YOUR LAST LOUDSPEAKER? Choose from the Audes …uhfmag.com/Issue88/UHF88.pdfYOUR LAST LOUDSPEAKER?...

YOUR LAST LOUDSPEAKER? Choose from the Audes Orpheus and the Reference 3A Episode, right here on our coverMORE REVIEWS: A four-box digital player from Cyrus, an affordable DAC from Cambridge, two phono stages from Blue Circle, and lots morePLUS: Buying super high-resolution music to play from your hard drive, five decades (nearly) of 007, and Paul Bergman on the enigma of one-microphone “stereo”No. 88 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69

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ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 3

CinemaApple’s “Hobby” 18

The Apple TV does jaw-dropping demos, but its shortcomings can make you crazy

Nuts&BoltsRemembering Stereo 22

by Paul BergmanNot that stereo is gone, exactly, but what does it really mean today?

FeatureHi-Res Music on DVD-R 26

Reference Recordings offers you a copy of its master recordings on HRx discs. And they’re not alone. How good do they sound on your gear?

The Listening RoomReference 3A Episode 30

Reference 3A’s wonderful Royal Virtuoso loudspeaker grows up…all the way down to the ground

Audes Orpheus 34A one-time supplier to the Red Army takes on the loudspeaker state of the art

A Two-Box Player From Cyrus 38Actually, it’s a four-box player. And it has room for your computer to join the party

Cambridge DACMagic 42There are new reasons to get a standalone DAC, but can you buy a good one at this price?

Blue Circle Fon Lo Thingee 44They may look like Blue Circle’s “Thingee” computer link, but they’re as analog as they can be

Two BIS Cables 48Analog and USB wiring from BIS Audio

AblePlanet Headphones 50Most noise-cancelling phones are two notches below dreadful. Can you get good ones on a budget?

SoftwareThe Bond Franchise 61

Looking back on the highs and lows of 007 over nearly a half century

The Music of Bond 68Music can make or break a film, and the producers of the Bond films figured this out a long time ago

Software Reviews 71by Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon

DepartmentsEditorial 4Feedback 7Free Advice 8Gossip & News 77State of the Art 82

Cover story: Two upscale loudspeakers reviewed in this issue. The black one is the Audes Orpheus, from Estonia. The lighter one is the Reference 3A Episode, from Canada. In the background, an early winter scene.

Issue No. 88

4 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine

UHF Magazine No. 87 was published in December, 2009. All contents are copyright 2009 by Broadcast Canada. They may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

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Ultra High Fidelity Magazine is completely independent of all companies in the electronics industry, as are all of its contributors, unless explicitly specified otherwise.

The Audiophile Boutique Our on-line catalog might seem peripheral to our magazine itself, since our raison d’être is information. However it is difficult to finance an independent magazine like UHF purely on advertising, and that was true even before the recent economic meltdown. We actually started our first store in 1988, offer-ing a single record label and nothing else. But back to The Audiophile Boutique (www.audiophileboutique.com). Its original mission was to sell brand new but discontinued gear. When we set it up we (well, actually, I) made a serious error. Though the site had a “who we are” link, the Boutique was not visibly identified as a part of UHF. We tried to put a healthy distance between it and the editorial side, and it backfired. Why? Because “branding” (that familiar modern buzzword) is the key to success. UHF has a hard-won reputation for reliability and neutrality, and we had chosen to discard that advantage. We have begun correcting the error. The familiar UHF logo is now on every page of the Boutique. Of course it and The Audiophile Store share a shopping cart, and you can mix and match orders from both sites. The process of unification will continue. We have now added brand new non-discontinued products, such as Thorens turntables, Goldring phono cartridges, and Moon phono preamplifiers. Still available are the upscale electronics from Van den Hul and tube headphone amps. As we have done since the inauguration of the original Audiophile Store, we offer nothing we wouldn’t recommend to our friends (which of course some of our readers are). In some cases, we have written evaluations in PDF, and not everything in them is a compliment.

Looking for a review? Just Google one…or not Sources of news may become scarcer because of the Internet (ask any news-paper publisher), but opinions are offered freely. Even in the area of high-end gear, views are just a search query away. You’ll forgive me if I don’t include actual URL’s, but I’ve been seeing opinions of…how to say it? Dubious value? No, that’s too kind. Just after we had completed our evaluation of one of the Thorens turntables for our Audiophile Boutique (and we had put it on line, warts and all), we ran across an extended review of the same model on a supposedly reputable audiophile site. Only it may not have been the same model, because some of the stated specs were wrong. The author had bought the model used. It had been extensively modified, and he remodified it just as extensively before evaluating it. He then trashed it with colorful language, well salted with factual misinformation. And then there are sites where you can read “reviews” by people who have actually purchased the gear “evaluated.” Since most of them have just bought the product, they are either (a) delighted (they did choose it, after all), or (b) angry at having been (in their view) robbed, and ready to lash out. If you’re looking for perspective, look elsewhere. Naturally, it’s not only in audio and video that you get on-line opinions in landfill quantities. Read the political blogs. Or check reader comments after a political news article on any newspaper site. As with audio “reviews,” you’ll see extremes, richer in invective than in command of elementary facts or gram-mar. You won’t come out of it knowing much more than you did before. It may sound self-serving, but I think UHF still has an important role to play.

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We hate those folded-down corners on magazines we just paid good money for, and we know you do too. May we suggest a solution? You see, oddly enough it’s the expensive copy that’s likely to be tattered, torn, and… yes, dog-eared. We mean the newsstand copy. The reason is obvious. Where do copies sit around unprotected? At the newsstand. Where do other people leaf through them before you arrive, with remains of lunch on their fingers? At the newsstand. Where do they stick on little labels you can’t even peel off? Our subscribers, on the other hand, get pristine copies protected in plastic, with the address label pasted on the plastic itself, not the cover. We know what you really want is a perfect copy, and if that means paying a little less, then so be it. As if that weren’t reason enough, there’s the fact that with a subscription you qualify for a discount on one or all three of our much-praised books on hi-fi (see the offer on the other side of this page). One more thing. Some newsstands run out of UHF four days after the copies arrive. Have you missed copies? So what’s our advice? Well, sure!

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This is our original book, which has been read by thousands of audiophiles, both beginners and advanced. It’s still relevant to much of what you want to accomplish.It’s a practical manual for the discovery and exploration of high fidelity, which will make reading other books easier. Includes in-depth coverage of how the hardware works, including tubes, “alternative” loudspeakers, subwoofers, crossover networks, biamplification. It explains why, not just how. It has full instructions for aligning a tone arm, and a gauge is included. A complete audio lexicon makes this book indispensable. And it costs as little as $9.95 in the US and Canada (see the coupon).

This long-running best seller includes these topics: the basics of amplifiers, preamplifiers, CD players, turntables and loudspeakers. How they work, how to choose, what to expect. The history of hi-fi. How to compare equipment that’s not in the same store. What accessories work, and which ones are scams. How to tell a good connector from a rotten one. How to set up a home theatre system that will also play music (hint: don’t do any of the things the other magazines advise). How to plan for your dream system even if your accountant says you can’t afford it. A precious volume with 224 pages of essential information for the beginning or advanced audiophile!

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Have you tested the Wadia iTrans-port Digital iPod Dock? If not, have you considered it?

J.W.Surrey, BC

We did consider it, and we have heard it several times, including with our own iPod plugged into it. However we now regard devices like the iTransport as obsolete. Our reasoning goes like this. You can’t put music into your iPod without also having it on your computer. And there are now such satisfying ways to get music from computer to music system (see Music Through the Air in UHF No. 87 and Hi-Res Music on DVD-R in this issue) that we no longer see a reason to use the iPod itself as a source.

Over the past several issues you have reviewed Audio Space products. I seem to be able to only find one importer, in the USA, Gini Systems, and was wondering where you obtained these products in Canada ? I am located in Ontario.

Dale Clark

The Canadian importer is Charisma (www.charismaaudio.com).

I read your review of the Audio Space Galaxy 34 in UHF No. 87, and I do agree with several of your findings regarding the amplifier’s inaccurate instrument separation. I also share your judgment that it possesses an exciting sound, particularly in triode mode. Please allow me to pose this question to you. If you were to place a dollar figure in Canadian or US currency, what other amplifier would equal its sound quality in solid-state and tube design? I understand that other amplifiers may have better bass or sound-stage.

Namir J.

It may be more than a little unfair to char-

acterize the Galaxy 34 as having “inaccurate instrument separation,” but we listened mostly in triode mode, and the available power was sometimes not quite adequate for some of our chosen recordings. That said, we have no short answer to your question. No amplifier we know of is perfect, and in any design there are tradeoffs to be made. Audio Space has gone for refinement at the expense of power, and that tradeoff may or may not be right for you. There are many paths to Heaven. If we named an amplifier that bests the Audio Space at something, it may not in fact be superior in some other way. What we ask of an amplifier, or indeed an entire system, is that it get us involved emotionally in the music. Beyond that, the technology is but a means to an end.

After reading your review of the Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-ray player in UHF No. 87, I visited the site of Pioneer Canada. Not finding it listed, I called four authorized dealers, who all told me that the BDP-51FD hadn’t been in the Pioneer catalog for a long time. Between the time of the test and the publication of UHF, the BDP-51FD had time to disappear from the marketplace. I think UHF should change its name to VHF (Vintage High Fidelity). It would be less frustrating for future purchasers to search for products reviewed in your magazine.

Michel ViauVARENNES, QC

Sure, if you believe that it takes a mere six months for equipment to earn a “vintage” label. The big companies change models frequently, as often as every six months, and there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s why we seldom review such products, but in this case we did because we were acquiring it. On the other hand, we did let readers know what we thought through our blog…while it was still current.

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My system has had Totem Hawk speakers for a number of years, and they seem pretty good as far as depth, soundstage and bass go. However, when listening to symphonic music I get this niggling sense of an almost binary sound (i.e. on and off) from midrange versus treble. I don’t get a really unified sense of all the instruments at the same time. Over time that interferes with the enjoy-ment I get out of my system. Is this an artifact of a two-way speaker system, or the crossover timing? Or have I fooled myself into thinking this — although I’m sure your expertise doesn’t go into psychoanalysis. I haven’t come across this issue in reading audio mags. If this doesn’t seem like a really weird complaint, should I be thinking

about an electrostatic speaker or a three- or four-way speaker?

Mike StulkenNORTH VANCOUVER, BC

We wouldn’t suggest such a radical (and expensive!) move just yet, Mike, not until you are able to identify what is really bothering you. We must admit that your description doesn’t suggest anything we’ve run across, but perhaps we can outline a plan of attack. Since you don’t mention what system you are using with the Hawks, we don’t have much to go on, but try inexpensive (i.e. free) measures first. In case there’s some sort of acoustical phenomenon at work, try altering the speaker placement: move them forward or back, farther apart or closer together, perhaps angled in relation to the wall. Don’t worry about the decor just yet, because this is merely an experiment, a “fact-finding trip,” as politicians like to call their tours of the Bahamas or Hawaii. You can also try altering your seating position. The closer you sit to the speak-ers, the more you will hear the speakers themselves rather than the contribution of the walls, floor and ceiling. Sit close enough, and you will be experiencing nearfield listening, which emphasizes stereo effects. We’re not sure what you’ll find, but it’s certain you will hear major changes in the music, for better or for worse. You may or may not hit on a placement that will solve the problem you’ve identified, but we’re betting you’ll know exactly what you need to do next.

Is it me or have Castle loudspeak-ers made a comeback? And yes, they still have those interesting products. Can UHF try one of their higher-end loudspeakers? Why not the very inter-esting Howard in its current version?

Is it a worthy descendant of the famed Winchester?

Benoît LabelleGATINEAU, QC

Well, Castle is sort of back, Benoît, which is to say that a Chinese company purchased the name and the designs, and is producing them again. We reviewed the new version of the Richmond in UHF No. 83. It was a disappointment, not because the new company doesn’t know what it’s doing, but because Castle has always produced both gems and duds. The Howard was by no means a dud, and it does look like a somewhat reduced version of the Winchester (reviewed with more than customary enthusiasm in UHF No. 30). The Winchester was unique, however, and Castle never pro-duced anything like it again.

I own a dCS Puccini player and the U-Clock. I listen to CD/SACD, and listen to DVD and Blu-ray using one of the Puccini digital inputs (connected with an Atlas Opus cable). This leaves me with a second SPDIF input and a USB input on the U-Clock. My amplifier is a Pass Labs X250.5. My question is whether I could, with-out damage, skip the XP10 preamplifier. The output of the Puccini is 6 V (maxi-mum), with a rated impedance (balanced) of 3 Ohms, maximum load is 600Ω (a 10kΩ load is recommended) according to dCS. I don’t really understand the load recommendation. Then I have the Pass Labs X250.5 amplifier, for which the input imped-ance (balanced) is 30 kΩ. Finally, the XP10: input impedance is 48 kΩ, and the output (balanced) is 15 V maximum, impedance 1 KΩ (balanced). Can I safely try to directly connect the player to the amplifier? From a theoretical point of view, which solution is better, taking into account that I have to use the preampli-fier built into the Puccini anyway? Are two consecutive preamplifiers better than one?

Philippe MartiatBRUSSELS, Belgium

We really can’t predict the result, Philippe, but we can probably clear up

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the impedance puzzle well enough. Most digital players and preamplifiers have low-impedance outputs, which can be 600 ohms, and sometimes much less. Passive preamplifiers are an exception, often having high-impedance outputs, but that is considered a problem, not a feature. However the circuit will sound best if it is “unloaded,” meaning if the input of the next product has a much higher impedance and makes no signifi-cant current demand on the upstream component. Let’s make the example concrete. Let’s suppose your preamplifier has a 500 ohm output impedance. If the power amplifier has an input impedance of perhaps 30,000 ohms (a typical value), the preamplifier will “think” it is driv-ing an open circuit, and it won’t have to work hard. But if the power amp has an input impedance of, say, 1000 ohms, it will draw significant current from the poor preamp, which doesn’t expect to work that hard. It will distort, perhaps heavily. Yes, you can safely leave out the preamp, so it’s worth a try. The system may sound better without it, or it may not, but you’ll soon know.

I have been converting my LP col-lection to 24/96 audio DVDs for a few years, but I am now looking for an alter-native to disc playback with the same resolution. All of the files are still in my computer and could easily be transferred to another device via USB connection. I would then permanently connect the device to my audio system and use USB flash drives or cards to transfer future individual projects. Obviously the device would have USB ports and a very large storage capacity, probably 1 TB or more. I have researched some units on the Internet, but it is hard to tell on some Web sites if device “A” or “B,” etc. would do the job. I have looked at the Olive Opus 4HD, as an example, but it has Ethernet and wireless capability, which does not interest me. Some Blu-Ray players have USB ports, but the ones I have seen will not play audio files from them, and of course they do not have the storage capability. All I want is to store my hi-res music on a high fidelity “juke box” that will sound as good as or better than that which I get from DVDs with my Arcam DV-139 player. Are you aware of any

such devices that would handle 24/96 audio files? Also, ideally, it would have remote control and a front panel viewing screen.

Lloyd MarshallWHITEHORSE, Yukon

Lloyd, if you have a modern com-puter you already have a jukebox. The challenge is to get the music out of the computer and into your stereo system without causing lethal damage. We’re not enthusiastic anymore about standalone audio jukeboxes, because they become obsolete so fast. There are no “high end” hard drives, but buying one that is built into a high end component pretty much guarantees that you will be paying a premium, and also that, as larger hard drives become more common, you’ll wish you could unplug the one in your component and substitute a new one. Now how do you get the music where you want it to go? USB does work, but unless your computer and your music system are quite close that won’t help you. You may want to read the article Music Through the Air in UHF No. 87,

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and the followup article in this issue, Hi-Res Music on DVD-R. They’re rel-evant to what you want to do: play 24/96 files. What you will need, no matter which method you choose, is a good audiophile-quality digital-to-analog converter with 24/96 capability. If it has a USB input, as some do, and if your computer is nearby, then a USB cable will work just fine. If not, we recommend an inexpensive Apple product called the Airport Express. It can connect to your

computer either through Ethernet or wirelessly through a Wi-Fi network. Its optical digital output can then connect to your DAC. As you’ll see from our two articles, that can yield very good quality sound, much better indeed than what you could expect from even many CD players. That leaves the matter of operat-ing convenience. Several “jukebox” programs are available for computers, including Apple’s own iTunes (in both OS X and Windows flavors). In the case of iTunes, we control it remotely from an iPod touch, which connects wirelessly and lets you see all the music you have on your computer, including the cover art. What’s better than a screen on the front panel? A viewing screen in the palm of your hand!

I was reading the article in UHF No. 85, Do Connectors Matter, and found it so interesting. I think connectors are as important as the cable itself, and UHF was the first to shout it out loud. But the best connector is no connec-tor at all, right ? I tried to connect my speaker cables directly from the amp to speaker, and for some reason I found the sound better with my good-quality bananas! Could it be that good quality connectors help to transfer the signal to the last molecule?

Robert Des OrmeauxOTTERBURN PARK, QC

Well, yes, actually, Robert. Though it seems perfectly reasonable to suppose that the best connector is no connector, as they say on the Internet, YMMV (your mileage may vary). To put it another way, it seems perfectly reason-able all else being equal. But all else may not be equal. With a low-impedance signal like that from an amplifier (its source is typically a tiny fraction of an ohm, many times lower than the impedance of the loudspeaker), a very tight connection is imperative, and anything less will cause great perturba-tion in the Force, to say nothing of your music. A lot of binding posts will not maintain a tight connection on a bare wire (or a spade either, but don’t get us started). A good banana will get at least that much right. We would guess that

was the difference you were hearing. It is of course possible to get a tight connection with a very good binding post (they exist, and so do unicorns), if the wire is solid core. If it’s stranded, the connection is likely to be mediocre, and it will get worse with every week that passes by.

Just a couple of dumb questions. Now that the television broadcasting industry is moving to digital in the US and even-tually Canada, can I assume that: a) The Super Antenna MkIII (in The Audiophile Store) will require a conversion box, and b) will still work effectively?

