

PHONO PREAMPS

I'VE HEARD TO DATE.


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SEND MONEY ORDER,CERTIFIED OR CASHIER'S CHECK, MASTERCARD, VISA, AMERICAN EXPRESS or DISCOVER CARD(include Interbank No expiration date and signature) To: J&R Music World, Dept AU0295, 59-50 Oueens Midtown Expwy, Maspeth,Queens, New York 11378. Personal and business checks must clear our Authorization Center before processing. Shipping,handling and Insurance Charge (Continental US) is 5% of the total order with a $4.95 minimum for orders up to $500, 4% fororders over $500 to $1000; and 3% for orders over $1000, For heavyweight/over-sized items, shipment by air, or to Canada,Hawaii, Alaska, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico please call for information. DO NOT SEND CASH Sorry. no C.O.D's N.Y. residentsplease add sales tax. ORDERS SUBJECT TO VERIFICATION AND ACCEPTANCE, NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ORPICTORIAL ERRORS. ALL MERCHANDISE SHIPPED BRAND NEW, FACTORY FRESH AND 100% GUARANTEED.Copyright 1995 J&R Music World. City of N.Y.Dept. of Consumer Affairs License Numbers 0900310/0900615/0900616/0900617 = '11:1 11:11

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Regardless of how good a phono preampmay be in other respects, I feel a key re-quirement of any such unit is that it besilent in terms of hum and hiss. There aresome audiophiles who will listen through aconsiderable amount of phono-preampnoise for the special qualities of warmth,soundstage, or transient detail. I simply amnot one of them. I find that noisy phonopreamps mask low-level musical detail anddynamics, color the sound by changing thetimbre of some aspects of the music, andincrease listening fatigue.

It is much easier to claim a good signal-to-noise ratio or meet some technical stan-dard than it is to deliver a unit that is trulysilent to the ear. The Krell KPE, however, is

not only the quietest Krell phono front-endso far-which is considerable praise-butalso one of the quietest phono preamps Ihave heard to date. This superior real -world signal-to-noise ratio improves thesound of all low -output moving coils, es-pecially the new generation of very low -output moving -coil cartridges that attemptto trade a reduction in output for lowermoving mass and better detail.

Cartridges with very low output are any-thing but a blessing for most phono gainstages. Any added detail is provided at thecost of added noise or the apparent col-lapse of musical dynamics and of thesoundstage. The KPE is so silent, however,that it can be used with the most demand-ing moving -coil cartridges I know of, in-cluding the lowest output Audio Notes,Benzes, and Ortofons. In fact, I found thatthe KPE's apparent signal-to-noise ratiowas limited more by the grounding andshielding in the cartridge and tonearmthan it was by the circuitry in the phonopreamp itself.

What may be more important to mostusers is that the KPE combines this im-proved signal-to-noise ratio with improvedopenness, transparency, and dynamic life. Iuse the Krell KRC as one of my referencepreamps, and I have always regarded it ashaving an excellent phono gain stage, al-though limited by its signal-to-noise ratioto moving -coil cartridges with normal out-put. However, the KPE not only allowedme to use very low -output cartridges withthe KRC, it also opened up the sound of allmoving -coil cartridges. It did a far betterjob than the KRC's phono unit of allowing

the sound of music to emerge without theusual trace of electronic haze; it providedmore information on the sonic characteris-tics of the hall in live recordings as well asthe ambience and subtle imaging detailthat are among the joys of the best analogrecordings.

The Krell KPE provided similar sonicimprovements over the phono stages inseveral otherwise excellent preamps fromother manufacturers. It did so with veryopen and detailed upper midrange and tre-ble, something missing in many phonopreamps that have low noise but have

SUCH DYNAMICS

AND SWEETNESS

IN THE UPPER OCTAVES

GIVE MANY DISCS NEWLIFE AND MUSICALITY.

problems with dynamics and life. At thesame time, the KPE provided the kind ofsmooth and highly musical upper octaveperformance that I associate more with themoving -magnet gain stages in tube pre -amps than I do with transistor moving -coilgain stages. This combination of dynamicsand sweetness in the upper octaves gavemany discs new life and musicality. Forsome reason, it also made tape hiss, surfacenoise, and clicks and pops-still the occa-sional price of analog records-less harshand fatiguing.

One of the pleasures of any unit like thisis that it gives me an excuse to review mycollection of LPs. The Krell did a superbjob of reminding me that analog is still avery real rival to the very best of digital. Ihave heard only one other moving -coilpreamplifier that has a comparable appar-ent signal-to-noise ratio, and none thatcompetes directly with the KPE in musical-ity. I was particularly struck by the way theKrell KPE opened up the soundstage, dy-namics, and musical details in olderrecordings and in remasterings like theChesky recordings of The Reiner Sound(RC11) and The Power of the Orch-

estra/Mussorgsky (RC30). The reproduc-tion of full orchestral dynamics and bass inThe Power of the Orchestra was truly out-

standing. This was also true of ReferenceRecordings' much newer Pomp & Pipes(RR -58), quite possibly the finest recording

of the sheer power of orchestra and organever made, and the Krell KPE gave it all theenergy and life it deserves.

The KPE did an equally good job of get-ting more air, transient life, and low-levelinformation from many recordings. Thiscame through quite clearly in outstandingnew pressings like the blues of Mobile Fi-delity's Muddy Waters: Folk Singer(MFSL1-201), the Sheffield recording ofjazz on Pat Coil's Just Ahead (LP -34), andthe AudioQuest recording of chamber mu-sic on Trio Galanterie (AQ-LP1005). TheKPE also did an excellent job in getting thebest out of old Deutsche Grammophon,EMI, Columbia, RCA, and Everest record-ings. It did wonders for a variety of operarecordings; it takes a superb unit to get thebest out of tenor and soprano voice or toallow baritone voice its full richness with-out adding warmth or color. The KPE wasa real pleasure with harpsichord record-ings, and it allows you to get the best a giv-en cartridge and record can provide. Somephono preamps warm Bach, while manymake his harpsichord music a bit hard andanalytic. The KPE is also the kind of unitthat can make you reach beyond Mozartand enjoy it.

If you are seeking to upgrade the soundof your existing phono gain stage or to addmoving -coil gain capability to any existingline -stage preamp, I believe you will findthe KPE to be one of the best options avail-able, one fully compatible with tube as wellas transistor line stages. It is the most mu-sically exciting moving -coil preamp I haveyet heard. Do, however, experiment withthe gain settings on the KPE to find theone that sounds best with your cartridgeand preamp. Finding the right setting cando wonders in terms of openness, dynam-ics, and soundstage. You should also try the1,000 -ohm loading as well as various lowerimpedance loadings to find the one foryour specific cartridge. The high -imped-ance setting may sometimes take away a bitof control, but it can also sometimes dowonders in opening up the soundstage andin adding a touch of dynamic life. The low -impedance setting will normally be best forstrict musical accuracy.

Anthony H. Cordesman


THE WAY THESE GUYS ARE TALKING,MAYBE WE SHOULD RAISE THE PRICE.

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AP -2 owner

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AP -4 owner

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There was a time when DIGITAL

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Well, we don't because there's

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'Digital PhaseACOUSTA REED TECHNOLOGY

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the high end, where each improve-ment in one manufacturer's prod-ucts leads to a competitive innova-tion in others. Theta Digital's new

Company Address: 5330 DerryAve., Suite R, Agoura Hills,Cal. 91301.


top -of -the -line D/A converter, theDS Pro Generation V, is a good casein point. There are some significantchanges in thisunit, and I wasa bit stunnedto see that itis claimed tohave 125 mil-lion instructionsper second (orMIPS) of com-puting power,more than most computers had inthe days when NASA was still capa-ble of putting a man on the moon.

The Generation V, which sells for$5,595, differs significantly fromother Theta D/A converters in a

number of ways. Advances in theanalog stages of D/A converters andCD players have proved to be as im-portant as advances in their digitaltechnology, and the Generation V isthe first Theta product to use fullydiscrete, Class -A analog circuits,with very fast rise -times and low set-tling times.

Theta indicates this change to dis-crete components was not easy. IC -based and op -amp -based designshave inherent advantages in the ana-log circuits of digital audio compo-nents. Because of smaller geome-tries, the best of the IC -based

designs are faster and tend to settlemore quickly. This is particularlyimportant in the current -to -voltageconverter stage following the DACchip. For example, the UltraAnalogDAC, which is well known in theindustry for its resolution and per-formance, uses ICs for current -to -

voltage conversion.The other advantage of IC -based

designs is d.c. precision. It is possi-ble, using premium ICs, to designcircuits that use no blocking capaci-tors or servos to keep the output at 0V d.c. The cost of such circuits isthat they normally have very highopen -loop gain and require a greatdeal of feedback-which, in turn,sacrifices soundstage openness, air,apparent transient speed, upper oc-tave detail, and sometimes midrangewarmth.

With the Generation V, Theta be-lieves it has overcome the shortcom-

ings of discretedesigns. Thecircuit topolo-gy uses a cur-rent -feedbackamplifier forthe current -to -voltage stage ,Y>,

and discrete 6 -buffers for the

section. The new ana-log section uses a balanced differen-tial design throughout the whole it

THIS IS THE FIRST

THETA PRODUCT TO USE

FULLY DISCRETE, CLASS -A

ANALOG CIRCUITS.

filter/output


unit, as well as a new and much better cir-cuit board. The analog circuit is Class A, toeliminate crossover distortion, and it uses acurrent -feedback design with a very largeopen -loop bandwidth and very low feed-back. Theta claims this yields ultra -fastslew rates and extremely low peak errorand settling time.

The Generation V has balanced as wellas single -ended outputs. As is usual withTheta, the balanced outputs are derived

THE GENERATION V

IS AMONG A HANDFULOF TOP D/A CONVERTERS

DEFINING THE BEST

IN DIGITAL SOUND.

from two DACs per channel. Theta feelsthis is the best (albeit most expensive)means of generating a balanced analog sig-nal. Furthermore, the single -ended outputis summed from the balanced signals,which means that these outputs also havethe advantage of using two DACs in eachchannel.

Much of the digital section from Theta'sGeneration III has been retained becausethe company found, after considerable ex-perimentation, that it could not do muchto improve performance without spendingso much money that the retail price wouldrise to $15,000 or more. The Generation Vdoes, however, use the latest Crystal Semi-conductor EBU receiver and proprietaryjitter -reduction circuitry. It has three digi-tal signal processors and uses Theta's owndigital filter algorithm to reach 20 -bit reso-lution. It also uses a process Theta calls"digital domain balancing." Unlike mostD/A converters, which provide a balancedanalog output by balancing the signal inthe analog domain, the Generation V cre-ates a balanced signal in the digital do-main. Eliminated is the "inversion stage,"which normally comes after the main ana-log stage and which reduces sound qualitybecause the negative phase of the signalgoes through two analog stages while thepositive phase goes through only one. Incontrast, the Generation V creates the pos-itive and negative signals in the digital do-main and passes them on to a separate

DAC chip for each phase of each channel;as a result, the analog output is symmetri-cal for each channel and phase.

The Generation V has a new power sup-ply that uses 14 regulators. It delivers twicethe peak -to -peak voltage swing of the sup-ply in the Generation III, and the analogportion is dual mono. All this is said togreatly increase dynamic range and chan-nel separation. There are four separatepower transformers to help isolate eachstage.

As for features, you have a "Phase"switch and front -panel selection of threeinputs, an AES/EBU input and two RCAcoaxials. One of the main RCA inputs canoptionally be replaced by an AT&T, aToslink, or Theta's proprietary single -

mode fiber-optic input. You also have sep-arate digital tape inputs and outputs plusmonitor switching. The single -mode digi-tal input, incidentally, can only be usedwith Theta CD transports having the op-tional single -mode output. Theta feels thisconnection offers a significantly cleanertransfer of information than the conven-tional AT&T variety.

So much for the manufacturer's techni-What do you actually get in

terms of sound quality? The answer is aconsiderable refinement over that of theGeneration III. The sound of the Genera-tion V has the musical sophistication oftop -of -the -line Krell and Mark LevinsonD/A converters, although it is different indynamics, timbre, harmonics, transients,noise floor, and many other qualities.

Past Thetas had more apparent upperoctave energy and more aggressive dynam-ics than many competing D/A convertersbut at the cost of a slight aggressivenessand hardness. The Generation V has thesweetness, superior harmonics, and air thatare associated with the best Class -A cir-cuits, and its sound is distinctly sweeterand more refined. This change may at firstseem a step backward to those who areused to the punch of the Generation III,but extended listening will reveal that thenew model is more realistic in its string, pi-ano, and guitar sound, as well as in finepercussion detail such as skin sounds andcymbal.

The bass, for example, is now muchtighter and better controlled. This initiallymay seem like less bass, but it is actually


PART ONE -MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The Linn Majik control amplifier is

a(n)

A. Integrated Amplifier

C. Power Amplifier

B. Preamplifier

D. Headphone Amplifier

E. All of the above

2. lying special Linn "Sneaky" Modules the Majik

can become a(n)

A. AM/FM Receiver

C. Active Electronic Crossover

B. Multi -Room System

D. Any of the above

3. The Linn Majik

A. Adapts to your ever changing life-styles.

B. Expands to provide music throughout your

home.

C. Grows into an ultra high-performance

multi -amp system.

D. Features remote control and advanced

solid-state switching.

E. Is surprisingly affordable.

F. All of the above

NIve0Tiovis

CUo13lce

See Part II of the exam on page 85and Part Ill on page 91 .

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bass that is more musically correct. Interms of sheer bass energy, the GenerationV is somewhere between the high levels ofunits from Krell and Wadia Digital and theslightly leaner sound of Mark Levinsonunits. The differences, however, occur onlyin the deep and mid -bass and can vary ac-cording to signal source. As to which ofthese bass sounds is "right," well, what isthe "right" seat in the concert hall? Buy ac-cording to your taste.

The Generation V still has a bit more ap-parent upper midrange and treble energythan most other top -of -the -line D/A con-verters, and this preserves the dynamic andinvolving character of previous Thetaunits. Yet massed strings and winds arenow cleaner and subtler, and the sound -stage has expanded to the rear. You get amore natural mix of musical detail and a

more open hall. There is far less tendencyto move the apparent listening positionslightly forward. Guitar, harpsichord, so-prano voice, and complex musical passagesare all more realistic. The Generation IIIhad a slight tendency to exaggerate low-level dynamics, which was exciting but notaccurate; the Generation V corrects this,and major shifts in musical dynamics arenow more natural. At the same time, peakorchestral and rock passages open up, andthere is more information and subtlety.

Without question, Theta Digital's DSPro Generation V is one of a handful oftop -of -the -line D/A converters that cur-rently define the best in digital sound. I canassure you that the Generation V is muchbetter than the Generation III in terms ofmusical realism, and the Generation IIIwas very good. Anthony H. Cordesman

CHOOSING A D/A CONVERTER

T he choice between the best D/A converters is highly personal. Although Ido hear more similarity in sound between top converters than I have inthe past, there remain subtle differences in harmonics, dynamics, air, andsoundstage that define the musicality of each unit. These differences are

most readily apparent with guitar, piano, violin, and other familiar solo instrumentswith complex harmonics. You can also hear the differences on the bands of variousChesky and Opus 3 test CDs that demonstrate depth, imaging, and low-level resolu-tion, and they will show up as well during prolonged listening to orchestral or choralmusic or to acoustic rock or jazz. The problem is that all of these different sounds arenow musically credible.

My suggestion is that you audition a range of top units carefully over time. Try toavoid listening to dramatic musical events or audiophile spectaculars. Concentrate onCDs you know well, zeroing in on the sound of solo instruments, the comparative res-olution of soft passages, and the way each unit handles the soundstage, particularly interms of depth and hall effects. If you are on a budget, listen to middle -of -the -lineD/A converters by top manufacturers as well. Digital technology has improved to thepoint where many of these units come very close to the sound of the outright bestones, and there is no point in paying for diminishing returns at the cost of imbalancesin the relative quality of your other components.

I also caution you to use CDs from different labels and to do your auditioning withyour particular CD transport (or try different models). There also are subtle sonic dif-ferences in the interactions between particular D/A converters, transports, connec-tions, and sometimes cables, as well as the A/D processing in given source material.You need to be sure of cause and effect, and that you will hear the same differences athome that you hear in a dealer's showroom. The best approach may be to contactyour dealer and either bring in your transport and cable or arrange a loan for audi-tioning in your home system. Above all, be sure to audition the sound you will actual-ly get in your system if you are concentrating on choosing between nuances in the bestdigital equipment. A.H.C.


PART TWO -TRUE OR FALSE

T or F 1."...the Majik-I is one cone kicker of an

amplifier...give it a listen...l'll guarantee

you'll be impressed." Hi-Fi World

T or F 2."...our use of the Linn Majik-I was an

unalloyed pleasure. The smoothness and

silence with which it's controls operated

were striking...We could not resist opening

up the Majik-I. Its interior can only be

described as gem -like." Stereo Review

T or F 3."...the Linn Majik can serve as the heart

of a robust and uncompromising home

audiophile system." The Common -Sense

Audiophile

VTeOtliVvg,

ks tie'

See Part I of the exam on page 83 andPart III on page 91.

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Internet resource center on WWW/MosaicEnter No. 21 on Reader Service Card

Prokofiev: Piano ConcertosNos. 2 and 4; Overture on

Hebrew ThemesYefim Bronfman, piano;

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra,Zubin Mehta; Giora Feidman,

clarinet; Juilliard String QuartetSONY CLASSICAL SK 58 966

CD; 64:38

hat Prokofiev wouldhave made of thisrecording, I wonder. Hisacerbic early -electricrecording of the ThirdConcerto is nothing likethese effulgently roman-tic readings. Traditional-

ly, Prokofiev's dissonances havebeen treated more or less as an as-pect of his wit, as the piquant saucethat brings out the full flavor of hismusical meat. Zubin Mehta andYefim Bronfman both chomp downdirectly on these dissonances, treat-ing them as a glorious, integral partof the musical fabric. The emotionalimpact of it all in this excellent SonySBM (Super Bit Mapping) pickup isat times overwhelming. Above all,the bass range of the musical scalegets an astonishing workout, withthe growling of the trombones andthe pounding of the timpanimatched by the power and richnessof the piano's bottom end.

Prokofiev's Second Piano Concer-to dates from only a few years laterthan Rachmaninoff s. Particularly inthis performance, we are remindedhow recently the considerablyyounger Prokofiev (at 21) had beena student of Gliere and Rimsky-Kor-sakov. Yet both musically and emo-tionally, he goes so far beyond thesemodels as to make the Rachmaninoffsound more like a Mendelssohn.

The Fourth Concerto, like Ravel'sfor the left hand, was written forPaul Wittgenstein, who had lost hisright hand in the First World War.For whatever reason, he neverplayed either masterpiece. And I'mincreasingly persuaded that theFourth is a masterpiece, though

CLASSICALRECO R DINGS

there is evidence that Prokofievhimself had mixed feelings about it.Bronfman's seemingly impetuousvirtuosity makes you forget thatthese galaxies of notes are beingplayed by a single hand.

The filler (and it is that) is the Over-

ture on Hebrew Themes, scored forchamber group-here with Bronf-man and the Juilliard Quartet and

recorded at Princeton University(the concertos were recorded in theMann Auditorium, Tel Aviv). It's anice piece, and clarinetist Giora Feid-man gives a deliciously klezmer feelto the proceedings. But it's so differ-ent in texture and emotional weightthat it's a letdown after the concer-tos; better to have placed it as an in-terlude between them.

Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas,Op. 120; Jenner:

Clarinet Sonata, Op. 5James CampLell, clarinet;Leonard Hokanson, piano

MARQUIS CLASSICS ERAD 125CD; 65:32

oth sonatas from Brahms'Op. 120 and the G MajorSonata hy Gustav Jennerare included here in per-formances that are as

fresh as they are Fluent. Jenner, aBrahms pupil who was not up to his

master's extremely high standard in 1this coupling, is ncnetheless an ap-propriate cornpanicn. The recording

is an all -Canadi-an project. Thefound, capturedin a Torontochurch, is marredty excessive re--erberation that

is more unkind to the piano than toCampbell's wonderfully supple clar-inet Lne, which more than compen-sates for some jangh, climaxes.