Bruce FraserOTTAWA, ON

Bruce, we use our own Super Antenna to pull in digital high-definition signals (three of them are available in Montreal, where we are). What will require a con-verter box is your television set, unless it’s a modern one with a digital tuner. Older analog sets will become useless for over-the-air TV as of 2011 (and they already are in the US). If they’re connected to cable or satellite, they will still work. Our own HDTV doesn’t need a converter box, but our DVD recorder does, since it has only an analog tuner (channels 2 through 69). We use that converter with a Super Antenna.

I would like to get a 46” Panasonic G10 television set. I subscribe to Vid-eotron HD cable, and I have a Pioneer DVD player. I’d like to know what to expect in the way of resolution, not only for HD channels, but also for non-HD. A CNET review of the Panasonic says the definition on SD channels is less than terrific. Is this a worthwhile purchase?

André PlanteST-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, QC

André, if by SD channels you mean analog channels, they’re going over the dam in 2011 anyway, and in the US it’s a done deal. An analog channel on an HDTV can look very good, since its theoretical definition of 480 vertical lines is the same as that of a DVD. But here’s the irony: it’s the HD channels whose performance may

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vary quite a lot, because some of them undergo a lot of compression on their way to you. With an explosion in the number of specialty channels, both cable and satellite distributors are running short of bandwidth, and they’ll often use a shoehorn to get the available signals into the available space. You can get some idea of possible resolution by visiting a dealer whose TV sets are connected to cable or satellite (the big box stores are more likely to use a Blu-ray player for the demos). Here’s a tip, though: if your DVD player doesn’t have an HDMI output, you might want to put its successor on the same bill as your new HDTV.

I just purchased a used Inouye SPLC line filter, in the knowledge that you guys used to use one in your reference systems. After reading one of your reviews, I came across the information that the SPLC uses series components and is therefore not recommended for large power amps. I have two questions. 1. What about small power amps?

I have a FirstWatt f5 clone that, if it is built correctly (I didn’t build it), draws 180 watts during operation (it uses a 3 amp slo-blow fuse rated at 2.5 amps, according to Nelson’s manual). Can I use this with the SPLC? 2. Is there anything that can go bad over time with this unit (capacitors, etc.)?

Perry HowellTORONTO, ON

A smaller amplifier should present no problem, Perry. Do use a quality power cord with it, however. The SPLC should last a long time — ours must be around 18 years old, and we still use it. What will go bad is the neon bulb, which will begin blinking after its first year in service. That’s harmless, if you place it so you can’t see it.

I have been reading your magazine since the early 90’s and have always respected your points of view and opinion on audio. In fact, it was your magazine which pointed me away from the likes of Sony and Yamaha to Rotel

and Arcam back then. Twenty years later I am still in this hobby, but with much different equip-ment. I am now looking to upgrade my CD source and have narrowed it down to two homegrown products: the Brys-ton BCD-1 and the Moon CD-1, both of which you have favorably reviewed recently. What are the essential sonic differ-ences between the two players? Are they both priced at the point of significant diminishing returns?

Carl KungVANCOUVER, BC

Carl, you’ve probably already noticed one important difference: the Moon CD-1 costs a lot less than the Bryston ($1500 to the Bryston’s $2395 at the time of our reviews). Our expectations were pretty much in line with the prices, and the sound was too. To be more specif ic, the Moon didn’t have the solid bottom end of the Bryston, nor its coherence, but it is a terrific partner for the Moon i-1 ampli-fier, which sells for the same price. The

Get the complete version No, this free version is not complete, though you could spend a couple of hours reading it. Want the full version? You can, of course, order the print version, which we have published for a quarter of a century. You can get it from our back issues page. But we also have a paid electronic version, which is just like this one, except that it doesn’t have annoying banners like this one, and it doesn’t have articles tailing off into faux Latin. Getting the electronic version is of course faster, and it is also cheaper. It costs just $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere in the world. Taxes, if they are applicable, are included. It’s available from MagZee.com.

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Bryston BCD-1 has more in the way of high end ambitions, and in large measure it delivers what it promises. Which of these players you favor will depend on where your system is going. We should add that, if your future system will include your computer as a music source (for a lot of our readers that’s the present, not the future), you will be limited by the fact that neither player has a digital input, allowing you to get at its built-in converter. Bryston has figured this out and now offers a standalone converter. Simaudio doesn’t yet, but we wouldn’t be shocked if one were in the pipeline.

First, I’d like to thank y’all for an excellent publication and well thought-out perspectives. I have a question about connecting a subwoofer (KEF 2500) to my current stereo setup (KEF IQ3). According to you, the best way to connect a sub is to use Y-adapters so that the signals to the main speakers remain clean. But it seems using Y-adapter will cause the sub and the power amp to run in parallel.

I wonder if your FYA Y-adapters, or Y-adapters of any other brands, have any built-in electrical components. If they are just plain simple connectors, maybe I can easily modify my existing interconnects to do the job and avoid additional contact points. Also, what are your reasons for favoring low-level sub connections? REL seems to favor high-level sub con-nections. REL subs don’t have high-pass output and are connected similarly to the way you tested the Q-Sub D8 (sub rolled off below the main speakers), but at high level. If this kind of high-level connec-tion is equally good, I can connect the line-level input of my sub to the speaker-out of the power amp in parallel with the IQ3 using KEF-supplied RCA plugs (there are some electronic components built into the plugs).

Victor WangCARY, NC

Interconnects usually don’t contain electronic components, Victor, nor do devices like our Y-adapter. That said, the three most common connection meth-

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ods have advantages and disadvantages, and perhaps it would be useful to review them. First, you can use a Y-connector, or (as you suggest) a modified interconnect, to run both the main power amplifier and the subwoofer from your preampli-fier output. The preamp won’t have any difficulty driving both, because its own output impedance is low, say 500 ohms, whereas the subwoofer and power input impedances are much higher, 30,000 ohms or so. The preamp will “think” it’s running with no load at all. That connection gives the subwoofer the cleanest possible feed. The drawback is a Y-adapter adds extra connections to the signal path, and that can affect performance. Second, you can feed the subwoofer from the output of your power amplifier (or from the connections at your speak-ers if that’s more convenient). That leaves the signal path for your main speakers as direct as possible, but the feed to your subwoofer will have gone through unnecessary amplification. Since your KEF 2500 subwoofer, unlike the REL, has a high-pass filter, you could run a (presumably long) interconnect cable from the preamplifier output to the subwoofer, and another from the high-pass filter to the power amplifier. That has the advantage of allowing you to use the subwoofer’s controls to tailor the response of your main speakers to match the characteris-tics of the subwoofer. However the extra circuitry and the two long interconnects result in a performance hit we wouldn’t consider acceptable. Not everyone is faced with such difficult decisions. Some preamplifiers have two sets of outputs, one for the power amplifier and another for the subwoofer. And of course surround sound processors include an output just for the subwoofer.

It is nice to know about your site (through UHF). I think it is very help-ful. I am a retiree, don’t have much knowledge about electronic or sound system. From a garage sale I picked up an R115 Luxman stereo receiver, D373 CD player and cassette deck. They work

together very well and produce nice, warm sound but do not play with my Lenco L75 vintage turntable. However somebody told me to put a magnetic amp between the turntable and the R115’s phono. I did, but it works only if I con-nect it to the Signal Processor Output, not the input or the phono, and the Signal Processor has to be switched to the off position. I find it funny, because it goes to the output instead of the input, but it works anyway. I also have a Pioneer VSX D601

receiver (home theatre), which plays everything including the turntable. I have a remote control for this unit but the sound produced is not as good when compare to the Luxman R115. Can I put the Pioneer and the Luxman together in order to take advantage of the home theatre with remote control plus the rich and warm sound from the R115? I don’t want to blow everything up. I really appreciate if you can tell me which input and output from the Pioneer goes into which input of the R115. If this

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is not right, will you please kindly walk me through whatever way you think it should be. If this works, I can take advantage of the home theatre’s surround sound system with remote control plus the nice warm sound from the R115. Am I right?

PatrickVANCOUVER, BC

You are right, Patrick, and the connection is easy to do, though we’re glad you were kind enough to include pictures of the rear of your receivers. And there’s a complication we’ll get to in a moment. Here’s what you do. Plug a pair of cables from the “Front Amp” output jacks of the Pioneer to the “Tape 1 Monitor” jacks on the Luxman. Connect your main (left and right front) speakers to the Luxman, and the other speakers to the Pioneer. When you want to watch video, hit the “Tape 1” button (or switch) on the Luxman, and — here’s the wor-

risome part — turn its volume control all the way up. Then adjust the output levels on the Pioneer so that everything sounds right. Why is this hookup worrisome? It’s because, before you switch back to some other source on the Luxman, such as the tuner, you need to remember to turn the volume down again. And you have to remember every time. Except for that little potential catastrophe, you’ll have exactly what you want: surround sound for video, but the warmer sound of the Luxman when you’re listening to everything else. We’re not absolutely certain why your turntable doesn’t work when it’s connected to the “phono” input, but by the time the Luxman was built, in the late 80’s, a lot of consumer had (unwisely) abandoned vinyl for CD, and the built-in phono preamp had become an extra-cost option. You can connect your outboard phono preamp to any of the high-level inputs that aren’t busy, such as CD or Video Disc.

I have a Linn Ikemi CD player, YBA Intégré amp, Vandersteen 2CE speak-ers, and YBA interconnects and speaker wires. My Vandersteens were taken, so I’m looking for speakers. I’m thinking Monitor Audio GS20’s would be a great choice. My favorite music is Indian, like Ravi Shankar. Any advice?

Jim KattlusVANCOUVER, BC

The GS20’s would work quite well, Jim. They are by no means the most effi-cient speakers available today — they’re rated at 89 dB — but that’s 3 dB better than your Vandersteens. And Shankar is not exactly a rocker. May we assume you’ve heard, and not merely seen, the Monitor Audios? They are very good, but they have a character quite different from that of the Vandersteens, which have a particularly smooth and rounded top end. The top end of the Monitor Audios, like that of many other speakers, is somewhat hotter and detailed. Make sure you won’t suffer from withdrawal before pulling out your credit card.

My Copland CTA-405 amplifier needs KT88 power tube replacements. As it was purchased used, I have no idea what brand were the original KT88’s. Mine came with a mismash. In search-ing for on-line information, I am now suspicious as to what brands/sources are legitimate. There seems to be a lot of sleight of hand going on. As well, the lack of opportunity to make direct comparisons doesn’t help. I recall mention in a past issue of a respectable tube source. Are you still aware of that source? Any recommenda-tions for particular brands? I’m always interested in value for money.

Richard JohnsCAMPBELL RIVER, BC

You’re right to be careful, Richard, because vacuum tubes have become big business — who would have thought it? — and that has attracted the crooks. There are bogus Russian tubes floating around. And the high prices of NOS (“new old stock,” which has been on the shelves since tubes were mainstream) has

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caught the attention of miscreants too. If we remember, the small tubes in the Copland were from JJ Electronics, and the KT88’s from Ei in Yugoslavia. Divergent Technologies, which imports Copland, has in the past stocked the JJ’s. We’re not certain about the Ei’s, which appear to be more difficult to obtain (Tube Depot lists them as out of stock).The source you’re probably thinking of is partsconnexion.com, which grew out of Sonic Frontiers. It’s in Canada, though its prices are listed in US dollars.

I purchased a Wavelength USB DAC and I have no computer to use with it. I know, that whole cart-before-the-horse thing. While I like the convenience, it is the sound quality that has me interested. My research online has only confused me more, as anything from a $5,000 liquid-cooled PC to a $600 Mac mini is a “must have.” I hate to blow $5k of my stereo budget on a computer, especially since they are about the only thing out there that have worse resale value than hi-fi. I will be using the computer for music

only. While I can get around just fine on a computer, I am not a “computer guy.” I don’t care if it is a PC, Mac, laptop or desktop. Being able to change songs from my listening position would be nice, and I don’t care how — long USB cable? An iPhone? I know this is a vague question but the more specific you can be the better.

Scott MercierBARRIE, ON

The cheerful news, Scott, is that you definitely don’t need the $5000 liquid-cooled rig, which is probably optimized for hard-core gaming. What you need is air-cooling, and preferably without a noisy fan. That points directly to one of your choices, the Mac mini. You’ll probably want a pair of large outboard Firewire hard drives, one to hold your music, the other for backup. You can connect it to your new DAC one of two ways: a USB cable or an optical cable. We suspect the optical will be slightly better, but it won’t cost much to try both and see. To that we would add a Bluetooth

keyboard and mouse, which are easy to stow when they’re not used, and an iPod touch as a remote. And that’s all you need… Oh, wait a minute…not quite. The computer needs a monitor. They’re not expensive, but they take up space, and that’s not convenient if the computer is adjacent to your audio gear. You can make it a full-fledged computer setup, but it will need to be within cable range of your DAC. If that’s possible, you’re golden. If not, it gets more complicated, because you’ll have to go wireless between the computer and your stereo system. That means adding a Wi-Fi router (we recommend one that broad-casts on 5.8 MHz), and a device such as the Apple Airport Express.

Can you advise of the size of your “small” Alpha room? I’m considering purchase of Living Voice OBX-R speakers, but my room is quite small — 10’ by 12’ (3 by 3.6 metres). However it is very well damped and acoutiscally friendly.

How the electronic version works We don’t mean this version, because you already know how it works. It’s a PDF, and you open it with Adobe reader, etc. But we also have a paid electronic version, which is complete, without banners like this one, or articles in fluent gibberish. That one, because it is complete, has to be ordered with a credit card. To open it, you also have to download a plugin for your copy of Adobe Reader or Acrobat. You’ll receive a user name and password to allow you to download your full copy of the magazine. You’ll need the same user name and password the first time you open the magazine on your computer, but only the first time. After that, it works like any other PDF. For details, visit our Electronic Edition page. To buy an issue or subscribe, visit MagZee.

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I’m trying to get a sense of whether these marvelous speakers will still have magic in this smaller space.

Brian MartinVANCOUVER, BC

Our Alpha room is a little bigger than yours, Brian, with dimensions of about 11 by 14 feet (3.4 by 4.3 metres). However the reason it is so small is that the heavy-duty acoustical work, done many years ago for what was to be a radio production studio, shrank it in every dimension, including height. At higher frequencies it behaves as you would expect, but at low frequencies it is its original, considerably larger, size. Whatever speakers you choose, you’ll be listening from fairly close. The Avatars may work well, but you’ll have to work to find the ideal position.

Given that I had just finished reading Gerard Rejskind’s latest article on hi-fi dealers (UHF No. 87), I thought my recent experience with true high-end audio was quite timely. During the past summer I began using my 22-year old Dual CS-515 turn-table again. I am using it with a Marantz SR-8001 receiver, and bought a Cam-bridge Audio Azur 540P phono stage. I had my local dealer do some main-tenance on it, which included adding a better quality interconnect. When it was all set up I was quite impressed with the sound quality, which was better than regular CD, but not quite at the level of XRCD or SACD. My father had some old records that

he was no longer using, and I played some of these on my system. One of them, entitled Bongos, Flutes and Guitars, is a 1960 pressing from a company called Sparton Records of London, ON. The disc itself is heavy, rigid vinyl, and the sound quality is nothing short of aston-ishing compared to the other albums I own. What immediately struck me was the individual timbre of all the different bongo drums. Each one of them had a different sounding thwok that identi-fies the instrument as a bongo. There is a great deal of fine detail as well. I could go on, but suffice it to say this is the best LP I have ever heard. There is so much air around the instruments and it is intensely musical. To put it in perspective, it sounds better (ignoring the cracks and pops) than the Thorens 125th Anniversary LP on 180 gram vinyl that I bought shortly after getting my turntable running again. I felt that a number of these older albums would benefit from a cleaning, so I took them to a local high-end shop that has a Nitty Gritty record-cleaning machine. This shop also had a complete McIntosh system set up — monoblocks with preamp, turntable, giant Vander-steen floorstanding speakers, cabling as thick as garden hoses — you get the idea. The in-store price of this system is $52,000. So naturally, I think that I will have this Bongos, Flutes and Guitars album cleaned, and then ask the owner to play it on this system. If it sounded so good with my old entry-level turntable and modest gear, surely this system would blow me away. Well, amazingly, it did not sound any-thing like I thought it would. My system sounded considerably better. This system sounded flat and lifeless — gone were the individual sounds of the instru-ments. The loss of overall musicality was overwhelming. I did notice that a couple of the wood block instruments sounded more solid than on my system — but that was the only improvement. One thing that the owner and I noticed was some distortion — he speculated that the cartridge could be mistracking. I had just had the record cleaned by him, so I was thinking that something had gone wrong during that process. I got the album home and put it on

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my own turntable. The sound was just as I had remembered it, without all the cracks, hisses and pops that existed before having it cleaned. So it seems the cleaning was indeed beneficial. Do you have any idea as to why this high-end system did not sound anything like it should have? Could a mistracking cartridge have degraded the sound qual-ity to that extent? Recalling Gerard’s article about the way that a customer needs to be blown away by hi-fi in order to make the argument for hi-fi work, this system did absolutely the opposite. This one was the highest-end system I’ve ever auditioned, using price as the sole consideration. And it just did not sound good. Obviously, there is no way that my system should even be close, yet it was so much better. Why?

Andrew MatthewsTORONTO, ON

Well, Andrew, it certainly illustrates the fact that mere money doesn’t high fidelity make. However it is certainly possible that the cartridge was mistrack-ing. The demo recordings from the early days of stereo had huge grooves that were more than a little tough for the phono cartridges of the era to make sense of. You would think that modern cartridges would be better at this than those from 1960, but that’s not necessarily true. The moving coil cartridges found in expen-sive systems are relatively poor trackers, though of course they have other virtues. Fortunately, torture tests like these discs of years ago are rare. It might have been interesting to bring some other records with you, ones that were perhaps less challenging technically, but which you have heard sound particularly good on your own system. Perhaps they would have made the dealer’s expensive system sound the way you would have expected. And perhaps not. There can be a lot of reasons a luxury system may not sound the way its price hints at. A poor choice of components, or at least a poor match, can be a reason, even though the dealer’s reason for existing is proper matching. Speakers may be poorly placed, cables left loose, awful acoustics, misaligned turntables…

the list can be long. You saw the dealer clean your record, but did he clean the stylus? Just a suggestion. We don’t really know what went wrong in this particular demo. But we have heard countless expensive systems

that should have been able to produce great music, but didn’t. Indeed, when we go to high end shows, such as CES, such systems seem to be in the majority. We ask the same question you do: why?