Robert Long

JONIA NIMESNA141,03

:Im'Etronfman ,Zubln N1:1,taie


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The obvious comparison in Prokofiev'sFourth Concerto, which completes a Bronf-man/Mehta set begun on an earlier CD, is tothe Berman and Jarvi on Chandos, which isvery fine and has the advantage of the Con-certgebouw-both the hall and the orchestra.On every count, Chandos is a bit more staid.Its genuine -sounding ambience may havebeen captured with few microphones, whereasSony's sonics strongly suggest close multi-miking and careful mixing. Chandos thus istruer to the concert reality, but the Sony is sothrilling, in both sound and performance, thatI must admit I prefer it. Robert Long

Stones, Time, & Elements:A Humanist Requiem(Text, Kurt Vonnegut;

Music, Edgar David Grana)Soloists; Manhattan Chamber Orchestra;

Magic Circle Opera Ensemble;Richard Auldon Clark, conductor;

Kurt Vonnegut, readerNEWPORT CLASSIC NPD 85573

CD; 46:21

Curious that most contemporary sonicart-from musicals to jazz, pop, film, "NewAge," Third Stream, Humanist, and more-lists the composer(s) last, not first as in con-ventional classical music. Suppose a certainbig symphony were known as the SchillerNinth, not the Beethoven Ninth? This CD is"The Vonnegut" Requiem. Nevertheless, itsmusic is very much"classical" and, in spiteof the commentary, dis-tinctly conservative in agood way, a distillationof techniques of the1960s, which once mayhave been radical but are now simply useful. Ifound it surprisingly attractive (I feared theworst!), quite aside from the text.

This music by Edgar David Grana is im-peccably professional, beautifully written forvoices, solo and choral, and for orchestra, in-cluding such no longer radical instruments asthe sax (originally intended for classical musicback in the 19th century!), the marimba, andsome species of "electronic instrument." In-deed, two solo meditations, wordless, for saxalone, are the musical high points of thework, absolutely first-rate and very moving.

The rationale of text is fortunately not mybusiness, so if it annoyed me it may pleaseyou. Kurt Vonnegut has rewritten the classicLatin requiem, set by so many composers fora number of centuries, into a "humanist" par-allel. For instance, the Latin Domine, "0Lord," is constantly rendered as "0 Cosmos,"a clumsy salutation if you ask me. (Dominedoes mean "master" or "Lord," as in our

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word "dominant.") Vonnegut reads his ownnew text for some six minutes at the begin-ning-immersed paradoxically in a churchresonance that merely makes him hard to un-derstand. All this is lengthily discussed in thebooklet-though, oddly, the printed Von-negut and the spoken differ at many points.The payoff is a new translation back fromVonnegut into church Latin. Why? Fortunate-ly, it is printed but not read.

So-start with track 2 if you wish to ignorethe above. The rest is music. As anyone whoknows a few big oratorios and Masses, not tomention requiem settings, is aware, the actualwords are often unintelligible. It is the sym-

bolic and familiar freight of meaning thatcounts. I did not determine which versionthese singers use, Vonnegut in English or inersatz Latin, though such familiar and inspir-ing words as "hosanna!" came through-good in any language. The work flows contin-uously, but the familiar requiem segmentspersist and are easily discernible. Thus thework fits into an easy listening pattern.

The predominant chorus here is excellent,dedicated, and passionate, even if the abruptHindemith -like jumps are sometimes mo-mentarily hesitant in pitch. Not bad, and bet-ter than the vocal soloists, who are very pro-fessional but not too accurate. Particularly, of

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course, the lead high soprano, who has apowerful voice-notably in the top range, asmight be expected today. Not unpleasant!You'll sense an inner harmony here, in thatthe composer himself surely expected andwrote for just such a voice. He is unusuallygood at providing solos and duets, both vocaland instrumental, as a lively contrast to fullchorus and orchestra. Even the separatechoral parts have frequent "solos." Clearly avery gratifying work to perform and for lis-tening. I might add, it could easily be adaptedto either the conventional Latin text or anEnglish translation. Edward Tatnall Canby

Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on aTheme of Paganini, Op. 43;

Brahms: Concerto No. 2 in B Flat,Op. 83

Van Cliburn, piano; Moscow PhilharmonicOrchestra, Kiril Kondrashin

RCA VICTOR RED SEAL 09026-62695-2

CD; ADD; 75:48

Van Cliburn has long since recorded boththese works with American orchestras, theRachmaninoff with the Philadelphia underOrmandy and the Brahms with the Chicagounder Reiner. These present performancesdate from a return tour to the U.S.S.R. in1972, 14 years after his first prize in the inau-gural International Tchaikovsky Competitionmade him, at the age of 23, the first seriousmusician honored with a ticker -tape paradedown Broadway. It also made his recording ofthe First Tchaikovsky Concerto the first clas-sical disc ever to sell more than a millioncopies.

In spite of their comparative age, these newreleases in the U.S., of recordings previouslyavailable only in Russia, have convincingqualities to recommend them: They broughtCliburn back togetherwith his old Moscowbuddy Kiril Kondrashinand the orchestra withwhich he had scored hisgreatest triumph, andthey also confirm manypeople's contention that Cliburn never playedso well as when "inspired" (his term) by hisbeloved, adoring Russian public, whom he al-ways tried to reward by pouring out his musi-cal heart without reservation.

To get the only partially bad news, espe-cially for audio sticklers, out of the way first,this note from the leaflet: "The [Soviet-madelanalog recording source for this CompactDisc was made before noise -reduction meth-ods such as Dolby were available. In the digitalremastering, some effort to minimize the inher-ent tape hiss was made; radical methods havenot been used in order to preserve the full -frequency content of the original recordings.


Therefore, some noise may be experienced inreproduction on wide -range equipment."Well, music -lovers, in my opinion you canforget that. Just relax, and revel in this superbmusic -making.

As one who heard Cliburn live in 1958 re-peatedly, not only in Moscow but also on tourin Leningrad and Riga, I always marvelled atthis most incredibly gifted pianist's ability tocombine a blazing, transcendental tech-nique-more than equal to any difficulty-with a musically indispensable ability to takehis time. After the Carnegie Hall replicationof that prize-winning Moscow program,more than one New York critic hailed Cliburnas a rare surviving exemplar of the "grandmanner" of Romantic pianism, established byRubinstein and Liszt and carried into ourown era by Hofmann, Rachmaninoff,Lhevinne, Horowitz, and only a few others.Under Cliburn's extraordinary hands (likeRachmaninoff, he can play 12ths), the pianonot only sings, it also breathes. In contrast toso many present-day steely fingered youngartists, nothing hurries him-and the musicbenefits from it vastly.

Too much, too soon drove hapless Cliburn,20 years after his Moscow sensation, to with-draw from all public performing. That hiatuslasted nine years, and not until 1994 did hereturn to anything like regular concertizing-RCA's obvious reason for issuing this CD.Once and for all: Van Cliburn, in spite of lim-ited repertoire and some musical deficiencies,will go down in history as one of the greatestpianistic talents of this century. His playing ofthese two masterpieces-glorious both musi-cally and technically-bear incontrovertiblewitness to that, and for that we must rejoice.

Paul Moor

Night PrayersKronos Quartet

ELEKTRA NONESUCH 79346-2CD; DDD; 78:55

The latest from Kronos, the leading stringquartet for new music, presents seven recentcompositions that display the varied voices ofcomposers coming from many different cul-tures of the former Soviet realm. A unifyingmusical aesthetic is also found here-a spiri-tual feeling of deep lament shaped by strife.

The influence of tradi-tional ethnic music onthese composers is also ajoining element.

This album's titlecomes from the Geor-gian composer Giya

Kancheli, and like several of the other works,it includes a vocal part, here a male choir withboy soprano. Dawn Upshaw is heard inDmitri Yanov-Yanovsky's "Lacrymosa," a

cantor is part of Osvaldo Golijov's"K'vakarat," and the unique sounds of theThroat Singers of Tuva are heard in the tradi-tional "Kongerei" from Western Siberia. Onone of the shortest and lightest works, "ACool Wind Is Blowing" by Tigran Tahmizyan,Djivan Gasparian plays the duduk.

The low -noise -floor studio of LucasFilms'Skywalker Sound was the site of this record-ing session, and the astonishingly wide dy-namic and emotional range of the Kronoswas captured perfectly. John Sunier

Positively GoldenRuth Ann Swenson, soprano; The London

Philharmonic, Nicola RescignoEMI CLASSICS CDC 0777 7 54827 2 0

CD; DDD; 52:39

Once in a while along comes a great operasinger, and Ruth Ann Swenson, a marvelous,young American soprano, has arrived.

Swenson was born on New York's Long Is-land, to parents who have operatic voices. Shedecided at age eight to become an operasinger. After studying at the Hartford Collegeof Music and the Academy of Vocal Arts inPhiladelphia, she entered the Merola Programfor young singers of the San Francisco Opera.Her big break came with the San FranciscoOpera when she replacedan ill soprano as Despinain Cosi Fan Tutte in 1983.Her Metropolitan Operadebut came in the 1991to '92 season as Zerlinain Don Giovanni. She hassung with top opera companies in the U.S.and abroad. In 1993, she received opera'sprestigious Richard Tucker Award.

Swenson will thrill you with the effortlessway she reaches the very high notes in thesecoloratura arias. I would say she truly has agolden voice.

Here, she presents four classic arias of thebel canto period and four from the great ageof French grand opera that immediately fol-lowed it. In Donizetti's "Regnava nel silen-zio...Quando, rapito in estasi" fromLucia di Lammermoor, Swenson's voice islight and airy and soars beautifully to theheights. Her exceptional Juliette in Gounod's"Je veux vivre," from Romeo et Juliette, is oneyou will never forget. Finally, as Dinorah in"Ombre Legere, qui suis mes pas" fromMeyerbeer's Dinorah, Swenson makes you seeher dancing with her own shadows.

The recording engineers achieved a verygood balance between Swenson and the Lon-don Philharmonic, conducted by NicolaRescigno. This is a magnificent CD, one everyopera lover must own. If all opera singerswere as good as Ruth Ann Swenson, I wouldalways be at the opera. Ruth Whyte

PART THREE -EXTRA CREDIT

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YOU'RE ONLY CHEATING YOURSELF IF YOU DONTTAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR AUDIOQUEST "F-88" SPEAK-ER CABLE CLOSEOUT SALE! OVER FOUR HUNDREDPAIR AVAILABLE. SAVINGS 50% TO 70% OFF! "F-88"USES SOLIDCORE HYPERLITZ TECHNOLOGY COM-BINED WITH THE OUTRAGEOUSLY SMOOTH ANDDETAILED SOUNDING "FDC COPPER" CONDUCTORS.IIST PRICE ON 10' PAIR $150.00, SALE PRICE ONLY$55.00! CALL FOR OTHER LENGTHS AND PRICES. PLUSMIDNIGHT, CRYSTAL, INDIGO, RUBY, TOPAZ CLOSE-OUTS. MANY OTHER SALE AND CLEARANCE PROD-UCTS INCLUDING AUDIO ALCHEMY, B&K, NAD,KLIPSCH, COUNTERPOINT, POWER WEDGE, VMPS,LEXICON, STRAIGHTWIRE. REQUEST OUR COMPLETELISTING. HCM AUDIO (800) 222-3465, (916) 345-1341,FAX (916) 345-7269.

AUDIO POWER AMPLIFIERS. 100-500 WRMS/CH. Newamps, custom-built, from only $188.00 to $223.00 each.Satisfaction Guaranteed. Call Electronics Hospital(407)952-3838.

FOR SALE

BIG DISCOUNTS!!SAVE$$!

NAKAMICHI, PSB, CARVER, POLK, NHT, NAD, DENON,SNELL, VELODYNE, KEF, M&K. B&K, PARASOUND, ON-KYO, PS AUDIO, FOSGATE, ACURUS, SPICA, SOUNDSHOP 206-692-8201.

SAVE 40% ON HIGH -END home speak-ers, subwoofers, amplifiers. FREE CAT-ALOG, 3021 Sangamon Avenue, Spring-field, IL 62702. 1-800-283-4644.

AUDIO BY VAN ALSTINE INTRODUCES OMEGA III buffered active feedback power amplifiers and buffered hybridpreamplifiers, high powered Fet-Valve hybrid vacuum tubeamplifiers, and affordable straight-line tube and hybrid pre-amplifiers for ultimate faithfulness to the spirit of the music.Now ready beautiful new 17" wide ultra -dynamic pre-amplifier featuring switchable tone controls, gold switchcontacts, and gold jacks handling 9 sources and 5 loads. AVAruggedly efficient amplifiers feature striated heatsinks andcareful engineering-no output failures in two years! Com-plete line -only preamplifiers, headphone amplifiers, phaseinverters, and more (wired and kits) starting under $200.Hand crafted in the USA. ATTENTION VINTAGE DYNACOAND HAFLER OWNERS. Economically recycle your equip-ment for better than new performance. Eliminate old prob-lems with our durable, rugged, musically convincing originaldesigns. Complete PAS, PAT -4, PAT -5, and ST -70 rebuilds(kit or wired) from $195 include new circuit cards and preci-sion controls. AVA 300V/uS active feedback amplifier circuitsfor Dyna and Hager chassis set new standards for transpar-ency, definition, dynamic range, and liquidity. Write, call, orFAX for free illustrated catalog. Audio by Van Alstine, 2202River Hills Drive, Burnsville, MN 55337. (612) 890-3517,FAX: (612) 894-3675.

VandersteenFloor model 2Ce/w base, $895, 3/w SA -brace $1895, 2Wwoofer $850. MIT 650 10foot pair $100, Madrigal HPC andCPC, Apogee original $2500, Sonographe 5022CD $395,Audio Alchemy XDP/DTI $500, AO Quartz XLR 2meter$125, Lapis 2meter $225. Call Terry Sound Environment402-391-3842.

AUDIO NEXUS = QUALITYFeaturing legendary VANDERSTEEN loudspeakers &ROTEL Components.

AMC Apogee Audio Alchemy Audioquest Audi-oStatic B&K Cardas Cary CWD Dynalab EAD Exposure Fanfare Forte Fried Grado JM Lab Kimber Kinergetics Magnum McCormack Melos Nakamichi Power Wedge PSB Rotel -Jeff Rowland Sony ES Vandersteen VPI SUMMIT, NJ(908)277-0333

XXX-TREME DISCOUNTS!!ONKYO-DENON-CARVER-NAKAMICHI-NAD-PARASOUND-FOSGATE- APATURE-SUMIKO-KEF-

SNELL-POLK-M&K-NHT-SPICA-VELODYNE-PS13-CHICAGO STANDS. U.S. products. NO GREY! Many

closeout deals! STEREO TECH. 414-836-2942.

RACK AND CHASSIS BOXES for construction of electronicprojects. Low cost, quick delivery. Call for free catalog.SESCOM, INC. 1-800-634-3457.

CABLE T.V. CONVERTERS, DESCRAMBLERS. Scien-tific Atlanta, Zenith, Jerrold, Pioneer, Oak. Replace-ments for most models. Quality, Price & Service. Amex/DiscNisa/MC. Dealer inquiries invited. EAGLE Electron-ics Inc., 1-800-259-1187, #1, 1301 Railhead Blvd., Na-ples, FL 33963.

ABARGAIN: STAX SIGN/LAMBDA $1,150; SIGN/SRM1-II$799, PRO/LAMBDA(#1) $459, SIGN/LAMBDA SRD/7$599; ED -1 $550; ALL UNUSED (212) 966-1355.

THE FIRST JITTER -FREE TRANSPORT IS AVAILABLENOW! AT $649, THE REFERENCE ONE TRANSPORTREPRESENTS A BREAKTHROUGH IN TECHNOLOGYAND PRICE. ISOLATED STABLE CLOCK MODULE ANDOTL TRANSPORT DRIVER BOARD ALSO AVAILABLE.TURN YOUR CDS INTO MUSIC. G & D TRANSFORMS,(602) 650-1155.


FOR SALE

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AUDIO RESEARCH SEVERAL USED UNITS AVAIL-ABLE. MCP -33, SP8, CL 60, D 115, ETC. CROWN MACROREFERENCE AMPS AT HUGE SAVINGS. ALL THELATEST AUDIO RESEARCH UNITS ON DISPLAY. NA-KAMICHI 1000, DUNTECH AND B&W. CALL FOR LIST-INGS AND PRICES ON USED EQUIPMENT. IDEALACOUSTICS, STARKVILLE, MS. 601-323-4001.

AUTHORIZED AUDIONIDEO/CAR1-800-348-7799 FAST DELIVERY

FULL MANUFACTURERS U.S.A. WARRANTYBRAND NEW, FACTORY COMPLETE

ADS CAR JAMO AUDIO PYLE CARADCOM AL/010 JBL AUDIO POLK AUDIOADCOM CAR JAIL CAR POLK CANADVENT ADM NC AU010 PARASOUNO AUDIOADVENT CAR JVC CAR 'RCA L.C.D. T.V.AIWA WINO JVC VADEO OCKFORD CARALTEC AUDIO an AUDIO HARP T.V.ALTEC CAR KENWOOD AUDIO SOW AUDIOA. R. AUDIO KENWOOD CAR VIDEOATL TECH AUDIO KICKER CAR ONY CARBAZOOKA CAR KLH AUDIO Olff Es AUDIOBEL CAR KLIPSCH AUDIO OW ES CARBOSE AUDIO LEXICON AU010 HERWOOD AUD10B i W AUDIO NB QUARTZ AUDIO BHERWOOD CARB 0 AUDIO MAGNAVOX VIDEO APES VHSCARVER AUDIO MITSUBISHI VIDEO APES BETACELES710N AUDIO MINK AUDIO APES OwnCLARION CAR 944D AUDIO 112149101 AUDIODENON AUDIO NAKANO. AUDIO TECHNCS PRO USEDUAL AUDIO ONKY0 AUDIO DOWNS AUDIO

VIDEO PARADIGM AUDIO TOSHIBA VIDEOHAFLER CAR PHLUPS AUDIO TOSHIBA CARHITACHI VIDEO PIONEER AUDIO TROPEZ PHONES14 IC AUDIO PIONEER CAR VELODYNE AUDIOINFIMTY AUDIO PIONEER ELITE AUDIO YAMAHA AUDIOINFINITY CAR ROMER PREMIER CAR YAMAHA CAR

kamegom, Vac, virelmne SIN:9N charges 90612X61, mural Raton Pol.-. II0.9 51.1 mod lot OMAR, eacharm. only Stepong &woes no. tolN10101.

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AUDIO SOLUTIONS is Atlanta's Hi -Endsource for Audio Research, Theta, McCor-mack, Wire World, Cary Audio, Vanders-teen, CODA, Straightwire, Acurus, Snell,Sumiko, SOTA, NHT, Kimber Kable, Mag-num Dynalab, Audible Illusions, Rotel,VPI, Paradigm, Dunlavy, Sony ES, SonyVideo, Pass Labs, Proac. 5576 ChambleeDunwoody Rd. (404)804-8977.

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, andwhether there is any "restocking"charge.3. Understand the product's warran-ty. Is there a manufacturer's warranty,and if so, is it from a U.S. or foreignmanufacturer? Note that many manu-facturers assert that, even if theproduct comes with a U.S. manufac-turers warranty card, if you pur-chase from an unauthorized dealer,you are not covered by the manu-facturer's warranty. If in doubt, con-tact the manufacturer directly. Inaddition to, or instead of, the manufac-turer's warranty, the seller may itsown warranty. In either case, what iscovered by warranty, how long is thewarranty period, where will the productbe serviced, what do you have to do,and will 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 date andsalesperson's name.5. If the merchandise is not shippedwithin the promised time or if no timewas promised, 30 days of receipt ofthe order, you generally have the rightto cancel the order and get 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 pertinentinformation 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 above guide-lines, you experience a problem witha mail order advertiser that you areunable to resolve, please let usknow. Write to the AdvertisingDirector of AUDIO Magazine, ScottConstantine. Be sure to includecopies of all correspondence.

DJ & NightclubSound & Lighting CATALOGFREE 72 -Page Catalogwith a huge selection ofname band professionalgear forDJ's, Clubs &Musiciais all at discountprices!

Gall Today800445-9300

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REMOVE VOCALS from music- Tanco Voice Decod-er -$79.95. Fully guaranteed. Call (813)847-9319 for pre-recorded demo/ordering information.

Hardbound AUDIO, annual bound volume editions, justlike the ones in the Editor -in -Chief's office. Various yearsavailable in limited quantities, $40.00 each. Also available.Hardbound October Annual Equipment Directories. Years1992, 1991, 1990, & 1987 $15.95 each, and hardbound MayCar Stereo Directories for years 1991, 1990, 1989 and 1985,$8.00 each. All prices include postage and handling. Allorders postpaid. Check or money order only (no credit cardorders) payable to AUDIO MAGAZINE. Send orders to AU-DIO, 1633 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. Attn: MichaelBieber, Or call 212767-6301 for further information.