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It’s not a TV set, despite its name. It looks, in fact, like an Apple mini that has been squished. The Apple TV is an adjunct to your high-defi-

nition television set, but it’s not a set-top box in the usual sense. It can lend itself to some Apple-class “gee whiz!” demonstrations, but then you begin to notice all the things it could do, but doesn’t. Signifi-cantly, Steve Jobs refers to the Apple TV as a “hobby,” to distinguish it from the company’s star products. So what is it? The Apple TV (C$259 or US$229)connects to your computer, the one that has iTunes installed on it, via your Wi-Fi network or by Ethernet. Through that network and iTunes, it also connects to the Internet. It includes a built-in hard drive (160 MB as this is being written), and various connections to your TV set, including component and (much better) HDMI. The set has to be an HDTV, though, otherwise you’ll get a “stretched” image. We got the same problem when we connected the Apple TV to a computer-grade LCD monitor. We were puzzled by the considerable heat radiated by the Apple TV even when it is idle. With Apple working to build up its “green” image, this is something that needs looking into. The box has no power switch. The Apple TV can do the following things. 1) It can let you listen to music that is on the hard drive of your computer. In this it duplicates the features of Apple’s own Airport Express (see Music Through the Air in UHF No. 87). It includes analog outputs (which means using its built-in digital-to-analog converter),

and it also has an optical output that can connect to your own DAC. 2) It can let you view photos that are stored on your computer on your large HDTV screen. 3) It can let

you view photographs from

Flickr. 4) It can let you watch video content on your HDTV. Since this is the Apple TV’s mainstream attraction, let’s look at that function in some depth.

The Apple TV movie experience The Apple TV does not of course incorporate a DVD drive, so you’ll need to get DVD material you want to watch onto your computer (technically illegal in some countries, including the United States). And here comes a disap-pointment. Though the Apple TV can stream video over its fast “n” network connection, it can’t read the native DVD format (the files inside the Video_TS folder). You have to convert them to the H.264 format (MPEG-4 also works, but

with much lower resolution). Conversion can be done with various free software (such as Handbrake on the Mac), or iTunes itself. That’s time consuming, however, and this extra complication will be a dealbreaker for a lot of videophiles. You won’t be doing much spur-of-the-moment watching. Do the conversion and the stream-ing result in a performance hit? We

uploaded the DVD version of The Princess Bride to our Apple TV,

and compared the playback to that of the original DVD

on our Pioneer BDP-51FD player. There

was (and we could have predicted this) no compari-son. It’s just as well we didn’t try

to compare it to our Blu-ray version!

One good piece of news: though most North American NTSC-standard DVD players will not play PAL DVD’s, the Apple TV will. Of course that means copying the movie and both decrypting and dezoning it. We uploaded several European PAL films to the Apple TV, and they looked gorgeous, which is to say better than the same movie played using a portable computer as a DVD source. Of course Apple makes no secret of the fact that it considers silver discs to be obsolescent, if not downright obsolete. The Apple TV, no doubt for that reason, is optimized for the iTunes store. And here it offers some dazzling possibilities. You possibly know that the Apple Web site is the go-to place for watching trailers of the latest movies, includ-ing unreleased ones (www.apple.com/trailers). The Apple TV can let you browse those trailers and watch them on your big screen. Some of the trailers, though by no means all, are available in HD, which stands for “high definition”…sort of. At top right on the next page is the Apple TV’s main menu, easily navigable with the supplied remote control. The

CinemaApple’s “Hobby”

The Apple TV is load-ed with eye-opening ideas, but it’s time it delivered on what it seems to promise


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list may be enough to get you drooling, but let’s see how much of the promise Apple TV actually delivers on. This is an incomplete article in the free issue of UHF, The article is of course complete in the print edition, and in the paid electronic edition available at MagZee. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del

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This is hardly a new phenom-enon, but perhaps it is time we paid attention to it, as consumers, and also

as producers of recorded music. More than half a century ago, the stereo LP launched a revolution in the way that most of us listened to music at home. There was, sud-denly, a recognition that we have two ears, not just one, and that therefore we ought to be listen-ing with two loudspeakers. However, if you see a photo of your favorite singer taken during a recording session, he or she will be standing in front of just one microphone, not two. If you listen to music with headphones, as more and more people are doing, it is difficult to avoid notic-ing that there is little difference between the sounds reaching your two ears. Has stereo become a relic of the past? As I hope to explain, “stereo” has long had two quite different definitions, and one of them is not inconsistent with singing or playing into a single microphone.

Stereo as 3-D sound Audiophiles have quite a different take on music recording from that of most record producers. “True” stereo, in the mind of knowledgeable audiophiles, is associated with the work of British engineer Alan Blumlein, who, in 1931, took out a patent on improvements to and relating to sound transmission, sound recording and sound reproducing systems. This was the now familiar technique of stereo recording using two microphones in a particular configuration, to provide sound that would appear to the listener to be three-dimensional. Indeed, “stereo” is derived from the Greek word stereos, which means “solid,” or as we would say today,

3-D. It may, then, seem more than a little surprising that Blumlein himself did not use the word stereo to describe his

system. Rather, he called it binaural, which refers to two ears. I shall add only that, in popular parlance, “binaural” is today applied to a recording system intended for head-phone listening. This is fair enough, since this was the playback system initially promoted by Blumlein himself. He considered that playback through speakers was a compromise.

I need not belabor the obvious, namely that, in the age of 7.1 or

more channels, the Blumlein system has been left behind by a good deal of the audio industry. It can be argued that this is not entirely the case,

since some smaller record labels continue to pro-duce recordings explic-itly using a “Blumlein pair” of microphones, or some variant, such as the ORTF configu-ration, with its wider

sound stage, or the M-S Side configuration. Such

systems are often used to record classical music or jazz, where it appears to be desir-able to re-create the sound of the actual event, and there

is no desire to actually create sound in the studio. Creating sound, as opposed to re-creating it, is of course less common in popular music recording. In that field, the producer fancies himself as much a creator as the artist, or indeed more so (you may wish to Google the

name of Milli Vanilli). However, you should not suppose that there were no alternatives to Blumlein’s vision.

More than two ears? If Blumlein’s patent seems to be from a distant past, in fact stereo — that is, the recording with multiple microphones for playback through multiple speakers — began in the 19th Century, not long after the invention of the phonograph itself. There was even a two-channel recording and playback system from the age of the horn phonograph. It was not actually conceived as some sort of enhancement to sound quality, but rather to its quan-tity: two horns could play twice as loud as one.

Not that it’s gone, exactly, but we can see it packing its bags…

Nuts&Bolts

Remembering Stereoby Paul Bergman


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It was later, but not really that much later, that the first attempts were made to use multi-channel recording to add, quite literally, another dimension to music. In 1932, Bell Laboratories (the famous scientific research facility where, somewhat later, the transistor would be developed) recorded the Philadelphia Orchestra in what we would recognize as stereophonic sound, with two micro-phones, and two separate tracks cut onto a recording lacquer. That first record-ing was awkward to play back, since it required two tone arms and cartridges, perfectly positioned on the appropri-ate spots of their respective grooves (a decade later Emory Cook tried unsuc-cessfully to commercialize just such a system). By 1933, Bell Labs found a way to put the two channels of sound into a single groove, using the 45-45 encoding that would be used in the stereo LP of 1958 (see the sidebar on this page). As you can see, the British and the Americans were working on multi-chan-nel recording quite independently, and their concepts were rather different. Whereas Blumlein used two channels because we have two ears, Arthur Keller-man and his colleagues at Bell Labs were of the view that the more channels you had, the better could be the illusion of reality. By 1933 they were experimenting with three-channel stereo. There was then no practical way to record three channels, and so these experiments were for live transmission of music, with the orchestra in a concert hall, and an “overflow” audience listening in stereo in a different hall. Even three channels was a compro-mise, however, and the Bell engineers envisaged what could be a system with an infinite number of channels, to reproduce the full breadth of an orchestra. In a more practical system, there might be a microphone for each and every instru-ment, and the signal from each would be reproduced by a separate loudspeaker. Thus, we might suppose, a 70-channel system might be adequate for a good-sized symphony orchestra. I should add that they were not, at the time, consider-ing the possibility of surround sound. Let us now notice what this then-idealistic concept was calling for: a

microphone for every instrument, for every singer. That’s one microphone, not a Blumlein pair. We can thus see that the idea of putting just one microphone in front of a singer or soloist would have seemed perfectly reasonable to the people who gave stereophonic sound its name.

Three-channel recording In the 1960’s, engineers sought to extend the dynamic range of magnetic tape, with new formulations (some of which turned out to be disastrous), but also by making the tape wider. So was born the first recorder using 12.6 mm (half-inch) tape, on which were placed

three tracks. The departure from the two-ear concept is obvious. The initial reason for the third track was to allow producers to reduce the “hole in the middle” effect so beloved by producers of what was pejoratively known as “ping pong stereo.” Mercury, notably, used three microphones for its post-stereo recordings. However, it was still attempting to use two-channel stereo to recreate a natural reproduction of the original acoustics, with the third (central) channel to be evenly distrib-uted between the two channels of the commercial recording. For others, the three channels were a convenience that had little to do with either concept of

The 45-45 Stereo Groove

How do you fit two separate channels of sound into the single groove of an analog record? It was easier than one might assume, for it could be done by returning to a system that had been used in the early days of the phonograph, and which, indeed, had been at the heart of one

of audio’s many format wars. The winning side would be Berliner, who used lateral modulation of the groove to represent the music signal. His commercial adversary, Edison, the man who had invented the phonograph, chose a different system, vertical modulation, also known as the hill-and-dale system. It was a poor choice, more subject to vertical vibra-tion from the turntable motor, and with the cutting chisel often digging into the recording blank’s aluminum base during loud passages. However, the two systems did co-exist for a time, and I still recall old broadcast transcription turntables which could be switched from one to the other. These turntables were equipped with what were, essentially, stereo cartridges, complete with four connection pins. It was in fact evident that this system could be used to play a stereo recording. You could modulate one channel in the lateral direction, and the other in the verti-cal direction. As I have indicated, however, vertical modula-tion offered lower performance, which meant that the two channels would not be of equal quality. The solution, quickly found, was what came to be known as the 45-45 system, in which each channel was angled at 45 degree from vertical. This can be a difficult concept to fathom, and in electrical terms it was much simpler. The left+right information was used to deflect the cutting chisel in the lateral direction, with the out-of-phase informa-tion, left-minus-right, in the vertical direction. A simple matrix allowed recovery of the two channels, which could be of equal quality. The adoption of the 45-45 standard caused most playback equipment to become obsolete. Mono cartridges were not designed to be compliant in the vertical direc-tion, and would therefore wreak damage on a stereo groove. Many turntables suffered from massive vertical vibration, to which mono cartridges were immune, but stereo cartridges were not. That was especially true of idler-drive turntables, which largely disappeared in the years following the stereo revolution.

Get the complete version No, this free version is not complete, though you could spend a couple of hours reading it. Want the full version? You can, of course, order the print version, which we have published for a quarter of a century. You can get it from our back issues page. But we also have a paid electronic version, which is just like this one, except that it doesn’t have annoying banners like this one, and it doesn’t have articles tailing off into faux Latin. Getting the electronic version is of course faster, and it is also cheaper. It costs just $4.30 (Canadian) anywhere in the world. Taxes, if they are applicable, are included. It’s available from MagZee.com.




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stereophonic sound. A possible example of a producer not overly concerned with stereo, at least in his earlier days, is George Martin, who recorded the famous hits by The Beatles. Martin did, of course, have experience with stereo recording, since he had been a producer with EMI’s classical music division, but it took him some time before realizing that the young men from Liverpool were serious album material, and of course rock singles were then not often released in stereo. Accordingly, he used his three tracks for purposes of flexibility. When the early Beatles music was eventu-ally released in what was billed as stereo, the voices were on one channel, and the instruments on the other. The rest of this article can be found in the com-plete print or electronic version of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html (it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. The electronic issue is available from www.magzee.com. We now cont inue in imitat ion Latin. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim

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Is there still interest in high-reso-lution music? Of course we don’t mean “high-rate” MP3 or AAC, or even 16/44 Red Book CD resolu-

tion. The poster boy for high-res music has been SACD (and its short-lived rival, DVD-Audio), but there is more. Reference Recordings, one of our very favorite audiophile labels, has long offered an enhanced Compact Disc using HDCD technology, yielding impressive results, at least with a player that can decode the hidden information. It also released a sampler on SACD (Tutti, RR-906SACD), though it’s not certain whether there will be a second one. But it also produces recordings in the HRx format, essentially DVD-R copies of Keith O. Johnson’s master recordings. The catch for the moment is that no player you (or we) own can play back HRx. A prototype player, made by PS Audio, was shown at the last CES. It sounded spectacularly terrific…until the buffer ran out of room, which happened often because of the very high resolution of the recordings. What is that resolution? Johnson records in 24-bit 176.4 kHz. Why not 192 kHz? The reason is that 176.4 kHz is exactly four times the sampling rate of a Red Book CD, and so downsampling can be done without the ugly artifacts of conventional downsampling. Why sell HRx if there is as yet no player? But in fact there is: your com-puter. The HRx box contains a DVD-ROM, with files meant to be copied to your hard drive. And from there… Well, it’s not that straightforward. Odds are your computer hits a wall beyond 96 kHz. That means downsam-pling Keith Johnson’s brilliant work, preferably to half the original sampling rate, 88.2 kHz. For this listening test we borrowed a DAC newer than any of ours, an Audiomat Tempo 2.6 (C$4995), shown on page 28. It goes out to 24/192 with a whole lot of stops in between, and

would give us (we presumed) the best quality we were likely to get from HRx. We also tried two DACs we had on hand (and which are reviewed elsewhere in these pages), namely the Cyrus DAC X and the Cambridge DACMagic. Though it is certainly possible to

stream digital audio over Wi-Fi (see Music Through the Air in UHF No. 87), high-definition music files are likely to strain the available bandwidth up to and beyond the breaking point. For that reason we transferred our test music to the hard drive of a MacBook Pro laptop, and connected its optical digital output jack to the DAC with our fibre-optic cable and a mini-TOSLINK adapter. Though we could have used iTunes to handle the music, the same audio engine is available directly from the Finder (the Mac counterpart to Windows Explorer). But our computers cannot yet handle that sort of resolution, which meant we had to downsample. Even so, we had to rejig the settings on our computer to give us 24-bit resolution and the highest sampling rate it is capable of, namely 96 kHz. This is not done through a preferences panel, as it really should be, but through a program which smacks of improvisation, included in the OS X Utilities folder, called Audio and Midi Configuration. It’s shown on the next page. For playback on Windows, Refer-ence recommends the Media Monkey software (free at mediamonkey.com). Even so, there’s a serious oversight in the Apple OS. Though our MacBook Pro’s input can be set to a sampling rate of 88.2 kHz, its output cannot. Although the DACs we had on hand can handle 88.2 kHz, we were stuck with downsampling to the awkward rate of 96 kHz, with inevitable artifacts. With Windows, what you can achieve will depend on your hardware. In this regard the Audiomat Tempo 2.6 is future-proof: it can handle all commonly used sampling rates up to and including 192 kHz. It lacks only a readout to let the user know the sampling rate of the incoming signal. We then copied four of Reference Recordings’ HRx files onto the com-puter’s hard drive. We also threw in

FeatureHi-Res Music on DVD-R


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a 24/96 file from a Canadian record company, Fidelio (available on DVD or via download). In our Omega room, we set up the MacBook Pro and the Audiomat DAC. For each selection, we had — for the sake of comparison — the same music available on some other format. In this session, we listened first to the alternative format, and then to the high-resolution version on hard drive. Though what we discovered is not the last word, all three of us were delighted with what we learned. We think you will be too.

Dance of the Tumblers This piece is from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and is included on the CD Dances From the Operas (RR-71CD). However it is also included on the Tutti SACD, and that was the version we played. Listening to it with our Linn Unidisk 1.1 player, we figured it would be difficult for even HRx to sound any better. And we were right, though this was by far the best sound we had heard coming from a computer. “It’s surpris-ing,” said Gerard, “and musically it isn’t inferior.” He praised the smooth highs and solid lows, the pleasing timbres and strong rhythm. But we weren’t unanimous. “From the very first notes there’s less authority,” said Albert Simon. “Everything is there, but what’s lacking is a certain depth of texture…perhaps a certain thickness of texture.” Toby Earp agreed. “There’s lots of weight but less complexity,” he said. “The dynamics were a little compressed, there’s a little blurring of detail, and the flow isn’t as smooth. Still, it was very nice.” Indeed, only because we had just heard the SACD did we find anything to criticize. So far so good, but on the next selec-tion the HRx would be against weaker competition.

Symphonic Dances This is a dramatic and delightful orchestral suite by Rachmaninoff, orchestrated by Respighi. Note that, for some reason, Reference Recordings has released two versions of the suite, the second far weaker than the first. This is the original, available as RR-96CD.

And it was that CD we used as a point of comparison. We hesitated about this. Like all recent RR recordings, this one is encoded in HDCD. Our Counterpoint DAC has HDCD decoding, but we know that it can’t really hold a candle to our Unidisk player. We therefore played the CD with the Unidisk, accepting that the dynamics would be somewhat compressed (HDCD decoding undoes the compression). Predictably, the HRx version did very well against the CD, throwing up a vast sound stage that was nothing if not impressive, and it seemed to “breathe” more than the CD. “The emphatic chords near the beginning are richer and subtler,” said Toby, “and more seductive too.” He also enjoyed the duet between oboe and clarinet, the instru-ments seeming full-sized, the excellent musicianship more in evidence. Gerard agreed, enjoying the almost liquid flow of the woodwinds. Was the pacing as good as with the CD? Toby found it different, but noted that the movement we were listening to had the odd marking of non allegro, and perhaps it should be like this. Albert was the holdout. He praised the great energy and the detail, but found instrumental timbres not truly faithful. “It’s like white bread,” he said, “compared to whole wheat.” Perhaps we should mention that the

first time we played this selection it crashed. Oh, it didn’t bring OS X down with it, but it stopped dead and returned to the beginning. It later crashed again, the only high-resolution file to do so.

Sussex Overture Malcolm Arnold was perhaps not the most celebrated of 20th Century British composers, but if you lend an ear to some of his works you might well wonder why he wasn’t better known outside his homeland. He drew inspiration from the folk music of his country, like Ralph Vaughan-Williams, say, but his music was even more infectious. This 1991 recording (released as RR-48) got Keith O. Johnson a Grammy nomination, though he lost out to a Philips opera which, reportedly, had cost a million dollars to stage. We suspect that historical value is the reason for its presence in the short HRx catalog, because Arnold himself conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The HRx version couldn’t come close to what we heard from the LP. That may not come as a surprise if, like us, you consider top-grade vinyl difficult to beat. Unfortunately, analog recordings of that era were often recorded on the hottest new tape for-mulations. What no one then knew was how swiftly those formulations would deteriorate.

Yes, it’s interactive

Just click on the ad on the next page, and you know what will happen?

You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of course

if you are connected to the Internet at that moment.

Try it with any of the other ads in this issue.

Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well.


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The LP (long discontinued, unfor-tunately) still sounds marvellous today, with a lively, powerful orchestral sound characteristic of Johnson’s best work. In the HRx version, based on analog tapes that were nearly two decades old, the sound was decidedly less energetic. We agreed on this, though we focused on different aspects of the music. “I love the syncopation and the edgy brass in Arnold’s music,” said Toby, “but with the HRx version it’s less edgy. The space is spread out, and it’s deep. The differ-ence is what you would expect changing turntables.” Albert, for his part, noticed some-thing odd in the lower midrange. He nonetheless rated the HRx sound quite acceptable, even if it lacked the transpar-ency and sparkle of the LP. Gerard was less happy. “The dynamics are pretty good, but the highs are wrong,” he said, “with a ‘phasy’ effect, like someone talk-ing through a mailing tube. That sucks the life out of the music.” In either format, though, this is music worth listening to. What gives us pause is that, apparently, the only truly archival format we have is the LP. “Vinyl is forever,” commented Gerard.

The Hot Club of San Francisco This California jazz group is of course inspired by the original Club Hot of prewar France, which featured such stars as Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. It made a couple of excellent recordings for the now defunct Clarity label, and this recording, the Yerba Buena Bounce (RR-109) for Reference Record-ings. It sounds superb on CD (with

HDCD encoding, naturally), and now it’s available on HRx. We selected the jazz standard Some of These Days, with its animated serving of guitars and violin, as well as the voice of Hot Club founder Paul Mehling. Like Keith Johnson’s other record-ings, this is not a purist sound pickup with a single microphone pair. Keith will do whatever is needed to get the sound he wants, including actually placing speakers right among the musicians to provide ambience. In this session, done at the studio of Fantasy Records, he reac-tivated a long-disused echo chamber, an underground dungeon with speakers at one end and a microphone at the other. Of course the result is what counts, and in this case, as in so many others, the result is stunning. We were split down the middle on this evaluation — well, not quite down the middle, since there were three of us. Toby and Albert preferred the CD, with Albert pronouncing this the least successful of the HRx recordings. “It has less energy and less presence,” he said. “It’s like a two-dimensional image projected on a screen.” Toby was a little more nuanced. “The space does open up,” he said, “but the frequency balance is different. With the HRx it’s easier to separate the indi-vidual notes, but it’s harder to separate the melodic lines.” However, he added, “Some people might prefer the HRx version.” And, right on cue, Gerard put up his hand. “The musicians are not quite as close in, but I prefer them that way. On the other hand the top end on the gui-

tars and voice was much more natural, without the brittleness of the Compact Disc. The instrumental textures on the HRx were very dense, but there was no confusion.”

Déserts We’ve mentioned that Reference Recordings is only one of numerous companies offering high-resolution music in the form of computer files, usually 24-bit with 96 kHz sampling rate. We had put one aside to include in this evaluation, a production of the Canadian label Fidelio. The label offers these high-definition recordings on DVD, or via download. Either version costs $30, a considerable premium over the price of the Red Book CD. However you can download individual tracks. Déserts was reviewed by Albert Simon in UHF No. 87, and he praised it both for its artistic vision and for the quality of the sound. It features an Early and World Music ensemble called La Nef (the name means “the nave,” which is the central part of a Gothic church). It has recorded for several audiophile labels, including Dorian, Analekta, SRI, Atma, and now Fidelio. This was a joint project with a French ensemble, Alla Francesca. What is on this recording is not period music, but what is now referred to as New Music, and which Albert, in his review, called “music without borders.” We selected the opening piece, Caprices d’une Dune. Good as the CD was, we mostly agreed that the high-definition file was better yet. “On the CD the oud (an early plucked instrument) nearly got lost, but not with the digital file. The timbres are more realistic. The thing with the CD is that it brings you up close, yet you still can’t hear all the detail. And the forcefully-plucked chords were smeared on the CD.” The percussion was particularly improved. “Listen to the percussion at the rear,” said Gerard. “You can make out layers of sound in front of them, yet you can hear everything. And those tubular bells, if that’s what they are, are edgy and artificial on the CD.” But Albert, despite admiration for the greater depth of image and the rich percussive sounds, was less happy with

Why a free version? For years now, we have been publishing, on our Web site, a free PDF version of our magazine. The reason is simple. We know you’re looking for information, and that is almost certainly why you’ve come to visit our site. And that’s why we give away what some competitors consider to be a startlingly large amount of information…for free. We would give it all away for free, if we could still stay in business. Recent figures indicate that each issue is getting downloaded as many as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing. Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each download… Truth is, we’re in the business of helping you enjoy music at home under the best possible conditions. And movies too. We’ll do what we need to do in order to get the information to you. Of course, we also want you to read our published editions too. We hope that, having read this far, you’ll want to read on.


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the sound of the oud. “When you pluck the strings of the oud, you can hear the resonance of the body. Not here. On the CD it sounds like an oud.” Before we put aside the Audiomat DAC, we should mention that its dis-tributor, Mutine, also lent us a full set of Actinote cables, nearly $14K worth, asking us to listen to the full kit. We did, and it all sounded glorious. The set included interconnects, speaker cables and power cables. This isn’t a cable review, of course, but we were happy to have the privilege of borrowing this luxurious gear in order to give our new high-resolution media their best chance to live.

The Cyrus DAC X High-definition music will appeal most to audiophiles who already own very good systems, which is to say those who have come up against the undeniable limitations of the Compact Disc. But a “pretty good system” may not include a DAC like the Audiomat, to say nothing of all those cables. We wanted to repeat the experience with the two other DACs, both reviewed in this issue. The Cyrus DAC X is about half the price of the Audiomat, but we listened to it with its optional PSX outboard power supply, which adds to both the weight and the outlay. We decided that the Symphonic Dances recording would tell us the most, and we listened to it with the Audiomat once more before moving to the Cyrus. Albert was so charmed he had dif-ficulty calling up the (recent) memory of the Audiomat’s sound, but Toby reserved the gold medal for the Audiomat. “This is very different,” he said. “The woodwinds were particularly changed, with some spurious harmonics, and I didn’t really like the mixed woodwind passage.” Gerard agreed, but praised the Cyrus for its tremendous control of transients, and especially its dynamics. “It’s not just during the loud parts. During softer passages there’s a dynamic tension, as I waited for the orchestra to explode again.” The large optional power supply was clearly an advantage, though the Audiomat’s outboard supply is about the same weight.

The Cambridge DACMagic We had spent some days breaking in new gear using, as source, our Apple Airport Express and the Cambridge DACMagic, and it was evident that considering the price of this little box, it packed some punch. We were eager to hear it with more demanding material. It sounded terrific, though this time we had to compensate for the fact that the DACMagic costs less than the sales tax on the Audiomat. The dynamic range added by the higher resolution remained evident, and we were pleased to note how much of the experience was preserved. Albert noted with pleasure how easy it was to follow the strong melodic lines, and how well-separated the instrumental timbres remained. But of course we could also hear what was missing. “Everything is a little flatter,” said Gerard, “and a little greyer. The strings aren’t as silky.” Toby noted the way that the space was reproduced. “There’s less grasp of the space. It’s as though the music were projected on the surface of bubbles. “Soap bubbles?” suggested Gerard. “Well, bubbles.” The conclusion? We started out thinking this Cambridge box was a ter-rific bargain, and nothing happened to shake our confidence.

Waiting for the future The f iles from both Reference recordings and Fidelio are in WAV format, which any computer can read. Tomorrow’s computers will be able to supply DACs like the Audiomat with full 192 kHz or 176.4 kHz resolution. By then, faster and denser chips will allow players to handle these DVD-Rs directly. But we’re not sure that’s the future. Even many audiophiles are transferring their music to their hard drives. Can you expect them to do otherwise with high-resolution music? As computers become more capable, we will no doubt then notice new dif-ferences in optical transducers and even computer power supplies. Tweakers and modders will see ever newer opportuni-ties in the quest for better sound. But the sound is already pretty good. Enjoy!


The brand is not exact ly unknown to us, since for over a dozen years the speakers in our Omega reference system

have been Reference 3A Suprema II’s. Originally Swiss, with French roots, Reference 3A was founded by Daniel Dehay, but was purchased over a decade ago by Canada’s Divergent Technolo-gies, which continues to draw

from the deep well left by Dehay. We have had several occasions to review the company’s creations since, mostly with enthusiasm. One of the really good ones, — though by no means the only one — was the Royal Virtuoso (UHF No. 70). This oversized two-way speaker with the Corian sides was, essentially, just like the top part of our Supremas. It is no longer made, but the Episode is a reboot of the Royal Virtuoso, now a floorstanding speaker, with a third driver. The tiny gold tweeter is actually a muRata super tweeter. By coincidence, we are using a freestanding muRata pair on our Supremas. Though Reference 3A is now a Canadian company, several aspects of the original designs can be found in the Episodes. First, look at the woofer dia-phragm. We hesitate to call it a “cone,” because its shape is not at all that of the usual truncated cone. This one has a shape that Reference 3A calls “hyper elliptical,” and it is of course made from woven carbon fibre. The front is dramati-cally tilted, partly to keep the wavefronts f rom t he dr ivers in step, and partly to minimize the s t a nd i ng waves that are a problem with rectangu-lar enclosures. The crossover is reduced to t h e s t r i c t

minimum, essentially Mundorf silver capacitors there to protect the two tweet-ers from low-frequency energy. Other materials include Bybee Quantum Purifiers (Google it and be amazed!), AVM (Anti Vibration Magic) fluid, and Van den Hul cabling. The four binding posts, which are nameless but seem to work well mechanically, are mounted on a massive aluminum plate. Grilles are included, and if you need to use them, well…then you do. We decided to make this an all-analog session, as we sometimes do, and so we pulled out some familiar and less familiar recordings of different genres, though the first and last are of music we always use in loudspeaker evaluations. The first is the long-discontinued Center Stage from Wilson Audio, whose Olympic Fanfare (composed for the 84 Summer Games in L.A.) has some roll-ing drum work that seems to give many a speaker serious trouble. We also used it to determine whether we would be happy with the initial placement of the Episodes: a little ahead of where our Supremas sound best. We had placed them just enough ahead that the centre of the woofer was just where the front of our Suprema’s woofer had been. A first listen convinced us that no adjustment was going to be necessary. Thus reassured, we played the Fan-fare again, notepads in hand. The overall sound was well-balanced, and indeed was not unlike that of our own speakers. “You recognize the family sound,” said Albert. “There’s the same flavor, the same midrange richness, the same definition in the brass and the woodwinds, the same articulation.” He thought that the central image was fuller as well. But what about those rolling tym-pani? On poorly-damped speakers they become an undefined mass of sound, quite unlike the sound of a real percussion instrument. The Episodes kept them in check, which is quite an achievement for any tuned reflex speaker. But of course they couldn’t match the tremendous impact of our own speakers’

Listening RoomReference 3A Episode


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push-pull subwoofers, which come into play below 50 Hz. There lay the differ-ence. “With the reference I could feel the impact in my bones, my chest, my legs,” said Steve. “Other than that, the brass is a little brighter, and more brash, and the 3-D effect isn’t as striking.” We had a second wind band piece in the lineup, the medley from A Chorus Line from Frederick Fennell’s Beachcomber double album (Reference Recordings RR-62). Keith O. Johnson put a lot into its grooves, and listening to it is a thrilling experience…if, of course, the playback equipment, from phono cartridge to speaker, is up to the task. Once again there were important differences in performance between our reference and the Episodes, but the Episodes handled this difficult music so deftly that we spent little time concen-trating on any shortcomings. The lively energy of the music came through, and it was easy to conclude that liveliness is the defining characteristic of these speakers, as it is for other Reference 3A’s. We were by now convinced that the engineers had done what was necessary to keep the cabinet rigid, because tran-sients were quick and sharp, the rhythm unstoppable. Steve, who had expressed reservations with the first recording, was coming around. “The sound stage is not as wide and flowing,” he said. “The Supremas fill every square centimetre with music. But the more I listen, the less difference I hear.” We continued with Israeli singer Esther Ofarim, singing the French tra-ditional song Rataplan, from her original album of some years back (ATR 001). This is not quite a natural recording, but it’s always impressive, with Esther’s voice clear and powerful, with the accompany-ing orchestra filling the broad space. You want dynamics? She’s got them! The Episodes reproduced this dif-ficult recording amazingly well. Indeed, the words (based on an old legend of a king who covets a nobleman’s wife) were actually even clearer than with our own speakers, though this feat was accom-plished without adding extra brightness. There was a little less throat sound in Esther’s voice, but both Steve and Albert noticed the great transparency of the

sound. All three of us were pleased with the way this session was unfolding. We had a second female voice, recorded rather more naturally, that of Jennifer Warnes singing Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat, this from the 45 rpm multidisc re-release. Prop-erly played, this song — reinvented by Warnes and Cohen for a female singer, is a constantly renewable emotional experi-ence. We were quite sure the Episodes wouldn’t let us down, and they didn’t. This is an intimate recording, with-out the challenge of extremes, in either bandwidth or dynamics. Rather, its impact depends on the subtle emotions of Jennifer Warnes’ performance, and of course the poetry of Leonard Cohen. The overall sound was perhaps a little less intimate, but the voice remained gorgeous and expressive. Albert pre-ferred the rich sound of the saxophone with our reference speakers, but he praised the Episodes for, once again,

their effortless transparency. Steve agreed. “Her voice is singing with the instruments, not just next to them.” Our next selection was the title tune from a nearly forgotten LP from José Feliciano, Angela (Private Stock PS 2010). Feliciano, you may or may not recall, was known in the 70’s for his free-form version of Light My Fire. This can be a diff icult song to reproduce, but the Episodes did the job nearly perfectly. “There’s an odd intro-duction to the song,” said Albert. “You can really here those little bells right at the beginning.” We could also hear the woody resonance of the guitar, not just Feliciano’s finger on the strings. By this time comparisons were get-ting difficult to make, because we were so caught up in the rhythm and texture of the guitar, the violins, the percussion, and Feliciano’s unique voice. It worked wonderfully well. “Colors in nature are always harmonious,” said Steve, “and this is very much a harmonious presentation.” We had one recording left, one we always use to end loudspeaker reviews. Secret of the Andes is an exceptional jazz album (originally on the Nautilus label, later re-released as a JVC xrcd), but the title piece is notable for an extended sequence featuring a large variety of Central American instruments, and especially percussion instruments. Most speakers we review do at least adequately on this piece, but that’s only because we try to avoid reviewing obvious duds. The sequence is a trap. The drums are wood, metal or stretched skin, and a poorly-

Brand/model: Reference 3A EpisodePrice: C$5500 or US$5500 in stan-dard finishes, slightly more for some finishesSize (HWD): 117 x 27 x 37 cmSensitivity: 91 dBImpedance: 8 ohmsMost liked: Nearly perfect balance, quick livelinessLeast liked: One more octave wouldn’t be unwelcomeVerdict: Promises a lot, delivers

Summing it up…


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damped loudspeaker cabinet will cover their distinctive timbres with their own homogenous resonance, making them all sound the same. Of course the Episodes got through this sequence well. The little Andean harp that opens and closes the piece was particularly well articulated. The drums seemed lighter than with our larger Supremas, but the difference was apparent for only a few seconds, and it was then easy to accept their sound as being right. The more conventional jazz portion was very good too, with Victor Feld-man’s lively piano particularly enjoyable.

The cymbals were a model of finesse. “I think I heard the contribution of those super tweeters,” said Steve. “These really are the younger brothers of our reference speakers.” Once we had (reluctantly) finished with the listening, we set up our cali-brated microphone a metre in front of the main tweeter. The 100 Hz square wave, shown on the previous page, confirmed the quickness of the speakers, though it showed some phase problems related to the tilt of the cabinet front (the drivers are set up to meld together at a greater distance, not at one metre). Frequency response, measured by

averaging third-of-octave warble tones, is shown above left. Save for that unex-pected sag at 10 kHz, it is very good. The 40 Hz sag is a room effect, not a shortcoming of the speaker. We were actually pleased to see the bottom-end response drop so sharply, because speak-ers that try to reproduce low frequencies they can’t make sense of color the music horribly. Note the nearly undistorted sound wave above right: it’s 32 Hz at full reference level! The graph doesn’t indicate the con-tribution of the super tweeter, but our microphone wasn’t in line with it. No matter how well a loudspeaker may do certain things, the key to satis-fying performance is balance: nothing exaggerated, nothing in excess. On that scale, the Reference 3A Episode succeeds admirably. It is extreme in only one aspect, and that is liveliness. Don’t count on us to complain.

As you probably know, most of the music lives in the midrange, and these speakers provide a superbly-rich dwelling for it. It almost felt as though a solid, yet transpar-ent, wall of sound were created in front of me. But there was also the depth of a stage and the precise effect of spotlights on each performer. Did I say the music was lively? It was bursting with joy when called for, and smooth as a lake at sunset during those bittersweet moments. I also experienced an unmistakable sense of balance as I listened to one piece after another. Things were not perfect (they never really are), but I knew they made sense, they held together well, they let me relax and get fully involved with the music. I knew that these speakers couldn’t repro-duce the bass foundation as impressively as

our reference speakers, but I found myself accepting that readily, as if the performers were playing in a much larger hall. Too bad each selection had become so short!