LEN FELDMAN'S ESTATE wishes to sell select pieces of hi-fi and test gear: AKG C451 E mike,needs foam cap, $250;Audiotex turntable strobe discs, tour, $20 each; Blonder -Tongue FSM-2 field strength meter, $400; BPI 3000A auto -null analyzer, $500, and 6000A IM analyzer, $400; BSREQ14 equalizer $75; Dynaco QD-1 surround processor, $25;Hameg HM 204-A 'scope, $500; Heath 2760 power supply,$150; IGG7A sweep generator, $150; SG28A color bar/dotgenerator, $100, and SM4110 frequency counter, $200; IECF34 function generator, $300; JVC WM3A wireless mike,$50; mike stands, tall, three, $25 each; Nakamichi 700ZXLcassette deck, $600; Onkyo RC-AVIOM programmable re-mote control, $30; Pioneer LD1100 LaserDisc player, $800;Realistic 33-999 Pro -60 headphones, $25; Recoton W400wireless speakers, $20, IR100 wireless remote extender,$25, V615 color processor, dist. amp, and enhancer, $100,V900 Room Service wireless video sender, $100, and W200headphones, $100; Sansui SE9 equalizer, $300; SonyMavica MCVA10 camera, $600, and CVPG500 color videoprinter, $1000; Sound Tech 1100A signal conditioner, $300;1200A test panel, $1000, and 1700B distortion analyzer,$3000; TEAC A6100 1/2-tr. O -R tape deck, $1000, andModel 2 mike/line mixer, $200; Technics SLP1200 pro CDplayer, $800; Tektronix 5L4N/5A18N/5103N 'scope, $2500;and 3M 112 -in. OR tape, 2500 ft., two #250, two #226, $15ea. Quadraphonic classical LPs, 23 nr $9 ea.; send for list.These are "suggested" prices. If interested, write Estate ofLen Feldman, cio Audio Magazine, 1633 Broadway, NewYork, N.Y. 10019.

AUDIO INTERFACING ACCESSORIES (over 300) forbroadcasting, recording, sound reinforcement and live enter-tainment. Free catalog. SESCOM, INC. 1-800-634-3457.

BEST $1,500 LOUDSPEAKERSTHX HOME THEATER

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Alchemy + 25 More Brands. Honest Ad-vice! TECH ELECTRONICS (904) 376-8080.

HYPE! HYPE! HYPE!You ger enough elsewhere! We've delivered somethingdifferent for 15 years-natural, musical results! "Musi-cally exciting" Adcom, B&KandHafler modifications.Dual -Mono Adcom GFA-555 mods. Smooth, delicateB&K mods. PA -1 driver boards for Hafler amps-budget bliss! Don't be high -end pretenders, be con-tenders, call us today! MUSICAL CONCEPTS, 5749WESTWOOD DR., ST. CHARLES, MO 63304. (314)447-0040.

0


FOR SALE FOR SALE FOR SALE

AUDIO CLASSICS, LTD.Buys -Sells -Trades -Repairs -Modifies.

(Al). AS IS, (D) = Demo, (EX) = Excellent, (F)= Fair,(G)=Good, (M). Mint, (N)= New. Amplifiers: AcoustatTNT200(EX) $499; Aragon 2004(M) $629; B&K ST140(EX)$329; Bryston 3B(EX) $499, Conrad -Johnson MV100(EX)$1940; Counterpoint SOLID -1(N) $999; Crown MACRO(D)$3199; Dynaco MARK-VI(EX) $999pr; Heathkit W5M(EX)$599 (pr); Krell KSA100S(M) $4499, KSA150(EX) $3039;Manley STEREO -75/75(D) $1799; Marantz 8B(C2) $1295,250(G) $399; McIntosh MC30 $399-1000, MC40(EX)$1999pr, MC225(EX) $899, MC240(EX) $1295-1995,MC250(AI) $309, MC502(EX) $699, MC2100(AI) $299,MC2105 $399499, MC2150(G) $799, MC2200(F) $699,MC2205(EX) $1499, MC2500(G) $2399, MC2505(EX)$549; Moscode 600(G) $939; Motif MS2001(N) $2099; Na-kamichi PA7(EX) $799; Perreaux PMF215OB(EX) $699; PSAudio DELTA -250(D) $995; Rotel RB980BX(N) $599; Sono -graph SA150(N) $599; Yamaha M70(C3) $299. CD Players:Adcom GCD600(D) $485; Carver SD/A 360(D) $396; CaryCAD5500(EX) $799; Denon DCD3520(D) $1049,DCM4 60(N) $3 4 9; McIntosh MCD70 0 0(EX)$699,MCD7005(EX) $1299, Yamaha CDC845(N) $499. CDProcessors: Aragon D2A-II(M) $1329; Krell STUDIO(M)$2169; PS Audio SUPERLINK(EX) $699. Crossovers: Au-dio Research Corp EC2(EX) $299, Janis INTER-PHASE-1A(EX) $499, JBL Crossovers CALL; Luxman2003(EX) $399. Equalizers: Audio Control C101 -111(N)$439, C131(N) $1058, RICHTER-SCALE(N) $349, TEN-II(N) $219; DBX 20/20(EX) $799; McIntosh MQ107(EX)$289-399. Headphones: Stax SIGMA-PRO-T1(EX) $1395,SR84-PRO(D) $219. Integrated Amps: Carver CM1065(N)$299; HK PM665(EX) $249; McIntosh MA61 00(B3) $549.Phonographs: Victor CREDENZA(EX) $4000. Pre-Preamps: Conrad -Johnson HVIA(EX) $299, PR6(D) $529,Threshold M1-MC(M) $299, Preamplifiers: AdcomGFP5551I(D) $399; Cary SLP90(EX) $1099; Coda 01P(D)$2289; Conrad -Johnson PV9(EX) $1549, PV11(M) $1195;Counterpoint SA3000(D) $1799; Denon DAP2500(EX)$449; Forte 2(EX) $499; Krell KRC2(M) $2499, KRC(M)$4199, KSL2(M) $1999, PAM1(EX) $999, PAM7(EX) $999;McIntosh C8 $2-400, C8S(EX) $500, C20(EX) $1399,C22(EX) $1499-2995, C24 $249-349, C26(G) $399,C27(EX) $749, C28 $199-699, C31V(EX) $1199, C34V(EX)$1499, C36(M) $999, C504(EX) $589; Meitner PA61(EX)$849; PS Audio PS4.6(EX) $399, PS4.6(EX) $399; Super-phon REVELATION-II(G) $349, Processors: Audio ControlPCA200(D) $279, Carver DPL20(EX) $231; DBX 3bx(EX)$299. Receivers: Denon DRA835R(N) $800; McIntoshMAC1700(EX) $399, MAC1900(EX) $599, MAC4100(EX)$1195. Speakers: Acoustic Research LST2(EX) $599.LST(EX) $999; Apogee MAJOR(EX) $2499, MINOR(M)$899; ATC SCM10(N) $1899, SCM20(N) $2995; BozakB410(G) $2999; Duntech BLACK-KNIGHT(EX) $2995; Gen-esis IM8200(N) $699; IMF SACM(EX) $999; KEF LS3/5A-SIG(D) $1299; Linaeum LFX(D) $525, LS2(D) $419; Magne-pan MGIIIA(NOS) $1399; McIntosh ML1C(G) $699,XRT22(EX) $5389; Synthesis LM260A(D) $839. TapeDecks: Revox A77 $149-$399. Test Equipment: AudioControl SA3050A-PKG(N) $1199, McIntosh AA2(B 1) $749,MP14(C2) $1499. Tuner Preamps: Adcom GTP450(D)$369, McIntosh MX110(EX) $199-799, MX113(G) $499,MX117(EX) $1099. Tuners: Fisher Magnum-DynalabFT101AB19(D) $799, McIntosh MR71 $199-799, MR73(EX)$499, MR78 $699-1499, MR80 $1399-1699. Turntables:Denon DP7F(N) $280; Sota COMET(N) $549. MOON-BEAM(N) $379, SAPPHIRE(EX) $349; Thorens TD124(C3)$349, TD124/11(133) $349, TD126-MKII(EX) $399, VPIHW19-JR(D) $699, Video Disc Players: Denon LA3000(D)$599. FREE Catalogue. 8AM-5PM EST Mon. -Fri.

AUDIO CLASSICS, LTD.POB 1 76AAA, Walton, NY 13856.

607-865-7200FAX: 607-865-7222

(SERVICES)

FOR TWENTY YEARS WE HAVE BEEN THE SOURCEFOR ALL OF YOUR BLANK AUDIONIDEO TAPES ANDACCESSORIES, EVEN REEL-TO-REEL TAPES FOR STU-DIOS, AT DISCOUNTED PRICES. CATALOG AVAILABLE.SOUND INVESTMENT CORPORATION, 3586 PIERCEDRIVE, CHAMBLEE, GA 30341. (800) 659 -TAPE (8273), INGA (404) 458-1679. FAX: (404) 458-0276.

B&O B&W CARVER DENON FOSGATE H/K KEF LEXICON NAD NAKAMICHI ONKYO POLK VELODYNE 24 HOURAUTOMATED PRICING MANUFACTURERSWARRANTIES COURTEOUS ASSISTANCE AMERICAN THEATER SYSTEMS (904)321-0100.

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FREE SHIPPING! PLUS:EXPERIENCED, FRIENDLY ADVICE! MIRAGE, PS,CWD, KEF, KINERGETICS, PHILIPS, AUDIOQUEST,FRIED, MONSTER, KIMBER KABLE, SPICA, CARY,STRAIGHTWIRE, QUAD, MORE! READ BROTHERS,593 KING, CHARLESTON, SC 29403. (803) 723-7276.

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WE BEAT PRICES!!NAKAMICHI, CARVER, POLK, PSB, DENON, NHT, NAD,B&K, SNELL, PARASOUND, KEF, VELODYNE, M&K, ON-KYO, ACURUS, FOSGATE, PS AUDIO, SPICA, SOUNDSHOP 206-692-8201

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Loudspeaker Sale: ADS L1290: $600; AR M4: $250;Acoustat 1100: $500; Acoustat 1.1: $600; Canton Karat920: $450; Carver Amazing Silver: $1200; Celestion 100:$500; Cerwin Vega AT15: $500; Dahlquist D012: $700;Dahlquist D0301: $1250; DCM Timewindow 3: $600; En-ergy Ref. Con. 22: $600; Genesis Genre 1: $800; HarmonKardon 60's: $1800; Int inky Kappa 8.1: $1000; InfinityRef.6: $500; Infinity Video 1: $100; JBL LX55: $200; JamoIndoor/Outdoor: $100; Klipsch Forte: $600; KlipschKG5.2: $550; Linn Isobarik DMS: $750; MB Quart990MCS: $1200; Merlin Sig.III: $1500; McIntosh XR-16:$600; McIntosh XRT-18: $1150; Mirage SM 2.5: $100;Near 50M: $1000; PSB Stratus Gold: $1500; PinaclePN-5: $100; Polk Monitor 10: $250; Polk LS50: $400; Polk4.6: $200; Proac Tabiette II: $600; Thiel CS3.5: $1000;Thiel CS2: $1400; Unity Audio Sig III: $995. Call: (217)544-5252.

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STATE OF THE ART CROSSOVER NETWORKS. UP-GRADE ANY SPEAKER SYSTEM. DESIGN GUIDE- $2.00(REFUNDABLE). ALLPASS TECHNOLOGIES, INC., 2844CHARMONT DR., APOPKA, FL 32703-5972.

SPEAKERCATALOG

Parts Express is a full -line dis-tributor of electronic parts andaccessories geared toward theconsumer electronics industryand the technical hobbyist.We stock an extensive line ofspeaker drivers and accesso-ries for home and car. Sendfor your FREE 188 page cata-log today.

Parts Express340 E. First Street

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HEYBROOK DIRECT! Buy directfrom the Importer & save on England's finest value in speak-ers. Point Fives $198.00ipr, Solo's $298.00/pr., HB100's$398.00/pr., HB150's $498.00/pr. D'Asign Source305-743-7130.

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ROTTEN FOAM EDGES?SIMPLY SPEAKERSdoes professional foam replace-ments any size/brand. 7 Year Warranty. We sell DIYFoam Surround Kits for less! Speaker reconing. MC.VISA/DISCOVER/AMEX: 1-800-767-4041.

LOUDSPEAKER COMPONENT - KITS. Audio ConceptsDynaudio, Eclipse, Eton, LPG, Vifa, mom! Crossover parts,design books & repairs. Catalog $2.00. MENISCUS, 257528th St., S.W., Dept. A, Wyoming, MI 49509. (616)534-9121.

TRUE SUBWOOFERWith phenomenaltrue deep bassextending below20Hz with lowdistortion at a veryaffordable price.

The new HRSW12Vwill extend the bassof your stereo orvideo system forthat "air shaking allaround you" effect.

HSU Rematch HRSW121/

Here's what the experts said of our 100W, 25Hzprototype shown at the Winter CES (productionunits are 150W, 20Hz):

"...all of the non-boomy, stomach -massaging bass energywas coming from a single 12 -inch powered subwoofer...

Peter Mitchell, Srereophile Vol. 17 No. 4, April 1994

"...delivered enough punch to shake the sturdiest shelf..."Brent Buserworth, Video Magazine, April 1994

"One of the most effective subwoofer demonstrations"Gary Reber, Widescreen Review Vol. 3 No. 1. March 1994

Send for complete information on the HRSW12Vand our famous HRSW10s.

HSUWrite or call:HISU RESEARCH20013 Rainbow Way, Cerritos, CA 907011-800-554-0150 (Voice)1-310-924-7550 (Voice/Fax)

Sold factory direct with a 30 day Mal - money backguarantee. 5 year manufacturer's defect warranty

MDY-4New and improved!Audio enthusiasts have long known

that o Dynaudio two way system is aneffective way to create quality soundwithout creating significant debt. Incomparison with any system at anyprice, the combination of the Dynaudio17cm woofer with the incomparable28mm tweeter is exceptional in all ofthese areas:

Dynamic range Transient attackSmooth Reproductionresponse of the humanPhase and voicefrequency Lack offidelity compression.

To be fair, these modest drive unitscannot produce infrabass (those fre-quencies below 50 Hz), but in the other99.75% of recorded material, they equalproducts that cost 10 to 30 times asmuch

Madisound is proud to introduce afurther refinement of this combination,the MDY-4. This quality kit uses high orderfilters io eliminate sweet spots in the off -axis response. The imaging is excep-tional, a result of precise phase and timedelay, refined in a sophisticated 14 ele-

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Best of all, the MDY-4 is modestlypriced. The complete system with oakveneer cabinets in either a clear finish orblack stained finish, is $535. Cabinets arefinished, and the system can be assem-bled in one evening. Hundreds of satis-fied music lovers have built and cherishthe earlier Image Systems, and now Dy-naudio and Madisound have taken an-other step toward Audio Perfection. Isn'tit time for you to build a standard toevaluate your success as a SpeakerBuilder?

16" tall x 9" wide x 12" deep on bottom / 8.5" deep on top.- e ft.. m

AP

Madisound Speaker Components(8608 University Green)

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Tel: 608-831-3433Fax: 608-831-3771


LOUDSPEAKERS LOUDSPEAKERS AUDIOPHILE RECORDS

BETTERLOUDSPEAKERTECHNOLOGY

The VMPS 1bvser II Special Edition, the deluxesion of an Audio Magazine "Best Buy" system, isnow available with exclusive handbuilt, phase -pluggedwoven carbon fiber 12" woofers, the finest dynamicdrivers extant.

These high-tech cones are also now standard in ourflagship FF-1 Focused Field Array ($6800-$7200pr), four of which made up the VMPS 1994WCES Surround Sound display. After auditioningevery multichannel/Home Theater display at theShow, the editor of Widescreen Review judged theVMPS room best, and by a wide margin. Call orwrite for copies of the full editorial, or for brochuresand test reports on all VMPS systems including ourfour Subwoofers ($289-$649ea), the 080626 andDipole 'Surround A/V monitors ($289-$349ea),OSO Series bookshelf systems, and more. Kit ver-sions of most systems are available, and prices in-clude free shipping in 48 states.

VMPS AUDIO PRODUCTSdm !tone Audio

3429 Morningside Dr.El Sobrante, CA 94803

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Hear VMPS at: The Listening Studio, Boston, Sounds Incred-ible, Brookfield CT: Dynamic Sound, Washington DC: Hifi Farm.Roanoke VA. Home Theater Systems, Little Falls NJ; MarkCurry, Las Vegas, NV: AMUG, Phoenix AZ; Rama Audio. SunValley CA; American Audio, Greenville SC: Chattanooga ValleyAudio, Rossville GA; Tech Electronics. Gainesville FL: ArthurMorgan. Lake Mary FL: DNA Audio, Orange City FL: SoundsDeluxe, Clarendon Hills IL: Audio Exchange, Mishawaka IN:Audio Connection, Terre Haute IN; Ruth Industries, St. LouisMO; Shadow Creek Ltd. Minneapolis MN; Audio by GilMorrison, Detroit MI: Lookout Electronics, Longview WA;Affordable Audio, Fresno, CA: Exclusively Entertainment,Oceanside, CA; Hal Broda. Escondido CA: Christopher HansenLtd., Beverly Hills CA; Audio Haven, Brea CA; Sounds Unique,San Jose CA; Private Line Home Entertainment, StocktonCA: Golden Ear, Chico CA; (tone Audio, El Sobrante CA;James Romeyn, Petaluma CA; The Sound Room, VancouverBC Canada

We set out to build the bestthree-way loudspeaker system

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The Model 50

NSMP.O. Box 326, Garden City, New York 11530-0326

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VMPS factory assembled speakers. Lowest Prices,shipped direct to you. Free Price sheet. Arthur Morgan, 886East Charing Cross Cir., Lake Mary, FL 32746.

REPAIR FOAM ROTFOR YOURSELF!

SAT will save you hundreds of dollars! Allsizes including AR, Advent, BOSE, JBL.Surrounds. adhesive & instructions:$27.95/pr. BOSE 901's $67.95/pr, (Incl.S/ H. No COD's) Do It yourself with SAT!

STEPP AUDIO TECHNOLOGIES800-747-3692 MC/VISA

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LOUDSPEAKER CABINETS Large selection of excellentquality loudspeaker cabinets for custom builders and deal-ers. Grenier Cabinets, 189 Jennings Road, Horseheads,N.Y. 14845 (607)594-3838.

HAL COX (FRIEND OF JIM LANSING), SINCE 1947 BUYS/SELLS "HARTSFIELD", JBL, ALTEC, EV-PARAGON,OLYMPUS. SHIPS WORLDWIDE. VISA/MC. (415)388-5711. FAX (415) 388-3359. 164 TAMALPAIS AVENUE,MILL VALLEY, CA 94941. (415) 388-5711. SAN FRAN-CISCO AREA.

HALLADAY ACOUSTICS introduces the ERIN 2.2 fullrange "Volksmonitor." SANDBAR- Oak cabinet, VIFA silkdome, 8" PEERLESS woofer, and our TRANSILVER ." silverwired "perfect" crossover yield incredible results. Call orwrite for the whole story and 1995 catalogue. HALLADAYACOUSTICS, 73 Spring Street, Suite #8. Saratoga Springs,NY 12866. (518) 581-8095.

THE GOETZ/VANDERSCHAAF SPEAKER COMPANYBUILDS SPEAKERS FOR THOSE WHO RECOGNIZE THEVERY BEST. WE HAVE BEEN FURNISHING HIGH QUALI-TY SPEAKER SYSTEMS ON A PERSONAL BASIS FOR 15YEARS. OUR PRICE RANGE IS $1200 TO $4500. CALL USAT (704) 884-9842 (NORTH CAROLINA),

OHM SPEAKERS 800 -ohm -1254Upgrades and service plus complete speakersystems from $200 to $7000 per pair. OhmAcoustics, 241 Taaffe Place, Brooklyn, NY11205.

RECORDSLV/CD/RECORD COLLECTOR'S SUPPLIES. Jewel boxes,record jackets, sleeves, storage boxes, 78 sleeves, dividers,much more! Free brochure: CABCO PRODUCTS, ROOM663, POB 8212, COLUMBUS, OH 43201. (614) 267-8468.

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HALF MILE VINYL. Quality pre -owned LP's. F/Information,Catalog. SASE: Box 98, East Wareham, MA 02538. (508)295-2508.

Selling Audiophile Records: RCA "LIVING STEREO",MERCURY "LIVING PRESENCE", MFSL, etc. For list Con-tact: AUDIOPHILE SOUNDS, 2308 East 17th, Sioux Falls,South Dakota 57103.

ANNOUNCEMENT !!Audiophile albums have returned!!! Sohas your favorite supplier SOUND AD-VICE!! 'Dennis' urges all former patronsto call, verify address information, andreceive our mailings. -Featuring the com-plete catalogs of: Mobile Fidelity, Refer-ence Recordings, Classic 'Living Stereo'reissues, Chesky, Sheffield, Wilson, An-alogue, etc...SOUND ADVICE -8215Grand Ave, Kansas City, MO 64114. In-formation- 816-361-2713. All accounts,old or new, may call 1-800-361-8676 toorder or verify mailing information.