—Albert Simon

Shopping for perfection is always more than a little stressful. Trying to find a bar-gain at the same time adds to the challenge. Then there’s your partner to please, unless pleasing yourself is your only goal. This speaker could help solve all of those issues. Its playing instantly brought back a clear sonic memory of the UHF reference, its larger and more costly relative. A rich and pure harmonic balance, an enormously broad-in-the-beam sound stage, entirely authentic instrument timbres. And it is seri-ously better looking. Slim and elegant, it’s

very easy on the eyes. Any one of the trio of finishes offered will fit nicely into most every musical pleasure dome. The Episode moves the Reference 3A family of speakers forward, its tradition maintained.

—Steve Bourke

Sometimes the basic rightness of an audio product, but especially a loudspeaker, strikes you to the point where you pay no attention to the technical aspects of its execution. At that moment — I know I’m on well-trod ground here — it’s all about the music. That was also my impression the very first time I heard Daniel Dehay’s original 3A speakers nearly two decades ago. Same thing here. Put music into these speakers, and what comes out is a living thing.

—Gerard Rejskind

CROSSTALK


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EACH ISSUE costs $6.49 (in Canada) plus tax (13% in Québec, NB, NS and NF, 5% in other Provinces), US$7.69 in the USA, CAN$10.75 elsewhere (air mail included). Higher HST tax will apply in Ontario and BC on July 1, 2010. THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (issues 7-19 except 11, 15, 17 and 18) includes 9 issues but costs like 5. For VISA or MasterCard, include number, expiry date and signature. UHF Magazine, Box 65085, Place Longueuil, Longueuil, Qué., Canada J4K 5J4.Tel.: (450) 651-5720 FAX: (450) 651-3383, or www.uhfmag.com. Recent back issues are available electronically at www.magzee.com, for C$4.30 each, taxes included.

THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION:Issues No.7-19 (except 11, 15, 17 and 18, out of print): nine issues available for the price of five (see below). A piece of audio history. Available separately at the regular price.

No. 87: Digital: We review the April Music Eximus CD player, and we plug things into its digital inputs. We also try to get great sound from the increasingly popular Apple Airport Express. Analog: We listen to the Audiomat Phono-1.6, successor to our reference phono preamp, and a hand-wound step-up transformer from Allnic. Plus: A lovely little tube amp from Audio Space, the Pioneer BDP-11FD Blu-ray player, and a feature article on good sound in bad times.

No.86: Analog: We review the Scheu Analogue Premier II turntable and Cantus arm, and we try two phono preamps: the Allnic H-1200 and the Moon LP3. Also: We continue our investigation of speaker connectors by putting WBT nextgens on our reference cable, we listen to Beats head-phones, as well as the Shure SE530 and SE420 phones. We also put the Zoom H2 palm-sized digital recorder through a tough test. Plus: color space in home theatre, Paul Bergman on analog in a digital world.

No.85: Integrated amplifiers: the luxurious Sugden A21SE and the affordable Vecteur Ai4. We evaluate Eichmann’s new Quiessence cables, and chat with Keith Eichmann himself. We listen to a very good mid-priced speaker cable with four different connectors, and the results leave us stunned. Plus: We choose (and evaluate in depth) a new HDTV reference monitor, Paul Bergman winds up his series on acoustics, and we tell you how to transfer music to hard drive without saying you’re sorry.

No.84: Digital streaming: the awesome Linn Klimax DS and the Off-Ramp Turbo 2 interface. Also: the classic Harbeth HL5 speaker, the affordable Moon CD-1 and i-1 amplifier, and a great phono stage from Aurum. Plus: UHF chats with Linn’s Gilad Tiefenbrun and Harbeth’s Alan Shaw, Paul Bergman discusses signals for acoustic measurement, and we look at the pros-pects for 3-D…at home and in the cinema.

No.83: Digital: The Raysonic CD128 and a low-cost player from VisionQuest. Other reviews: The Moon LP5.3 phono stage, the Castle Richmond 7i speaker, the upscale Mavros cables from Atlas, and a retest of the Power Foundation III line filter, with a better power cord this time. Plus: The acoustics of speaker placement, the two meanings of video image contrast, and a portrait of super tenor Placido Domingo.

No.82: Amplifiers: A large sweet tube amplifier from Audio Space, the Reference 3.1, and the reincarnation of an old favorite, the Sugden A21. Digital: Bryston's first CD player, and the Blue Circle "Thingee," with USB at one end and lots of outputs at the other end. Plus: the BC Acoustique A3 speaker, a small subwoofer, two more London phono cartridges, line filters from AudioPrism and BIS, a blind test of three interconnects, Paul Bergman on soundproofing, and a thorough test of Sony's new-generation Blu-ray player

No.81: Digital: The newest two-box CD player from Reimyo, and the magical Linn Majik player. Headphones a new version of our long time reference headphones, from the Koss pro division, and the affordable SR-125 headphones from Grado. Plus: The astonishing Sonogram loudspeakers from Gershman, a small but lovely tube integrated amplifier from CEC, and the London Reference phono cartridge.

No.80: Equipment reviews: From Linn, the Artikulat 350A active speakers, the updated

LP12 turntable, the Klimax Kontrol preamplifier, and the Linto phono stage; ASW Genius 300 speakers, ModWright preamp and phono stage. Also: Bergman on absorbing low frequencies, emerging technologies for home theatre, and coverage of the Montreal Festival.

No.79: Digital players: Simaudio’s f lagship DVD (and CD) player, the Calypso, and Creek’s surprising economy EVO player. Phono stages: A slick tube unit from Marchand, and the superb Sonneteer Sedley, with USB input and output. Plus: the talented JAS Oscar loudspeakers, the Squeezebox plus our own monster power supply. Also: Bergman on what absorbs sound and what doesn’t, what’s next in home theatre, Vegas 2007, and the secrets of the harmonica.

No.78: Integrated amplifiers: the affordable Creek EVO, and the (also affordable) Audio Space AS-3i. Loudspeaker cables: six of them from Atlas and Actinote, in a blind test. Plus: the astonishing Aurum Acoustics Integris 300B complete system, and its optional CD player/preamplifier. Whew! Also: Bergman on taming reverberation, how to put seven hours of uncom-pressed music on just one disc, and the one opera that even non-opera people know.

No.77: Electronics: The Simaudio Moon P-8 preamplifier, the successor to the legendary Bryston 2B power amp, the Antique Sound Lab Lux DT phono stage. Plus: the Reimyo DAP-777 converter, an affordable CD player/integrated amp pair from CEC, and five power cords. Also: Paul Bergman on room size and acoustics, how to dezone foreign DVDs, and how to make your own 24/96 high resolution discs at home.

No.76: Loudspeakers: a new look at the modern version of the Totem Mani-2, an affordable ELAC speaker with a Heil tweeter, and the even more affordable Castle Richmond 3i. Plus headphone amps from Lehmann, CEC and Benchmark, a charger that can do all your portables, and the Squeezebox 3, which gets true hi-fi music from your computer to your stereo system. Bergman on speaker impedance and how to measure it.

No.75: Amplifiers: The new Simaudio Moon W-8 flagship, and integrated amps from Copland (the CTA-405) and CEC. Speakers: the Reference 3a Veena and the Energy Reference Connoisseur reborn. Plus the Benchmark DAC converter. And also: Bergman on the changing concept of hi-fi and stereo, a chat with FIM’s Winston Ma, and the rediscovery of a great Baroque composer, Christoph Graupner.

No.74: Amplifiers: Mimetism 15.2, Qinpu A-8000, Raysonic SP-100, Cyrus 8vs and Rogue Stereo 90. More reviews: Atlantis Argentera speaker, Cyrus CD8X player, GutWire MaxCon2 line filter, Harmony remote, Music Studio 10 record-ing software. Cables: Atlas, Stager, BIS and DNM, including a look at how length affects digital cables. Plus: the (hi-fi) digital jukebox, why HDTV doesn’t always mean what you think, and Reine Lessard on The Man Who Invented Rock’n’Roll.

No.73: Integrated amplifiers: Audiomat Récital and Exposure 2010S. Analog: Turntables from Roksan (Radius 5) and Goldring (the Rega-designed GR2), plus two cartridges, and four phono stages from CEC, Marchand and Goldring. The Harmonix Reimyo CD player, Audiomat Maestro DAC, ASW Genius 400 speakers, and the Sonneteer BardOne wireless system. Plus: Paul Bergman on the making of an LP and why they don’t all sound the same.

No.72: Music from data: We look at ways you can make your own audiophile CDs with equip-ment you already have, and we test a DAC that

yields hi-fi from your computer. We review the new Audio Reference speakers, the updated Connoisseur single-ended tube amp, upscale Actinote cables, and Gershman’s Acoustic Art panels. How to tune up your system for an inex-pensive performance boost. And much more.

No.71: Small speaker: Reference 3a Dulcet, Totem Rainmaker, and a low cost speaker from France. A blind cable test: five cables from Atlas, and a Wireworld cable with different connectors (Eichmann, WBT nextgen, and Wireworld). The McCormack UDP-1 universal player, muRata super tweeters, Simaudio I-3 amp and Equinox CD player. Paul Bergman examines differences behind two-channel stereo and multichannel.

No.70: How SACD won the war…or how DVD-A blew it. Reviews: Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal player and Shanling SCD-T200 player. Speakers: Reference 3a Royal Virtuoso, Equation 25, Wilson Benesch Curve. Other reviews: Simaudio W-5LE amp, the iPod as an audiophile source. Plus: future video screens, and the eternal music of George Gershwin

No.69: Tube Electronics: Audiomat Opéra , Connoisseur SE-2 and Copland CSA29 inte-grated amps, and Shanling SP-80 monoblocks. Audiomat's Phono 1.5, Creek CD50, GutWire's NotePad and a music-related computer game that made us laugh out loud. Paul Bergman on the return of the tube, and how music critics did their best to kill the world’s greatest music.

No.68: Loudspeakers: Thiel CS2.4, Focus Audio FS688, Iliad B1. Electronics:Vecteur I-6.2 and Audiomat Arpège integrated ampli-fiers, Copland 306 multichannel tube preamp, Rega Fono MC. Also: Audio Note and Copland CD players, GutWire MaxCon power filter. And there’s more: all about power supplies, what’s coming beyond DVD, and a chat with YBA’s Yves-Bernard André.

No.67: Loudspeakers: An improved Reference 3a MM de Capo, and the Living Voice Avatar OBX-R. Centre speakers from Castle, JMLab, ProAc, Thiel, Totem and Vandersteen. One of them joins our Kappa system. Two multichannel amps from Copland and Vecteur. Plus: plans for a DIY platform for placing a centre speaker atop any TV set, Paul Bergman on the elements of acoustics, and women in country music.

No.66: Reviews: the Jadis DA-30 amplifier, the Copland 305 tube preamp and 520 solid state amp. Plus: the amazing Shanling CD player, Castle Stirling speakers, and a remote control that tells you what to watch. Also: Bergman on biwiring and biamplification, singer Janis Ian’s alternative take on music downloading, and a chat with Opus 3’s Jan-Eric Persson.

No.65: Back to Vinyl: setting up an analog system, reviews of Rega P9 turntable, and phono preamps from Rega, Musical Fidelity and Lehmann. The Kappa reference system for home theatre: choosing our HDTV monitor, plus a review of the Moon Stellar DVD player. Anti-vibration: Atacama, Symposium, Golden Sound, Solid-Tech, Audioprism, Tenderfeet. Plus an interview with Rega’s turntable designer,.

No.64: Speakers: Totem M1 Signature and Hawk, Visonik E352. YBA Passion Intégré amp, Cambridge IsoMagic (followup), better batteries for audio-to-go. Plus: the truth about upsampling, an improvement to our LP cleaning machine, an interview with Ray Kimber.

No.63: Tube amps: ASL Leyla & Passion A11. Vecteur Espace speakers, 2 intercon-nects (Harmonic Technology Eichmann), 5 speaker cables (Pierre Gabr iel, vdH ,

Harmonic Technology, Eichmann), 4 power cords (Wireworld, Harmonic Technology, Eichmann, ESP). Plus: Paul Bergman on soundproof ing, compar ing components in the store, big-screen TV’s to stay away from, a look back at the Beatles revolution.

No.62: Amplifiers: Vecteur I-4, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista M3, Antique Sound Lab MG-S11DT. Passive preamps: Creek and Antique Sound Lab. Vecteur L-4 CD player. Interconnects: VdH Integration, Wireworld Soltice. Plus: the right to copy music, for now. Choosing a DVD player by features. And all about music for the movies.

No.61: Digital: Audiomat Tempo and Cambridge Isomagic DACs, Vecteur D-2 transport. Speakers: Osborn Mini Tower and Mirage OM-9. Soundcare Superspikes. And: new surround formats, dezon-ing DVD players.

No.60: Speakers: Monitor Audio Silver 9, Reference 3a MM De Capo, Klipsch RB-5, Coincident Triumph Signature. Plus: a Mirage subwoofer and the Audiomat Solfège amp. Paul Bergman on reproducing extreme lows.

No.59: CD players: Moon Eclipse, Linn Ikemi and Genki, Rega Jupiter/Io, Cambridge D500. Plus: Oskar Kithara speaker, with Heil tweeter. And: transferring LP to CD, the truth on digital radio, digital cinema vs MaxiVision 48.

No.58: Amplifiers: ASL AQ1003, Passion I10 & I11, Rogue 88, Jadis Orchestra Reference, Linar 250. Headphone amps: Creek, Antique Sound Lab, NVA, Audio Valve. Plus: Foundation Research LC-2 line filter, Gutwire power cord, Pierre Gabriel ML-1 2000 cable. And: building your own machine to clean LP’s.

No.57: Speakers: Dynaudio Contour 1.3, Gershman X-1/SW-1, Coincident Super Triumph Signature, Castle Inversion 15, Oskar Aulos. PLUS: KR 18 tube amp. Music Revolution: the next 5 years. Give your Hi-Fi a Fall Tune-Up.

No.56: Integrated amps: Simaudio I-5, Roksan Caspian, Myryad MI120, Vecteur Club 10, NVA AP10 Also: Cambridge T500 tuner, Totem Forest. Phono stages: Creek, Lehmann, Audiomat. Interconnects: Actinote, Van den Hul, Pierre Gabriel. Plus: Paul Bergman on power and cur-rent…why you need both

No.55: CD players: Linn CD12, Copland CDA-289, Roksan Caspian, AMC CD8a. Other reviews: Enigma Oremus speaker, Magenta ADE-24 black box. Plus: the DSD challenge for the next audio disc, pirate music on the Net, the explosion of off-air video choices.

No.54: Electronics: Creek A52se, Simaudio W-3 and W-5 amps. Copland CSA-303, Sima P-400 and F.T. Audio preamps (two of them passive). Musical Fidelity X-DAC revisited, Ergo AMT phones, 4 line filters, 2 interconnects..

No.53: Loudspeakers:Reference 3a Intégrale, Energy Veritas v2.8, Epos ES30, Totem Shaman, Mirage 390is, Castle Eden. Bergman on biamp-ing, biwiring, balanced lines, and more.

No.52: CD players: Alchemist Nexus, Cambridge CD6, YBA Intégré, Musical Fidelity X-DAC, Assemblage DAC-2. Subwoofers: Energy ES-8 and NHT PS-8. Plus: Paul Bergman on reproduc-ing deep bass, and behind digital television.

SEE MORE AT:http://www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html

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Though it’s the f irst t ime a speaker from Audes has crossed our threshold, the company is not completely

new to us. A large Audes model was featured in our report on CES in 2001 (it’s on page 27 of UHF No. 61 if you want to look it up). Its prominent ears led us to the natural headline: “Your speaker is ready, Batman.” All laughing aside, we said it had more than respect-able sound. So does the Orpheus, the Estonian company’s f lagship speaker, and cer-tainly its most luxurious. Audes has decidedly non-hi-fi ori-gins. In the days of the Soviet Union, it made transformers and cable for the Red Army (well, actually the Soviet

defense ministry). Even before the age of perestroika, it had begun designing and building home entertainment systems under the brand name Estonia, eventu-ally changing its name to the present one. (Audes is a town in the Auvergne region of France, though we doubt that’s the reason for the name.) Audes makes small, relatively inex-pensive speakers as well, but the Orpheus is the company’s flagship. Check the ash black burled wood sides (the panels are from Italy), and you’ll see where some of the money has been spent, but there are lots of luxury touches inside as well: Mundorf capacitors, Cardas binding posts (just one pair, not two), and point-to-point wiring rather than circuit

boards. The tweeter is in a separate vibration-absorbent housing, and so is the crossover. The cabinet is elaborate, with no parallel surfaces to sustain internal standing waves. It is massive, certainly, but it is also narrow, in order to maintain a strong stereo image. For that reason, the 25 cm woofer has been mounted on the side. The speakers are to be oriented so that the woofers face each other (and woe to anything that gets in between!). Both the woofer and the midrange drivers are proprietary, though the tweeter is a SEAS Millennium. The mid-range driver is very nearly a woofer in its own right, because Audes has placed the crossover point at a low 120 Hz. That places a difficult job on the figurative shoulders of that driver, which needs to handle the five octaves from 120 to 1,900 Hz. They get away with it, as we shall see, and in spectacular fashion too. It offers a major advantage over the usual practice in three-way speakers of having the crossover point right around Middle C. That would mean that, right in the most important part of the music, there would be two dissimilar drivers playing at the same time. This is a reflex speaker, with two huge ports at the rear. It is, however, possible to plug up the ports with the massive supplied stoppers. Audes says that may be advantageous for use with tube amplifiers. There are no grilles supplied, except for the cloth covering the woofer. The screws holding in the midrange and tweeter are not really hidden, but they are so unobtrusive you barely notice them. The speakers are shipped with rubber feet, as you can see in the picture, but you can (and should) substitute the included spike tips. Our speakers had been shipped more than once around the continent, however, and half our spike tips had been lost. Not wanting to handicap them with rubber feet, we placed them on machined Tenderfoot cones instead. During the break-in period (though they weren’t factory new, they had not been fully run-in) we were playing music from a remote computer, funnelled through an Airport Express, a Cyrus

Audes Orpheus



converter and a single-ended tube ampli-fier. We could tell that the Audes were going to deliver on their promise: they sounded smooth, natural and rich, with an almost chocolatey tone. The rest of this article can be found in the complete print or electronic version of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIs-sue.html (it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. The electronic issue is available from www.magzee.com. We now cont inue in imitat ion Latin. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et

volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait

vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait nia-mcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi. Commod dolestrud te te euis alis niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam, quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit luptat.