Analogue ProductionsMobile Fidelity Wilson

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Propnus- RCA Living Stereo KlavierMercury Living Presence - plus many more

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ACOUSTIC SOUNDS 1-800-525-1630Visa P. 0 BOX 2043 SALINA, KS 67402-2043

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WANTED TO BUYTOP DOLLAR PAID FOR YOUR USED AUDIO EQUIP-MENT. HI Fl EXCHANGE (718) 423-0400.

CASH for USED AUDIO & VIDEO EQUIP.BUYING and SELLING by PHONE. CALL forHIGHEST QUOTE. (215) 886-1650 Since1984. The Stereo Trading Outlet, 320 OldYork Road, Jenkintown, PA 19046.WANTED: TUBES/SS, MCINTOSH, MARANTZ, JBL, EV,DYNA, ALTEC, SEQUERRA, JENSEN, FISHER, LEVIN-SON, CELLO, KLYNE, LINN, QUAD, THORENS, KOETSU,SNELL, ALON, WILSON, ARC, EMT, SME, TANNOY, PS,KLIPSCH, LANGEVIN, WESTERN ELECTRIC, HART-SFIELD, PATRICIAN, 33 LP, ETC. (713) 728-4343 MAURYCORB. FAX: (713) 723-1301. 12325 ASHCROFT,HOUSTON, TX 77035.

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TUBE HIFI, CORNER SPEAKERS, THEATER & AUDI-TORIUM TUBE AMPS, McIntosh, Altec, RCA, WesternElectric, Jensen, Marantz, Heath, Dynaco, Craftsman, Eico,Etc. Sonny 405-737-3312.

WANT - JBL Hartsfleld, EV Patrician, Singles OK, McIn-tosh, Marantz & other tube equipment. Larry Dupon, 2638 W.Albion, Chicago, IL 60645. (312) 338-1042, evenings.

US 1st Exporter, David Yo since 1977 always buying: TubeMarantz, McIntosh, ARC, Quad, Leak, Fisher, Dynaco, Vin-tage speakers, units from Western Electric, Tannoy, EV, JBL,Attec, Jensen, Thorens TD124, Garrard 301, etc. P.O. Box280802, Northridge, CA 91328-0802. Tel: 818-701-5633.

MARANTZ & ALL VINTAGE EQUIPMENT, HIGH -END. Noone pays MORE, working or not! N.Y.S.I. (718) 377-7282,2-6pm, WEEKDAYS.

TOP PAYING FOR MCINTOSH, MARANTZ TUBE AMPMcIntosh Solid state, Western, JBL, Altec, Tannoy, EV,Jensen, Speakers & Horn, EMT Turntable, Ortofon Arm,Temma--(516) 942-1212, (516) 496-2973.

WANTED: WESTERN ELECTRIC, JBL, MARANTZ OLDEQUIPMENT. SUNLIGHT ENGINEERING COMPANY:310-320-7020, 22130 SOUTH VERMONT AVENUE, #A,TORRANCE, CA 90502.

Higher offering with CASH for your used Hi -End audioelectronic equipment. EASTERN AUDIO, (718) 961-8256.11AM-7PM, Mon. -Sat. Fax: (718) 961-8315 (NY).


WANTED TO BUY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES PARTS AND ACCESSORIES

AUDIO CLASSICS BUYS -SELLS -TRADES -REPAIRSHigh End Audio Components. CALL for a quote. See our adat the beginning of the classifieds. AUDIO CLASSICS, LTD.,POB 176WB, Walton, NY 13856. Phone: 607-865-7200.8AM-5PM EST Mon. -Fn., FAX- 607-865-7222.

CAR STEREO

"STEREO WORLD" is your discount sound sourcewith great deals on car and home stereo: JVC, Sony,Crunch, Orion ,Pioneer, Hi-Fonics, Blaupunkt, Polk,Kenwood, Scosche EFX, JBL, Infinity and many others.We Carry alarms and a full line of installation kits.Please call or write for current FREE sales flyer. FREEUPS in 48 states. Our 7th year. Visa/MC; COD ac-cepted. P.O. Box 596, Monroe, NY 10950 (914)782-6044.

CABLE TV

CABLE T.V. CONVERTERS: JERROLD, ZE-NITH, OAK, SCIENTIFIC ATLANTIC, ALLBRANDS AVAILABLE. LINK YOURSELF TOTHE FUTURE! VISA, MASTERCARD,C.O.D.'S ACCEPTED. CABLELINX, INC.:1-800-501-0095.CABLE T.V. CONVERTERS! JERROLD, OAK, ZENITH,SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA, PIONEER...EXCELLENTPRICES! PERSONABLE SERVICE! 30 DAY MONEYBACK GUARANTEE! INNOVATIVE ELECTRONICS INC.800-493-5474 VISA/MC/C.O.D. ASK FOR JOHN OR BILL!

CABLE TV DESCRAMBLERS. SAVE MONEY,DON'T RENT! NOBODY BEATS OUR PRICE!CALL US LAST FOR THE BEST PRICE!! ALLBRANDS 24 HOUR SHIPPING. VCI1-800-677-0321.

SERVICES

ACCUPHASEAUTHORIZED SERVICE AND PARTS for all Accuphaseproducts. Contact: ACCUTECH, 206 E. Star of India Lane,Carson, CA 90746. TEL. (310) 324-7406, FAX (310)324-7422. Hours: 9am-4pm Pacific lime.

FINEST PROFESSIONAL TUNER REPAIRS. CompetitivePrices. 10B Specialist! High -end & vintage troubleshooting,too. Tungsol 6550's (N.O.S) curvetracer rated $75 each.Marantz 10B ocsilloscopes (N.O.S.) Telefunken $130. GoldLion KT88 test like new $80. N.Y.S.I. (718) 377-7282, M -F3-6 pm.

Audio Equipment Built, Repaired, Modified and Restoredby Richard Modafferi, independent consultant to Audio Clas-sics, Ltd., inventor, and former Senior Engineer at McIntosh.AUDIO CLASSICS, LTD. POB 176RTM, Walton, NY 13856Phone: 607-865-7200 8AM-5PM EST Mon. -Fri., FAX:607-865-7222.

MISCELLANEOUSANNOUNCING HI-FI '95, THE STEREOPHILE HIGH -ENDSHOW, in Los Angeles, April 28, 29, 30, 1995. At theDoubletree Hotel, Los Angeles Airport, 5400 West CenturyBoulevard, (one mile east of LAX), Los Angeles. Our FourthShow in Southern California. See and hear the best in high -end hi fi, and home theater. Enjoy live concerts. Participate inquestion -and -answer sessions with STEREOPHILE'S edi-tors and writers. Shop from a wide selection of LPs, CDs,and accessories. Tickets by mail, $18; at the door $25.EACH TICKET IS VALID FOR ALL 3 SHOW DAYS. Write orFax: The STEREOPHILE High -End Show, 208 Delgado,Santa Fe, NM 87501, Fax (505) 989-8791.

BLANK TAPES

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SONYDAT-120 7.49DAT-120 pso 9.99MiNi-CISC 74 11.99L7508THG 3.99JVC T120 1.79

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- ./:

TDKT- I 20hS i.89T-120EHG 2.49ST -120 6.99SA -90 1.69SAX -90 2.19SAX -100 2.69Is - Al

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SALES REPS WANTED! SELL MAILORDER LOUD-SPEAKERS. WORK IN HOME, SPARE TIME, NO INVEST-MENT. SOME KNOWLEDGE OF SPEAKER DESIGNHELPFUL. (404) 455-0571.

AUDIO AMERICA is offering an excel-lent opportunity to start your own audio -video business. With over 25 years ex-perience, we offer expert advice andconsultation on all aspects of businessplanning and operation. For completeinformation, call 1-703-745-2223.

TUBE COMPONENTS

AFFORDABLE U.S. TUBE AUDIO! $399 40WMono Amp Kit (pictured); $599 Tube Preamp(phono; factory -assembled); $699 35/35WTube Power Amp Kit; $1299 Deluxe 60WMonoblock (triode-ultralinear). World -classdesigns by Harry Klaus. Satisfaction guaran-teed. FREE CATALOG. Sound Valves, 185North Yale Avenue, #AM104C, Columbus,OH 432222-1146. (614)279-2383, 10-4,Eastern.

WE EXPORT TUBE COMPONENTS 100%Made -In -USA Vacuum Tube Audio Manufac-turer currently seeking exclusive distributorrelationships worldwide. Write -Fax today.Visit us: January 6-9, Las Vegas WCES,Sahara #S-7112. Sound Valves, 185 NorthYale,#AM104D, Columbus, OH43222-1146. FAX: (614)279-0368.

PARTS AND ACCESSORIESN.O.S.PAPER/OIL CAPS - SPRAGUE VIT-O, BLACKBEAUTIES, WESTCAP ETC., N.O.S. ELECTRON TUBES,SOCKETS, HARDWARE, ETC. KURLUFF ENTERPRISES,4331 MAXSON RD., EL MONTE, CA 91732.818/444-7079.FAX: 818/444-6863.

It could happen to you.You're already obsessed with audio. Are you ready for a

lithe experimentation? Try a hands-on approach. Start off sim-ple - put together your own cables, apply dampening materialto a chassis. And then it happens - the DIY bug bites.

Oder The Parts Connection 1995 Catalog 8 ResourceGuide and we'll be there to support your first steps towardsDIY audio. It's an entertaining read loaded with invaluableresources, how-to information, premium audiophile -gradeparts. upgrade and complete kits to get you on your way.

Simply send $10 and mailing information to receive the1995 Catalog 8 Resource Guide" as well as a DiscountCoupon worth $10 off a purchase over $100 or $25 off apurchase over $250. Do it today - then do it yourself.

'or credit card information -available in March

THE PARTSCONNECTION

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250 PAGE CATALOG and DESIGN MANUAL:CHECKOUT OUR KITS!!! MOSFET Power Amplifiers,Single -Ended 300B Triode Amps; Passive, Buffered andClass -A Linestages; Phonodrives, Softstarts, and Ac-tive Crossovers. Largest Selection of Parts and Sup-plies including: Kimber Kap, MIT MultiCap, Solen,WIMA, Wonder Caps, Hovland MusiCap, RAM Labsand Golden Dragon Tubes, Kimber Kable, DH Labs,Vampire, Cardas, WBT, Neutrik, Magnequest OutputTransformers, Caddock, Holco, and Mills Resistors, etc.Plus Lots of Enclosures and Custom Chassis. Send $12(U.S./Canada) or $16 (International). Or call (303)470-6585, fax (303) 791-5783. Visa/MC Accepted.Welborne Labs, P.O. Box 260198, Littleton, CO80126-0198.