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acinibh erilla adignim num nim am, commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin velis dolore magna con ulla feugait augiamcore commy nisi. Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit, velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie verosting et vel utpat volorem quat adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit luptat, venibh erat. Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugue-ros niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si. Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis non-sequatue euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsan-dre magna aut nos at praestie velisl et augait. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer

suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del

Brand/model: Audes OrpheusPrice: US$16,000Size (HWD): 116 x 32 x 56 cmSensitivity: 88 dBImpedance: 6 ohmsMost liked: Astonishingly refined sound, powerful impact, limpid imageLeast liked: Difficult to match to some acoustical surroundingsVerdict: The looks say “luxury.” The sound says the same.

Summing it up…



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sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait nia-mcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil

lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi. Commod dolestrud te te euis alis niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con ut iusto.

Well, that was an afternoon well spent. Secret of the Andes — just another audio-phile test disc, I thought, but oh no, it’s good music! As a longtime reader, I know UHF likes to use the complex percussion as a speaker test, but the timing, the energy and invention in the piano part was a revelation with the big Audes speakers. They gave me music when I wasn’t expecting it. They also provided insight into the art of Jennifer Warnes. I’ve heard Famous Blue Raincoat many times and thought I knew it all, but again, no. Warnes uses her sweet voice to express bitterness only just held back, and it touched me more subtly than ever. Was there something the reference did better? Sure, the weight and impact of the lower bass for one thing. On the other hand I preferred the speed and slight warmth of the Orpheus’ midrange. Even at this level there are considerable differences among speakers. If you’re looking for gear this good, you’ll know you’ve found your speaker when you hear it and can’t forget it. Put the Orpheus

on your list and be ready for an audition that stretches on and on…

—Toby Earp

The listening session left me a little unsatisfied, not because I was in any way displeased with what I heard, but on the contrary, because it would have taken much, much longer to really savor what these loud-speakers can do. Beyond the sound they give this artist or that instrument, these loudspeakers ooze refinement. Their sound is complex, as real music is, and it invites closer listening. There may be more to your recordings than you had suspected, and these are the speakers that can let you hear it. I heard them extensively before the review session, while they were being broken in. Countless times, I was off doing something else, and they drew me in from the other room. Yes, they’re acoustically challenging, and they will require serious work to make them sound their best. But the potential rewards are great, because the Audes Orpheus are

reference-quality loudspeakers.—Gerard Rejskind

These speakers do a ton of things just right. They let me enjoy some aspects of the music I tended to disregard and brought to my attention some elements that I had not suspected such as the personal way in which an artist utters some lyrics. And they’re lightning fast too. So why was I not relaxed during and after the listening tests? You know what I mean. When something sounds so good, your brain eases its intense focus, letting the music flow freely and you can almost feel your features soften. Why did it not happen? I suspect it had to do with what was miss-ing. And no, I can’t be more specific because it wasn’t always missing. Sometimes what I heard was so good that I noticed only later that something else was absent. I can hear you say “Gee, why can’t this guy spell it out?” I know how you feel. On edge, aren’t you? That’s how I felt too.

—Albert Simon

CROSSTALK


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Whatever happened to two-box CD players? They succumbed to a new fashion: the single-

box player, and for good technical reasons: breaking the player down into two different chassis held together by an expensive digital cable wasn’t heads-up engineering. Today, however, even hard core audiophiles are moving their digital music onto the hard drives of their computers, and they’re doing much of their listening that way. They wish they could use the expensive digital-to-analog converters of their CD players for more than playing CDs. With a two-box player you can. But…er, this is a four-box player. Let us introduce you to the cast of characters. At top right is the XtSE transport. No, there isn’t a CD drawer. This is a slot-loading drive, like the one in your car and perhaps your computer. More on this in a moment. At top left is the digital-to-analog converter, the DAC X. The knob is not a volume control but a selector for setup. A version with built-in preamp does exist, however. The two units at the bottom are PSX-R power supplies. They are optional, and can be considered an add-on, which you can buy right away, or when your credit card comes out of intensive care. Cyrus — and Mission before that — has long offered add-on power blocks. The same PSX-R can be used with Cyrus amplifiers as well.

We should mention that you can get these goodies in a single-box player, the CD8SE (C$2399), to which you can also add a PSX-R. However we wanted to try the Cyrus technology with computer sources, and that is why we asked for the separates. We did in fact use the DAC X in evaluating Reference Recordings’ remarkable HRx recordings (see Hi-Res Music on DVD-R in this issue). Now let’s get a closer look.

The XtSE Compact Disc transport Very few high end manufacturers can afford the huge development costs of an original Compact Disc transport mechanism. With few exceptions, there-fore, they buy off-the-shelf transports, which may be from Sony or Pioneer, but are nearly always from Philips. That company’s products are chosen because they offer certain advantages, to be sure, but if you want to see steam coming out of a manufacturer’s ears, ask him what his dealings with Philips are like. (Actu-ally the dealings are with a third party, because Philips is a big company and doesn’t talk to leprechauns.) And since models change frequently, some buyers of expensive players get left high and dry. Ask us what happened to our original $9000 Moon DVD player! On second thought, who needs the aggravation? So what’s the alternative? In the past we’ve seen designers take the economy road, and buy computer-grade drives. The rationale: computers have zero tolerance for errors — one

byte out of place and the program won’t run — so what could be better? The fly in the ointment (and the flawin the reasoning): computers don’t have to read data in real time. But technology has advanced, and a technique that was once premature, to say the least, may have seen its time finally arrive. The major advance has been the availability of large memory chips that can be used as a buffer for the music data so that it need not be read directly from the physical disc. Computer audio already works this way, and so do iPods. The mechanism retrieves the data and loads it into computer memory, a process that can be done perfectly, just the way data is retrieved from software discs. The actual playback is done from the data in the buffer, which doesn’t suffer from the problems associated with the often-shoddy mechanical parts of the drive. Today, a memory chip with capac-ity for the entire contents of a Compact Disc (0.7 GB) costs nearly nothing, and indeed it is difficult to find one that small. So…is Cyrus actually using a com-puter-grade drive in its transport? Well, it’s a slot-loader, so you figure it out. If that truly is the case, the electronic part of the transport, the one without moving parts, is where the technical cleverness lies. Some of the passages from the Cyrus literature would need Dan Brown to decode them, but the main claim is that the transport has been engineered “to retrieve data from an audio CD with the fewest errors…and to provide much better quality audio than has been possible with conventional drives.” No objections from us. The XtSE has a very good backlit LCD screen, though as usual we wish it were large enough to be readable from across the room. It can be programmed in various ways, for instance to remem-ber to skip the song that was her favorite before she walked out on you. There are coaxial and optical outputs, but no AES/EBU balanced jack, and

The Four-Box Cyrus CD Player



another pair of jacks for connecting to the proprietary Cyrus MC Bus control system. There is of course a five-pin XLR jack for the optional power supply. The supplied remote is large and made from silvery plastic. Most of its buttons are for other products, includ-ing Cyrus amplifiers and home theatre surround sound systems.

The DAC X converter The presence of a knob on the front of the converter had us fooled, especially since the analog output jacks are labelled as a fixed output. Were the two jacks adjacent actually a variable output? Was this converter actually a six-input digi-tal preamplifier? That sounded rather exciting. But no, the second pair of jacks is for the same MC Bus, for integration with other Cyrus products. The knob is for selecting names for the inputs so that they’re not merely called Input 1, Input 2, etc. (you choose from a list, you can’t call an input “Molly”). However Cyrus actually does have a version with a built in preamp, the DAC XP, for about $2000 more. The preamp module is even available as an upgrade, though we don’t see that option on the price list. There are plenty of jacks at the rear, apart those already mentioned. The first two inputs are optical, the next four coaxial. There are three pairs of analog outputs, one of them coaxial, two others balanced. Finally there is an optical digital output for whatever outboard gear your system may include. The DAC X has a backlit LCD screen like that of the transport. It shows the input selected (by name, if you’ve assigned one to it), and also the sampling rate of the incoming signal. In an age of varied audio resolutions, we wish all converters had that.

The PSX-R power blocks These are versatile add-ons, which can be used with pretty much anything Cyrus makes. We know the importance of a robust power source, and we have had occasion to use a PSX-R supply with a Cyrus amplifier. Does it make a difference? As Sarah Palin would say, you betcha. When it comes to that, we recall using a similar add-on power block with

an amplifier from the Cyrus ancestor, Mission. The PSX-R has no controls of its own beyond a front-panel power button. It has a captive 55 cm power cord with a female five-pin XLR connector. One clever detail: if you turn off the product it is plugged into, the PSX-R will go into standby mode, and its green LED will glow orange. When it is used with the XtSE transport, it takes over the powering of the motors, leaving the transport’s own power supply to take care of the electronics. That division of labor means the product being “helped” by a PSX-R still needs its own power cord. And that means our four-box player needed four power cords! As usual, we don’t handicap products we test by using the cheap molded cords supplied. We used four of our own shielded cords, plugged them into a GutWire StingRay hospital-grade power bar, and plugged the power bar into our power line filter. We strongly recommend that anyone buying these components do likewise.

Getting down to listening By the t ime we were ready for this session, we had already heard the DAC X, since it was one of the three converters we used in the evaluation of the Reference Recordings HRx DVDs. It had done well, without quite the ulti-mate refinement of the more expensive Audiomat Tempo 2.6 converter we had borrowed, but it had brought to the table added dynamic tension, seemingly resulting from its PSX-R power supply. We did most of our listening with the PSX-R’s in place, comparing only at the end. The digital cable linking the transport and converter was an Atlas Opus, in the usual 1.5 m length. We found putting a CD into the narrow slot initially unnerving, as if we should fear that it wouldn’t give it back. In reality, of course, a conventional drawer can just as easily jam, and it was merely a question of getting accustomed to it. We began the session with our long-time choral favorite, Now the Green Blade Riseth (the Red Book CD version, of course, Proprius PRCD9093). This wonderful recording is astonishingly

lifelike, but it falls apart completely if there’s anything wrong in the playback. Well, that certainly didn’t happen, but there was a certain alteration of texture, and all three of us noticed it. What was it? “It’s gorgeous, there’s lots of detail and the individual choral voices are well defined,” said Albert, “but there’s a price to be paid. The singers sound good, but their voices don’t flow. I won’t go so far as to say that the sound is grainy, but the texture isn’t the same.” Steve agreed, even finding a subtle touch of harshness in the voices. Said Gerard, “It’s pretty good, and it’s even smooth-sounding, but…” The rest of this article can be found in the complete print or electronic version of UHF No. 84. Order the print issue from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIs-sue.html (it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. The electronic issue is available from www.magzee.com. We now cont inue in imitat ion Latin. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse






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quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl

dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait nia-mcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od

exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi. Commod dolestrud te te euis alis niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam, quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit luptat. Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-modolore commy num veniam dolut wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore modo conse modolortio et nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip exer summodion vullaore duis euismod ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tion-senit lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duis-cilla adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi. Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem iustie magna core duipit wismod modit vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu ismodoloreet at. Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat. Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etum-san diametu mmodoloreet lore volore faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat

Brand/model: Cyrus XtSE, DAC X and PSX-RPrice: C$1,999 (transport), C$2599 (DAC), $1050 (PSX-R)Price as tested: C$6698, equivalent to about US$6296Size (WDH): 21.2 x 34.8 x 7 cm, each unitMost liked: Tight, smooth perfor-mance, especially with the PSX-R blocksLeast liked: Occasional alteration of natural texturesVerdict: A great CD playback system, with plenty of provision for the future

Summing it up…



acinibh erilla adignim num nim am, commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin velis dolore magna con ulla feugait augiamcore commy nisi. Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit, velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie verosting et vel utpat volorem quat adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit luptat, venibh erat. Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugue-ros niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si. Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis non-sequatue euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsan-dre magna aut nos at praestie velisl et augait. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore

facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio

commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam.

Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facip-sum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enis-mod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis

dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henisci-dunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore

facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatisci-dunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsan-drem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu.

CROSSTALK


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Cambridge is famous for being one of the few companies to bring bearable digital to what even non-audiophiles

would consider affordable prices. The company moved in the upscale direction with its Azur series, but it is still making an effort to deliver perceived value for money. And this converter fits perfectly into the tradition. This is the second time around for the DACMagic name. The earlier one was reviewed in UHF No. 50. A later version, which was on the cover of issue No. 62, was a combination digital-to-analog converter and anti-vibration platform. Its second cable allowed it to “talk” with the matching CD transport, so they could keep their stories straight. It then had HDCD decoding, too. Albert still owns one. This new one is totally different, and it is very nearly unique. Over the past decade, one-box CD players have taken over the market. Now, however, a CD transport is just one of the digital components audiophiles want access to. The times they are a-changin’…back. The new DACMagic has updated specs, as it must have. It can handle high-resolution 24-bit audio, at sampling rates of 32, 44.1, 88.2 or 96 kHz. It has two digital inputs (coaxial or optical), switchable from the front panel, and — this is unusual — it has a USB input so you can connect up a computer that has music files on it. There are both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. Is there anything they’ve forgotten? The box is compact, and a holder lets you place it on end if that’s more conve-

nient. The power supply is a 12 volt wall wart, which made Toby Earp wonder whether you could hook up a battery to it. No, because the wall wart puts out AC, not DC, but of course a tweaker might want to find a better electrical source. What country is the DACMagic made in? It’s from “an ISO9001 approved facility,” says the rear panel cryptically. Before we performed this review we had already listened to it with high-resolution computer audio (see Hi-Res Music on DV-R in this issue), and we knew it was at least pretty good. But now we were going to put it up against one of our big guns: our Linn Unidisk player. We do own a reference transport, a CEC TL-51X, but in order to avoid an uncontrolled variable we used the Linn itself as the transport for the DACMagic, connecting the two boxes with an Atlas Opus digital cable. We began the listening session with one of our favorite violin recordings, of Canadian violinist James Ehnes playing Dvorak’s Romantic Pieces (Analekta FL 2 3191). With our reference player the tone of Ehnes’ Stradivarius was perfectly bal-anced, and the accompaniment by pianist Eduard Laurel sparkled like a stream in the sun. “That’s a hard act to follow,” commented Toby. Indeed, though, the Cambridge’s version sounded very good, and would no doubt have been rated highly by anyone making this sort of comparison. Gerard was pleased by the smoothness of the violin, with none of the awful screechi-ness of bad digital sources, though he found it to be more discreet, without the delicious sound of the resinous bow

on the strings. “Ghostly and synthetic,” were the words chosen by Toby. He continued: “Some notes need to sound rich, such as the bridge notes between sections, and the music loses a little of its interest if they don’t have all of that richness. The pace is still strong, but without all of that wavelike swelling and receding effect.” We continued with Plainte d’amour, an art song by Pauline Viardot-Garcia set to a mazurka by her friend Chopin (sung by Isabel Bayrakdarian, Analekta AN 2 9903). Properly reproduced, it is delicious in its dark tone of sadness and longing. How did the Cambridge do? “Midway through I stopped comparing because there was no point,” said Toby. We were able to identify the differ-ences well enough. In this song, Bayrak-darian’s supple soprano voice sometimes rises in pitch and volume to deliver lovely trills. With the Cambridge those trills were harder, which took away from the effortlessness of the performance. The ending in a minor key with deliberate dissonance (the theme here is no longer love, but death) was less dramatic. “But the song did manage to touch me in some spots,” said Toby. He had fewer reservations concern-ing Barbra Streisand’s If You Go Away from the second disc of Love is the Answer. “The performance is so intense that I was taken in from the start,” he said. Barbra’s voice retained its warm, intimate tone. There were, however, some unwel-come changes. “The sibilance is not really natural anyway,” said Gerard, “only now it contaminates not only the “s” sounds, but also the “sh” and “f” sounds. The image was weaker, with Barbra more to the left. “Her voice is still very much present,” said Toby approv-ingly, “but it’s less encapsulated — there’s less of a feeling of a diaphragm, lungs and torso at work.” We continued with a classic jazz recording, You Look Good to Me, from the FIM re-release of the Ray Brown Trio’s We Get Requests. Did Brown’s thundering bass have less weight with the Cambridge? Toby thought so, though Gerard declared himself pleased with the considerable bottom end. The swing that Oscar Peterson put into his piano play-

Cambridge DACMagic

Another unique feature! You know how most audio magazines do their reviews: a number of reviewers, some with doubtful “reference” systems, are assigned reviews of individual components. UHF, on the other hand, maintains actual reference systems, on which all reviews are done. All our reviewers participate in each review. The main article is based on the concensus, if there is one, but sometimes on divergence. And then each reviewer gets to write a “Crosstalk,” a personal com-ment, which may even disagree with the others. There is no pressure to confirm. What you read is really what we think. And that is what makes UHF unique.



ing remained communicative, though the notes were more percussive. “Is Brown singing scat in the background?” asked Toby. He asked to hear the piece again 2 dB louder. “Whatever it was, there sure is a lot of detail,” he said. “In any case, it was worth hearing a second time.” We ended with The Beatles’ Because from the Love album. The harmony from the three Beatles (actually six, because John, Paul and George overdubbed themselves) remained strong. “It’s a little flatter and ‘whiter,’” said Toby, “but it’s still great.” The subtle sounds of nature inserted into the pauses were possibly less subtle. The breeze became more evident, and Toby was tempted to swat the fly that buzzed by his right ear. Or was it a bee, as Gerard thought it was? When it was over we listened to the DVD-Audio version from the second disc of the set. Yes, it was a fly.

We ran instrument tests on the DACMagic, still connected to our Linn. We were surprised by the 100 Hz square wave, above left, which had unusually high ringing on the leading edge, though not the trailing edge. The top is tilted, indicating a mild but significant rolloff of high frequencies. The DAC’s filter has three settings (linear, max and min; we used the “min” setting.

The low level (-60 dB) 1 kHz sine wave, above right, is contaminated by noise, but it is otherwise well-shaped. Of course this inexpensive con-verter can’t quite keep up with our very expensive universal player, nor had we expected it to, but at several points during the session we expressed amaze-ment that Cambridge has delivered such performance at what we consider low cost. The DACMagic is resolutely new school, too, and it has connections that more expensive, and theoretically “better,” DACs don’t have. Need coaxial? Got it. Optical? Of course. What about a USB connection for your computer? It’s right there. That, we should add, is a fea-ture that is an option from Benchmark, an option that costs more than half the price of the whole DACMagic. The conclusion? The DACMagic is a bargain.

The one-box CD player phenomenon had pretty much swept affordable converters like this one right off the market, and for good reason, I guess. Putting everything on the same chassis made sense. Only now it doesn’t, because computers are more and more coming into their own as music sources. Yes, even among hard-core audiophiles. This device has all the connections you could want, and its performance is a delight. It is thoroughly modern, with none of the flaws I associate with junk digital: shrillness, flattening of depth cues, or truncated bass. At worst, on some recordings you can tell it’s working hard. Even so, I wonder how it would do with a better power supply.

As I write this I haven’t made a deci-sion, but I am strongly tempted to buy the DACMagic. I can think of a couple of places I could use it.

—Gerard Rejskind

Is it fair to compare this little DAC’s sonics to those of a player costing thousands and truly capable of magic? There are musical moments a piece of gear has to reproduce, or one goes back to the drawing board. The ritardandos in the Ehnes violin piece, the pause near the end of the Viardot-Garcia song, the intensity of the Streisand performance, the rhythm and pace of the Peterson trio — all came through.

There are loads of detail, perhaps a bit too much. Ray Brown’s strings buzzed against the fingerboard a bit too strongly for me. I didn’t like the size and proximity of the fly on the Beatles track. It should just help to set the stage for a summer evening, but the DAC-Magic turned it into a big bug, and I wanted to swat it. There is some midrange hardness; I didn’t like the way Oscar’s piano notes lost their shape and became percussive. Still, the DACMagic does the basics right, and it has really up-to-date connec-tivity. Let’s say that the most truly magical thing about it is the fact that it does all it does at its price.

—Toby Earp

CROSSTALK

Brand/model: Cambridge DACMagicPrice: C$529/US$479Size (WDH): 21.5 x 19 x 5.2 cmMost liked: Great connectivity, modern innards, terrific valueLeast liked: Less effortless than the best playersVerdict: Is Cambridge the only com-pany with its eye on the future?

Summing it up…


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It was an easy joke to make, but it was all too pertinent. If you bought these phono preamplifiers and forgot them on a bus, the SWAT

team would establish a perimeter of security! The Fon Lo Thingee is from the mind of Blue Circle’s Gilbert Yeung, and he’s no newcomer to unique designs. He’s the guy who once built a preampli-fier into a woman’s bright red handbag…with monoblock amplifiers in the match-ing shoes. To his surprise — and ours too frankly — they sold in large numbers. These products, like the excellent Thingee USB interface we reviewed in UHF No. 82 (and which impressed us enough that it can be found at our Audiophile Store), are built into rigid pipes, and sealed in with translucent epoxy. The pipe is lined with copper for shielding, though the ends are left open. The pipe at right, lying down on the job, is the moving coil version of the preamp. The pipe just to its left is the moving magnet version. At the front is the basic power supply you get with the lowest-cost option of either version. At far left is the Biggie Pipe power supply (Gilbert doesn’t hold back on the whimsy when he names his products either), and the even fatter pipe next to it is the SP Condenser Pack, another option which

gives the power supply ever increasing muscle. The Basic power supply has a captive power cord and a red-and-white output cord ending in an XLR connector. The Biggie Pipe power supply is a bigger version of it, but it has an IEC socket, so that you can use the included molded cord, or (if you’re wise) something else. We, of course, used a shielded cord. The optional SP Condenser Pack, which fits between power supply and preamp, has an XLR jack and one of those red-and-white cords to lead to the preamp of your choice. We wish Gilbert hadn’t used a three-pin XLR like the ones used in audio. We picture a user, one dark and stormy night, plugging an expensive micro-phone into one of the power supplies. Laugh if you will, but remember that the reason European security rules frown on banana plugs is that, one such dark night, a Swede just back from tossing back a few with his friends decided that there could be no better time to rewire his stereo, and he plugged his speaker leads into the 230 volt AC outlet! The power supplies and the capacitor plugs have pilot lights to indicate they’re on, but you don’t see them, because they’re on the inside of the epoxy sealant. Their light can of course be glimpsed,

since the epoxy is translucent, and if you unplug the units from the wall, the lights on both the Biggie Pipe supply and the SP Capacitor Pack will continue to glow for several minutes. Because this is a modular system, the price a Fon Lo Thingee preamplifier will cost you will depend on the modules you choose (see Summing Up on page 46). You can mix and match to your heart’s content, as long as your choice includes one preamp and one power supply. Because these are (at least) two distinct products, we pretty much had to schedule two distinct listening ses-sions. We did, the same day and one after the other, but in different reference systems.

The Fon Lo Thingee MM We held the first session in the Omega room, where our Linn LP12 turntable is equipped with the superlative London Reference cartridge. Though it isn’t actually a moving magnet cartridge (it isn’t an MC cartridge either), its 5 mV nominal output puts it in the MM camp. We put the Fon Lo up against our Audiomat Phono-1.6, plugged into our Moon P-8 preamplifier with Atlas Mavros cables. We listened to our selected recordings with the Audiomat, and then with the full Blue Circle kit: the preamp, the Biggie Pipe and the SP Capacitor Pack, using the same intercon-nect cables. The rest of this article can be found in the complete print or electronic version of UHF No. 88. Order the print issue from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIs-sue.html (it’s case sensitive). Or subscribe at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. The electronic issue is available from www.magzee.com. We now cont inue in imitat ion Latin. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue

Blue Circle Phono





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velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait nia-mcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi. Commod dolestrud te te euis alis

niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam, quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit luptat. Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-modolore commy num veniam dolut wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore modo conse modolortio et nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip exer summodion vullaore duis euismod ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tion-senit lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duis-cilla adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi. Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem iustie magna core duipit wismod modit vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu ismodoloreet at. Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat. Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etum-san diametu mmodoloreet lore volore faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat acinibh erilla adignim num nim am, commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin velis dolore magna con ulla feugait augiamcore commy nisi. Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit,

Brand/model: Blue Circle Fon Lo ThingeePrices (in US dollars): MM & stan-dard supply: $349MM & Biggie Pipe supply: $549MM & SP Capacitor Pack & standard supply: $749MM & SP Capacitor Pack & Biggie Pipe supply: $949MC & with standard supply: $374MC & Biggie Pipe supply: $574MC & SP Capacitor Pack & standard supply: $774MC & SP Capacitor Pack and Biggie Pipe supply: $974Dimensions: varied Most liked: Good sound for a bargain price, especially the basic versionLeast liked: Heard of the wife Acceptance Factor? You just think you have!Verdict: As the VW ads used to say, “it’s ugly, but it gets you there”

Summing it up…


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ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse

quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt.

Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facip-sum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enis-mod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed

euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henisci-dunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatisci-dunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem

zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsan-drem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dionsendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea fac-cums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim.

CROSSTALK


BIS Audio is one of those small companies that would rather be known for making good products than for its growth

rate or its revenue-to-equity ratio. It’s a cable company. We have had occasion to review a number of its products, including interconnects, power cables and power bars, and they have yet to disappoint us. Whereas many cable designers work with cable they obtain on the market, possibly (but not always) modified, BIS designer Bernard Brien buys individual wires. He’s not one to give away trade information — not even to us — so there’s not much we can tell you about the inner workings of these cables. Oh, he does have one secret he’s will-ing to share: he listens to his products before he puts them on the market. What a concept!

The BIS Expression interconnects There are three copper conductors in this cable, even though it isn’t balanced. The two that carry signal are arranged in a pair of inverse spirals. The third is a shield. You may recognize the con-nectors, which are ETI’s Bullet Plugs. We are on record as big fans of these connectors. The 1 m pair costs C$480 (equivalent

to about US$450 as we write this. We listened to them in our Omega system, placing them between our Linn Unidisk player and our Moon P-8 preamplifier. Our long-time reference is from Pierre Gabriel, and cost about the same as the Expression…plus $1200 or so! We selected two particularly reveal-ing CDs and settled in for some rather pleasant listening. The first selection is Pauline Viardot Garcia’s Haï Luli (Analekta AN 2 9093). This gorgeous song was stunning with both cables, which didn’t come as a surprise, but were there significant differences? Certainly they weren’t huge. Both Albert and Gerard wrote on their sheets that the piano notes flowed like a spar-kling mountain stream. Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian’s voice was clear, and took its place in the palpable space (that of the Oscar Peterson Hall in Montreal — no artificial reverb here). Pacing was excel-lent, and Isabel’s variations in tempo — slow and languorous, to rapid, to a near stop — were especially effective. “I could hear her breathe more clearly with the Expression,” said Steve, “and her highest notes were wonderful. They can be really troublesome.” Was the Expression the ultimate

winner over its much more expensive competitor? Perhaps not quite. Albert thought the performance was superb, but had found the song more touching with our own cable. Such differences are not always easy to qualify. The second selection was I Got Lost in His Arms from Margie Gibson’s Say It With Music (Sheffield CD-36). We often consider it to be the best song on an entire album of terrific songs, because it’s so… Let’s just say you have to hear it for yourself. “You know,” said Gerard, “when we first listened to the Unidisk player, this was the song that persuaded me that it had to become our reference. With this cable the music is not quite as lively, but the difference is subtle, and in musical terms this version just works.” Albert agreed. “Of course her voice doesn’t have quite the same roundness, as though there were less emphasis on the bottom end. But what does come through is reproduced with a remarkable mix of clarity and smoothness. Very interesting.” Steve, for his part, wasn’t in the mood to search for flaws. “I liked the subtlety, the gentle vibrato in Margie’s voice,” he said. After this brief session Albert asked to listen to the Expressions at home, where he placed them between his Cambridge IsoMagic DAC and his Copland CTA-305 preamplifier. He was comparing them to a cable that, long ago, had come from The Audiophile Store: a Wireworld Equinox fitted with WBT Topline 0108 locking plugs. His first impression: on recordings with a lot happening, with a great many voices and instruments, the BIS Expression really shows off its mettle. Ah well, perhaps some other time BIS Audio will disappoint us. Not this time.

The BIS USB cable The what? We’ll forgive you for being skeptical, because we went into this session not expecting much. Audio cables — whether interconnects or speaker wires — carry the actual analog representation of the music. Get any part of it wrong, and…well, it will come out wrong at the other end. But no analog

Two BIS Cables

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information travels directly along a USB cable. It’s digital, so what can go wrong? But wait a minute, we’ve always said (and our blind tests have borne out) that digital cables do make a difference. We use upscale digital coaxial cables ourselves between a digital source and a digital-to-analog converter. We’ve even proved, through another blind test, that the length of a digital cable has an audible effect, and sometimes a radical one. Yes, length matters… But wait a minute, didn’t Denon, last year, bring out an Ethernet cable (Ethernet is also digital) that cost $500? And didn’t they get hooted at for it by the on-line hordes? Does a “hi-fi” USB cable make any more sense? After all, bits are bits…well, you know the drill. But there’s a difference between Eth-ernet and USB. Ethernet is asynchronous, meaning that data is sent in packets that contain no clock data (a synchronous version exists, but is not widely used). USB is isosynchronous, which means that several data streams are transmitted at the same time. Is it then, conceivable, that USB might have a cable-related vulnerability that Ethernet does not? In any case, the shortcomings of USB for the transmission of audio have been documented by music professionals who wish it were better. There have been complaints that, in a portable computer with two USB connections, one of the two will “sound” better than another. That doesn’t appear to be the case of the MacBook Pro portable we used for this evaluation, but we concede it may be true in some cases. “Ordinary” USB cables considered suitable for either “slow” USB 1.0 or “high speed” USB 2.0, can cost between $2 and $10. As far as we had been able to determine in the past, the cost dif-ference is due mainly to construction quality. That is nothing to sneeze at, but it wouldn’t seem to be a fit subject for a listening comparison. BIS claims superior performance for its USB cables, which cost between C$120 and $180, depending on the length. We did our listening with the 1.8 m (six-foot) cable, which costs C$150. For the comparison we pulled out our Edirol UA-25 interface box (you can see

its picture on page 34 of UHF No. 87). It is designed for audio recording on a computer, and so it contains both a DAC and its mirror image, an analog-to-digital converter. Though some USB-connected products have their own power supplies, the Edirol draws its power from the USB bus itself. The cable needs to carry that too, of course. For the sake of comparison we used the generic beige USB cable that came with the Edirol. We listened to three music files that were on the MacBook Pro, all of them of course without compression. We began with one of the selections we had used in the first cable test, Haï Luli. Even listening with the generic cable we were reminded how good computer audio can be. You would need a pretty good CD player to beat this. And with the fancy USB cable? Initially we weren’t sure (and remem-ber, we hadn’t come into this session expecting much of a difference). Were we imagining things? The piano accom-panying the song seemed to have more body. “Her voice too,” said Albert. “It seems to be richer, with more round-ness. I think the text is easier to follow as well.” But he added he was reserving judgement until he had heard the other two selections. We then listened to the Scherzo from Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 (Reference Recordings RR-81CD). Once again, even what we heard with the generic cable surprised us. “No wonder so many audiophiles are moving their digital music to hard drives,” said Gerard. Good as it was, it was noticeably better with the BIS cable, with the full orchestra taking on more of a ferocious

tone, full of angry, chaotic energy. In the softer passages following, the wood-winds had a particularly delicious tone, their distinctive timbres coming across as totally natural. “It seems to me there’s more of a feeling of space too,” said Albert, “and the orchestra has more weight, more substance.” Finally, Margie Gibson’s CD, a favor-ite of ours, partly because it is so reveal-ing, but also because we hardly need an excuse to play it again. We selected You Keep Coming Back Like a Song. It was superior with the BIS cable, and this time there was no doubt about it. Both Albert and Gerard indepen-dently wrote down the same thing: more presence. Of course presence is not something Margie Gibson lacks anyway, but the impression that she was actually in the room was enhanced. “Listen to the way she glides across the notes!” said Gerard. Albert admired the excellent articulation of voice and instruments. At the very end the cellist draws his bow against two strings, and the dissonant effect was clearer with what we were starting to think of as the “good” cable. But we wanted to be sure, and so we listened again with the beige cable, then with the BIS cable. No more doubt was possible. “With the cheap cable her voice has less body, and the piano is off in its own bubble,” said Albert. “With the good cable everything is right again. And the sound is natural, it’s not some sweetened version of reality.” Conclusion? USB cables make a dif-ference. We don’t know why, but if the bloggers want to laugh at this company, we’ll be here to defend it.

About the Audiophile Store The eight pages that follow are a catalog for The Audiophile Store. The store belongs to UHF, and it is stocked with accessories and record-ings that we recommend? Do we have a conflict of interest? Actually we don’t, because anything we don’t like doesn’t make it to the store. We’re not tempted to cheat, be-cause the credibility we’ve built up over the years is worth a lot more than a few sales. If a competitor makes something better, so be it, and we’ll even say so in a review. And the store actually protects us from potential conflicts. In the past, advertisers have attempted to shake us down, threatening to cancel their ads if we published something negative. It hasn’t happened for a while, but then everyone knows it won’t work. The Audiophile Store puts eight pages of advertising in every issue, and those are pages no one can cancel. Check out the store, ot its on-line counterpart. We think there’s great stuff there. If we didn’t think so, it wouldn’t be there.


Do you use headphones only at home, where it’s nice and quiet? More and more head-phone fans wander out into

a decidedly noisy world. The ubiquitous iPod is one obvious reason, but pretty much everywhere silence has become a rare commodity. Hence the appeal of noise-cancelling headphones. Dreadful as these phones once were, they’re getting better…sufficiently better that we’re willing to put them up against our studio-grade reference phones. But don’t underestimate how bad they used to be and for the most part still are (we still have a pair of Jensen phones you couldn’t pay us to wear). In UHF No. 86 we shook down the Beats by Dr. Dre, and they were good enough we could actually ignore the noise-cancelling feature. Now along come the AblePlanet NC300W (the “W” stands for “white,” but it’s available in black as well). It offers much of what the Beats do (exactly how much, we shall see), at a lower price: US$130 versus US$300 (street prices are generally lower). How does noise-cancellation work? In fact it doesn’t, except at low frequen-

cies. A microphone picks up the ambient rumble and mixes it out of phase with the desired audio. And voilà, they cancel. Or they’re supposed to. It’s difficult to pull this off well, and cheaper noise-cancel-ling phones sound grungy. Of course they require batteries, and some models won’t work once the batteries die. The Beats are silent if its two AAA batteries run out of juice. The AblePlanets will work without their single AAA battery (supplied), though they don’t sound too terrific that way. Next to the on-off switch is an exceedingly bright red LED which reminds you that your battery current is trickling away. That can make you look a little like a borg when you’re wearing them, but more than once we had over-looked the much more discreet LED on the Beats, and found ourselves with no sound. The killer feature of the Beats was their comfort, perhaps the best we have run across. The AblePlanets don’t quite meet that standard, but they’re more than pretty good: light in weight, and a good fit on the ears without excessive pressure. Like the Beats, this model has a detachable cord. It doesn’t have the slim

plug to fit iPhones, but it does have an in-line volume control. That’s a handy

feature for a reason that may not be obvious. Powered phones are

sensitive enough to let you hear hiss from a headphone

amp. The in-line con-trol lets you drop the

sensitivity. We suspec t there’s some signal processing going on too. What the compa ny ca l l s “Linx Audio” is bil led as allow-

ing you to listen at lower levels (and

thus not risking your hearing) and st ill hear

everything you want to hear. We connected out trusty Audio Alchemy headphone amp to the record out jacks of our Moon P-8 preamplifier. We selected two familiar CDs, listening to them with our reference (the Koss Pro/4AAA we have owned for many years), and then the AblePlanets. We then listened to a third selection with both phones, this one from our iPod touch. The first selection is a challenge: the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (from Organ Treasures, Opus 3 CD22031). This is not some little organ in a small country church! It sounded impressive with our refer-ence phones, but it was plenty impressive with the AblePlanets as well. “But I have the impression I’m seated farther back,” said Gerard, “under the balcony, which would also place me under the organ chest.” That aside, the bottom end was solid. Albert noted the considerable contrast between soft and loud passages, though he found the loud ones less than effortless. Because the phones are active they are also abnormally sensitive. This is an advantage if you’re using a portable player, but with a headphone amplifier you can make out some background hiss. Lowering the volume with the in-line control alters more than the volume, however. Albert found a satisfactory balance by playing with the control, but Gerard set it to full on.