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AUDIO $249...VIDEO 79...COMPLETE SET $599... Fac-tory direct w/30 -day trial! Metal 8 tempered, beveled glasshome theatre furniture. Hides wiring in rear column. Fullyconstructed in granite, black, or sand stone finishes. Designpatent -pending. FREE brochure: Glass Racks Inc., P.O. Box50726, St. Paul, MN 55150. (612) 452-7099.

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PUBLICATIONSMOVIESOUND NEWSLETTER. The state of film audiotracks in theaters and at home. $8/year (4 -issues). Send $2for two sample issues. P.O. Box 7304, Suite269A, No.Hollywood, CA 91603.

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This publication isavailable inmicroform from UMI.Please send me information about the tittlesI've listed below:

Name

Title

Company/Institution

Address

City/State/Zip

Phone (

U -1\4IA Bell & Howell Company300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 USA800-521-0600 toll -free313-761-4700 collect from Alaska and Michigan800-343-5299 toll -free from Canada

Millions of your prime prospectscan be found in the industry lead-

ing titles of Hachette FilipacchiMagazines, Inc.

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space today!

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In Canada : 1-212-767-5057

Denzel Washington

He stood about five-foot, nine -inches tall, but he

was a giant. Billy Thomas.

He ran the Boys &- GirlsClub where I grew up.Now, I know today it'sdifferent. Young peopleface problems I nevereven had to think about.

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AUDIO, February 1995, Volume 79, Num-ber 2. AL DIO (ISSN 0004-752X, DeweyDecimal Number 621.381 or 778.5) is pub-lished monthly by Hachette Filipacchi Mag-azines, a wholly owned subsidiary ofHachette Filipacchi USA, Inc., at 1633Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019. Printed inU.S.A. at Dyersburg, Tenn. Distributed byWarner Publisher Services Inc. Second classpostage paid at New York, N.Y. 10019 andadditional mailing offices. Subscriptions inthe United States, $24.00 for one year,$42.00 for two years, $58.00 for three years;other countries except Canada. add $8.00per year; in Canada, $32.00 for one year (in-cludes 7% GST; Canadian GST registrationnumber 126018209).AUDIO® is a registered trademark of Ha-chette Filipacchi Magazines, Inc. ©1995,Hachette Filipacchi Magazines, Inc. Allrights reserved. The Editor assumes no re-sponsibility for manuscripts, photos, or art-work. The Publisher, at his sole discretion,reserves tie right to reject any ad copy hedeems ina,propriate.Subscription Service: Postmaster, pleasesend change of address to AUDIO, P.O. Box52548, Bculder, Colo. 80321-2548. Alloweight weeks for change of address. Includeboth old arid new address and a recent ad-dress label If you have a subscription prob-lem, please write to the above address or call303/447-9330.Back Issues: For information, write to P.O.Box 7085, Brick, N.J. 08723.

AD INDEX

Firm (Reader Service No.) Page

Adcom (1, 2) 15, 25

Advent/Sears Brand Central 88

Audiophile Systems 83, 85, 91

AudioQuest 59

Audio Research (3) 27

Bacardi 9

BMG 48 a & b

Bose/Acoustic Wave 29

Brystonvermont (4) 61

Cambridge SoundWorks (5, 6, 7). . 21, 22, 23

Carver (8, 9) 55, 57

conrad-johnson (10) 19

Crutchfield (11) 71

Dave's *16 a &b,*17DCM (12) 46

Definitive Technology (13) 30, 31

Digital Phase (14) 51

Infinity (15) 63

J & R Music World (16) 79

Jack Daniel's 33

KEF (17) 13

Linn Hi-Fi 83, 85, 91

Martin -Logan Cover III

McIntosh (18) 3

MCM Electronics (19) 88

Mobile Fidelity (20, 21) 70, 86

Mondial (22) Cover IV

New West Electronics (23) 90

Nobody Beats the Wiz *104 a -x

Nordic Track (24) 29

Paradigm (25) 5

Parasound 11

Phase Technology (26) 26

Polyffision Electronics (27) 7

PSB Speakers (28) 34

Radio Shack 69

Reel to Real (29) 28

Sennheiser (30) 50

Sheffield Labs (31) 77

Sonic Frontiers (32) 75

Sound City (33) 84

Sunfire Corporation (34) 67

Thiel 41

Warner Music Enterprises 64 a & b

XL() Electric *17, 73

Yakov Aronov (35) 35

Yamaha Cover II & 1

*Regional Ad

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY! AUDIO/FEBRUARY 1995103

IL

Ct ESKY TEST DiscAlthough I have a large collection of test CDs, the only

ones I have found to be consistently useful for home setupsare the Opus 3 series (now dated in sound quality) and theChesky series. While the Chesky discs mix music and testbands, and Volumes 1 and 2 include technical test bandsthat are really useful only with instruments, they also offer arange of listening tests that combine valuable setupinformation with a tour of some of the most importantdifferences in digital systems and analog recordingtechniques. Best of Chesky Classics & Jazz and AudiophileTest Disc, Volume 3 (CheskyJD111) gives you new testbands for eight differentmiking techniques, as wellas bands that demonstratethe effects of instrumentplacement, natural versusartificial space, compression,different kinds of distortion,and 16 -bit versus 20 -bit A/Dconversion. There are threeuseful bands for testing low-level resolution. For anyonewho is interested in audio,the disc is well worth its$14.98 price. A.H.C.


"PlayBack" mini -reviews are the resultof short, sweet, andsometimes deadlytesting by our all -too -experienced editorsand writers. Thesehands -and -ears -onlywrite-ups may looklike new productannouncements, butthe grades and textreflect what thereviewer thought afterless than an afternoon's"honeymoon."-E. P.

G B

uchoPrismQUIET -LINE A.C. LINE FILTER

111s1m1ummssuasminis-/111111111111111111111111111111111111111MM111M1111111111111111111111MIMMIMMINIMIIIIIII111111111111

7M MI NM Ell 11111=11111111111111\11.'"-^1111111111, --- MI MI 11-111111111111111M111

111/11111, 1r" - 11111111111M111111111SU 11 - 111111 . I NW" -111ELI . . II SIR111111 " IP" -Tit IR

1111111hmai 11111011 _1s IIWEI MEI I imINI111111 " kUl

11111111111111111111IMM111111111111111111M1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111MN IN= II= MI MI MN VIM

If you have a problem with noise on your a.c.power line, you can reduce or eliminate it with the GRADE: AQuiet -Line filter. Each filter is 2 x 13/8 x 11/2 inchesand weighs 2 ounces. Rated voltage range is from100 to 250 V a.c., which allows the filter to be used in countries that havedifferent a.c. line voltages. Each filter has a U.S.-standard two -prong plugthat allows it to be plugged into a standard a.c. wall outlet.

Many appliances-such as computers, microwave ovens, hair dryers,refrigerators, light dimmers, etc.-put noise back on the a.c. power line, andthis noise can get into your audio system. Since there are so many sources of

a.c. line noise, AudioPrism packs 10 Quiet -Line filters in each box. Itis always best to place the filter as close to the noise source aspossible. If the appliance is plugged into a dual -outlet receptacle,you can plug a Quiet -Line into the other socket and reduce oreliminate the noise completely. Reducing the noise from a lightdimmer can be more difficult, as there may not be an a.c. outletclose to it. Try to find a wall outlet on the same power line, and plugin a Quiet -Line filter; this will at least reduce the noise.

I tried some experiments to determine how well the Quiet -Linefilters perform, and I was very impressed. At $199.95 for 10, Irecommend them highly. E.M.L.

15,31


-AA i d1 .i 1Isolation Circuit

If you have hum problems with youraudio/video setup, try MAGIC-the MondialAntenna Ground IsolationCircuit. For $99.95 you canoften instantly eliminate thehum caused by the remote orimproper grounding of manycable systems, as well as hum in some satellite and roof antenna installations. (If the hum goes awaywhen you disconnect the r.f. signal feed from your system, the MAGIC should work; if the hum does notgo away, you have a problem that this device won't fix.) The MAGIC worked well in three differentinstallations I tried (one of which had previously involved several service efforts where the hum wasblamed on the VCR). There was no apparent signal loss, and the MAGIC did not blur the picture orotherwise reduce picture quality. A.H.C.

GRADIOC


0

MAGICPAT PLISIVIR


"I'm particular."

While engineering recordings for

many clients among them the

Chicago and St. Louis Symphonies.

I heard of Martin-Logan's special

electrostatic precision and clarity

from several of my colleagues.

So. I installed a pair in my studio.

What happened next was amazing.

Every change in the recording

process became apparent. Details

of space in the hall. microphone

placement aid even converter

qualities were instantly perceived.

Yet. the superior dispersion of their

curvilinear transducer allowed

remarkably easy room placement.

even in my studio.

After using Martin -Logan products

for years. I am excited to introduce

the new advanced SL3 shattering

industry standards yet again.

What else can I say?

Go to your local dealer andaudition the new SL3.

Be prepared for the experience.

00'$3200.00 US pr

Following is asampling of Larry's works:

WFMT Fine Arts Network weekly broadcast

of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Erato

RCABMG, OBSSony, Koss Classics.

Marco Polo, New World, Crystal. Peregn

Pro Arte. Summit, Centaur, Orfeo.

Musical Heritage Society.

Experience

. boor 707, lawrence, ks 66044, tel (913) 749-0133, fax (913) 749-5320

The three most important letters in home theatre...

BETTER SOUND THAN A MOVIE THEATRE

Others are struggling to make home theatre sound almost as good as your local theatre. We've surpassed it. Otherstell you how home theatre must always be done. We've customized it. We know that one size doesn't fit all. Youdefine your needs, and we will help our dealer design a custom system based upon your personal requirements.

The heart of the American Custom Theatre is the Acurus ACT I Surround Sound Processor. When combined withhigh quality amplification, such as the Acurus 200X3, and the proper speakers for your listening environment, itwill surpass the sound system in you local movie theatre. Now the best seat in the house, is in your house.

On -screen programming makes the ACT I as easy to use as your TV. Hand crafted in America, it has separate glassepoxy circuit boards for the three input audio section, three input video section and power supply. Utilizing 1%metal film resistors and the most advanced surround sound processing integrated circuit, the Acurus ACT I has asmooth and refined sound that surpasses processors costing several times the price. Brought to you by MondialDesigns Ltd., acclaimed in Europe, Asia and America for engineering the best value in quality audio components.

MONDIAL DESIGNS LIMITED20 Livingstone Ave., Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522 914-693-8008 Fax 914-693-7199


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