AblePlanet Phones

http://www.tricell-ent.com


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We continued with Margie Gibson’s Soft Lights and Sweet Music from her album Say It With Music. It sounded smooth…in fact entirely too smooth, “as though my head were wrapped in cotton batting,” said Albert. Gerard found much the same thing, and ceded to the temptation to listen louder than he normally would. “But that’s not a good thing.” The final song, from the iPod touch, was Song of the Vagabonds from baritone Earl Wrightson’s 60’s album An Evening with Rudolf Friml. It came through very well, with no sign of strain, and nu mud-diness. Wrightson’s powerful voice was solid, with what seemed to be extra detail in his higher overtones — possibly not really natural, but perfectly acceptable. The words were easy to follow, perhaps easier than with the reference. Albert

however found the orchestral instru-ments less detailed than he would have wanted. He asked to hear the same piece with other headphones, and he played it with the back-of-head Sennheiser PMX 40 phones Gerard uses out of doors. “It’s something else,” he said, “completely different. They give the orchestral detail I was missing, but it’s accompanied by a coloration I don’t find natural.” We still had the Beats phones on hand, and we listened to the Wrightson piece with those too. Albert actually preferred them to the reference for the fatter bass, which had an extra dimen-sion. Gerard thought the Beats brought him closer to the music, possibly a good thing, and he praised the effortless extended range. “Actually, all the headphones are

colored,” said Albert, “more so than the best loudspeakers. But all in all I like the AblePlanets. They’re comfortable, and there’s something special about them.” The AblePlanets share a drawback with the Beats: they may keep outside noise out, but they sure don’t keep music in. You won’t want to use them next to someone who is trying to sleep, and you might even hesitate to run in tight quarters, such as an airline coach section, at least if your fellow passenger is bigger than you are. AblePlanet does intend this model for travel, however. It comes with a very nice semi-rigid travel case to protect them on the go. AblePlanet, we should mention, bills these phones as “affordable,” and it offers several others, up to and including US$300.

Coming up in issue No. 89 of

Liquid Crystal HDTV:Does LED backlighting make it the equal of plasma?

We get our hands on the latest..

We’ll bring you news of what we found atCES 2010, with our usual unique take.

We’ll review a pair of floorstanding speakers with Heil tweeters, an exotic tube preamplifier,a very small tube headphone amp

AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!

THE AUDIOPHILE STORE 53

www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

SILVER SOLDERThis is a lovely solder, from the company that makes Enacom line filters (which we also like). Wakø-Tech solder contains 4% silver, no lead.ORDER: SR-4N, 100 g solder roll, $59.95

SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTSIN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG

www,uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

TWO CABLES INTO ONE JACKNeed to feed two preamps into two amps? This solid Y-adapter (two jacks into one phono plug) is gold over brass, with Teflon dielectric.ORDER: FYA, one pair Y adapters, $20

ATLAS NAVIGATOROxygen-free continuous cast (OCC) cable: each strand is a single copper crystal. Two internal conductors, plus double shielding. The double shielding is copper mylar plus close-lapped 99.997% pure OCC copper multi-stranded screen providing 100% RFI protection. This premium “All-Cu” version (shown here) uses solid copper connectors that are also continuous cast. The copper is then silver-plated and double-shielded. We use two in our reference systems.ORDER: ANA-1 All-Cu, 1m, $405, ANA-2 All-Cu, 2m, $495ORDER: ANAB-1 All-Cu balanced, single crystal XLR, 1m, $675

CONNECTOR TREATMENTDeOxit (formerly ProGold) cleans connections and promotes conductivity. Small wipes for cleaning accessible contacts, or a squirt bottle for connections you can’t reach. ORDER: PGW box 25 DeOxit wipes, $35ORDER: PGS, can DeOxit fluid, $35ORDER: PGB, both when ordered at the same time, $56

PRISMAL DUAL INTERCONNECT

This Swiss-made cable has especially solid connectors. Teflon dielectric. oxygen-free copper Toss your “free” interconnects!ORDER: PD-1, 1 meter pair Prisma Dual Interconnect, $34.95

INTERCONNECTS

ATLAS COMPASS DIGITAL

Excellent performance at an affordable price. Single crystal pure copper. The 1.5m version sounds way better than a 1m.ORDER: ACD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $160

ATLAS HYPER SPEAKER CABLESA big winner in one of UHF’s blind tests of speaker cables is Hyper 2, an oxygen free stranded wire in Teflon dielectric.. Plus connectors (we recommend Eichmann Bayonet Bananas, $99.95/set, two sets needed for AH2, three for biwire).ORDER: AH2, Hyper 2 cable, $29.95/metreORDER: AHB, Hyper Biwire cable, $49.95/metre

ATLAS MAVROS CABLESWe’ve adopted them for our Alpha system, which sounds better than ever before. This is a four-wire monocrystal cable with porous Teflon dielectric. We are not recommending them with standard bananas or spaces, but we offer them either with ETI Bayonet Bananas, at no extra cost, or WBT nextgen..

ORDER: AMBCu-3, 3 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $2150ORDER: AMBCu-5, 5 m pair, Bayonet bananas, $3850ORDER: AMSCu-3, 3 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $2390ORDER: AMSCu-5, 5 m pair, WBT nextgen bananas, $4090

SPEAKER CABLES

DIGITAL CABLES

ATLAS EQUATORPerhaps the best $150 interconnect cable you could buy. Only it costs just $90. And yes, that’s in Canadian funds. Other lengths on order.ORDER: AE-1, 1 m pair Atlas Equator, $90ORDER: AE-2, 2 m pair Atlas Equator, $125

ATLAS ICHOR SPEAKER CABLE

Continuous-cast single-crystal cable, ready for biwiring. It costs just $235 per meter of double cable (a 2 m pair has 4 meters of wire). We suggest adding the Eichmann Bayonet bananas, $99.95 per set of 4, or Furutech connectors, $70 a set of 4..

ATLAS QUESTORThis could be the world’s lowest-cost interconnect with single-crystal copper. It has the same connectors as the Equator (below), and we thought it sounded like a much more expensive cable. However it is discontinued, and we have only the 2 m length left.ORDER: AQ-2, 2 m pair Atlas Questor, $180

ATLAS QUADSTARTerrific in our blind test.With Eichmann Bullet plugs, or balanced with Neutrik XLR's. Silver solder included with kit.ORDER: AQS-1 pair Quadstar kit, 1m $124.95ORDER: AQS-1A pair Quadstar assembled, 1m $199.95ORDER: AQS-X pair Quadstar balanced kit, 1m $95.95ORDER: AQS-XA pair Quadstar balanced, assembled, 1m $169.95

SINGLE CRYSTAL JUMPERSNot biwiring? Dump the free jumpers that came with your speakers. Atlas jumpers are made from single-crystal copper, gold-plated spades.ORDER: ACJ, four single crystal jumpers, $99.95

ATLAS OPUS DIGITALWe dumped our reference cable for this one! And to be at its very best, it has to be this length.ORDER: AOD-1.5 digital cable, 1.5m, $399

TOSLINK OPTICAL DIGITALThe best we’ve found yet, though we’re still looking. Add the mini-TOSLINK

adapter for Airport Express or computers with hybrid jacks.ORDER: TD-1 TOSLINK cable, 1m length $22.95ORDER: TMT mini-TOSLINK adapter, $3.95

MAVROS INTERCONNECTSTruly terrific, a pair of these connects our phono preamp to the preamp of our Omega system

ORDER: AMI-1, 1 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1195ORDER: AMI-2, 2 m Mavros interconnect pair, $1895

EICHMANN BAYONET BANANASThe Eichmann Bayonet Banana uses a minimum of metal, and tellurium copper at that, but clicks tightly into any binding post with spring action. For soldering or crimping, or both.ORDER: EBB kit 4 bayonet bananas, $99.95

CONNECTORS

EICHMANN BULLET PLUGSThe first phono plug to maintain the impedance of the cable by using metal only as an extension of the wire. Hollow tube centre pin, tiny spring for ground. Two contacts for soldering, two-screw strain relief. Gold over copper. Got silver cable? Get the unique Silver Bullets!ORDER: EBP kit 4 Bullet Plugs, $77.95ORDER: EBPA kit 4 Silver Bullets, $154.95

EICHMANN CABLE PODSMinimum metal, gold over tellurium copper. Unique clamp system: the back button turns but the clamp doesn’t. Solder to it, or plug an Eichmann banana into it, even from inside!ORDER: ECP, set of four posts, $119.95

EICHMANN SPADESReady to solder, in gold-plated copper, or pure silver. Two sizes, plus extra narrow for barrier strips (McIntosh, Vandersteen, etc.). Price for sets of four.A. ORDER: EXB, set of 4, barrier strips, (now discontinued)B. ORDER: EXQ, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), $32C. ORDER: EXQA, set of 4, 1/4" (6.3 mm), silver, $55D. ORDER: EXF, set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), $44E. ORDER: EXF,A set of 4, 5/16" (8 mm), silver, $67

http://www.uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

54 THE AUDIOPHILE STORE


MOON PHONO PREAMPSSimaudio has done it: come up with a world-class phono preamp that does magic. The LP5.3 is one of the best available. Adjustable MM/MC. ORDER: Moon LP5.3, silver (black available on special order), $1599.

Special price on interconnect, one with an LP5.3 order.ORDER: ANA-1 Navigator All-Cu, 1m, $405, for $260 ORDER: ANA-2 Navigator All-Cu, 2m, $495 for $350 ORDER: ANAB-1 Navigator balanced, 1m, $675, for $475 ORDER: AMI-1, 1 meter Mavros, $1195, for $895 ORDER: AMI-2, 2 meter Mavros, $1895, for $1495

Even more astonishing: the LP3 includes much of the LP5.3 technology, still offers MM/MC, but costs only a fraction. Lively and musical, it’s difficult to match.ORDER: Moon LP3, $599Special price on interconnect, one with an LP3 order.ORDER AQS-1, Kit ,1 m Quadstar, $124.95, for $59.95 ORDER AQS-1A, Fully assembled Quadstar, $199.95, for $99.95

NOTE: The Moon preamps are shipped set for moving magnet setting. We’ll reset it to your specification so you won’t have to.

LP RECORD CLEANER

Concentrated cleaner for LP vacuum cleaning machines. Much safer than some formulas we’ve seen! Half litre, mix with demineralized or distilled water to make 4 litres.ORDER: LPC, $19.95

LP SLEEVESKeep your records clean and scratch free. Replace dirty, torn or missing inner sleeves with soft-plastic-in-paper Nitty Gritty sleeves.ORDER: PDI, package of 30 sleeves, $30

ANALOG PRODUCTS MORE ANALOG…

ZEROSTAT ANTISTATIC PISTOLA classic adjunct to the brush is the Zerostat anti-static gun. Squeeze the trigger and release: it ionizes the air, which becomes conductive and drains off the static charge. By the way, it works for a lot more than LP’s. No batteries needed.ORDER: Z-1 Zerostat antistatic pistol, $94..95

EXSTATIC RECORD BRUSHThe Super eXstatic. Includes a hard velvet pad to get into the grooves, two sets of carbon fibre tufts. We use it every time!ORDER: GSX record brush, $36

J. A. MICHELL RECORD CLAMPClamp your LP to the turntableplatter. We use the J. A. Michell clamp, machined from nearly weightless aluminum. Drop it on, press down, tighten the knob.ORDER: MRC Michell record clamp, $75ORDER: MRC-R clamp for Rega and short spindles, $85

TITAN STYLUS LUBRICANTAmazing, but true: dabbing a bit of this stuff on your stylus every 2 or 3 LPs makes it glide through the groove instead of scraping. Fine artist’s brush not included, but readily available in many stores.ORDER: TSO-1 Titan stylus oil, $39.95

IF WE DON’T LIKE IT YOU WON’T SEE IT HERE

PRICES CAN CHANGE AFTER WE GO TO PRESS. WE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU THE BEST PRICE

For crimping connections to certain connectors from WBT or Furutech, we recommend the gold crimping sleeves from WBT, and the special crimping tool.

Buy the tool at the same time as appropriate WBT or Furutech connectors, and we’ll buy it back at the price you paid when you’re through.

ORDER: WBT-0403 crimping tool (refundable), $125.The sleeves are shown here, actual size.

WBT NEXTGEN CONNECTORS

WBT makes banana plugs and spades for speaker cables, all of which lock tightly into any post. All use crimping technology. These nextgen connectors are far superior to previous versionsORDER: WBT-0610 Kit 4 angled nextgen bananas, $130ORDER: WBT-0610Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver bananas, $290ORDER: WBT-0681 Kit 4 nextgen spades, $130ORDER: WBT-0681Ag Kit 4 nextgen silver spades, $220

The high-tech minimum metal “nextgen” phono plugs. Easy to solder, with locking collar. Silver version available.ORDER: WBT-0110, kit 4 nextgen copper plugs, $170ORDER: WBT-0110Ag, kit 4 nextgen silver plugs, $280

FURUTECH CONNECTORSRhodium-plated banana tightens under pressure. Installs like WBT banana. The spade installs the same way too..ORDER: FTB-R, set of four bananas, $70ORDER: FTS-R, set of four spades, $70

WBT-0431 0.75 mm sleeve $0.50WBT-0432 1 mm sleeve $0.50WBT-0433 1.5 mm sleeve $0.50WBT-0434 2.5 mm sleeve $0.50WBT-0435 4 mm sleeve $0.60WBT-0436 6 mm sleeve $0.70WBT-0437 10 mm sleeve $0.85WBT-0438 15 mm sleeve $0.95

MORE CONNECTORSLONDON REFERENCEYes we can supply the awesome London Reference phono cartridge that we have adopted for ourselves. Other models on special order. this unique cartridge has a line contact stylus, and an output of 5 mV…right for an MM preamp.ORDER: LRC cartridge, $4695

ATLAS QUADSTAR PHONO BOXGot a tone arm with a 5-pin DIN plug. Substitute this Quadstar cable and box, and add the interconnect of your choice. straight DIN (shown) needs 7 cm clearance. If you have less, get the version with an angled DIN plug.ORDER: AQPS, Quadstar phono box, $248ORDER: AQPA, Quadstar phono box, angled DIN, $248

GOLDRING ELITEIf you have limited funds and you want an MC cartridge with a line contact stylus, this is a great choice. It's a detuned version of the very expensive (but discontinued) Excel we still own.ORDER: GEC cartridge, $745



SUPER ANTENNA MkIIIOurs has no stupid rotary switch to muck things up, and with a 1.8m low-loss 75 ohm cable and gold-plated push-on F connector, it has low internal loss. Covers analog and digital TV bands as well as FM.ORDER: FM-S Super Antenna, MkIII, $55

MORE POWER TO YOUBetter access to electrical power. Change your 77-cent duplex outlets for these Hubbell hospital grade outlets. Insert a plug and it just snaps in. A tighter internal connection as well. The cheapest improvement you can make to your system.ORDER: AC-DA Hubbell duplex outlet, $23.95ORDER: AC-D20 20A duplex, red color, $28.95

UHF 14 POWER CORDNo budget for a premium cable? Make your own! We use several ourselves.

Foil-shielded, to avoid picking up or transmitting noise.

Assembled or as a kit. With Hubbell 8215 hospital grade plug and Schurter 15 A IEC 320 connector. For digital players, preamplifiers, tuners, and even medium-powered amplifiers.ORDER: UHF14-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, $74.95ORDER: UHF14-1.5 14 cable, assembled, $99..95Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra

20-AMPERE POWER CORDThis is the one with the big IEC connectors whose contacts are rotated the other way. It’s for certain large power amps and the Audioprism Power Foundation filter. Marinco 20 amp hospital-grade wall plug, which fits only a 20 amp wall outlet. Available with a 15 amp Hubbell wall plug instead.ORDER: UHF14-20-1.5 cable, assembled, $99.95Need it longer? Add $20 per metre extra

UHF/FURUTECH POWER CORDWe were so pleased with the performance of our UHF14 cable that we wanted to hear it with the upscale Furutech connectors. Wow! Pure copper IEC connector and copper/gold wall plug. ORDER: UHF14F-1.5K, 14 gauge power cable kit, 149.95ORDER: UHF14F-1.5 14 cable, assembled, 174.95

GUTWIRE G CLEF POWER CABLE

Multiple shielding, including external electrostatic shield connected to a clip. Used by UHF. Length 1.7 m, longer cords on order. G Clef2 has 195 conductors, 3 shields providing 98% shielding. Available optionally with 20A IEC plug (for amplifiers requiring special plug)ORDER: GGC G Clef, Square 1.7m, $385

Amazingly good at a much lower price are these two cord plugs from Eagle. Male and female versions.ORDER: AC-P1 Eagle male cord plug, $5.95ORDER: AC-PF Eagle female cord plug, $5.95

Making your own power cords for your equipment? You’ll need the hard-to-get IEC 320 connector to fit the gear.ORDER: AC-P3 10 ampere IEC 320 plug, $9.95ORDER: AC-P4 15 ampere Schurter IEC 320 plug, $18.95

STINGRAY POWER BARMost power bars knock voltage to your equipment way down, and generate more noise than a kindergarten class. The Gutwire Stingray Squared doesn’t. 12 gauge double-shielded cable, Hubbell hospital grade connectors at both ends. Indispensable!ORDER: GSR-2 Stingray Squared power bar, $285

ENACOM LINE FILTER

Economy price, but astonishingly effective, we wouldn’t run our system with less. It actually shorts out the hash on the power line. ORDER: EAC Enacom line filter, $105

CLEANER POWER

INSTANT CIRCUIT CHECKERPlug it into an AC outlet, and the three lights can indicate a missing ground, incorrect polarity, switched wires — five problems in all. The first thing we did after getting ours was phone the electrician.ORDER: ACA-1, Instant Circuit Checker, $21

HOSPITAL GRADE CONNECTIONWhen we put a quality AC plug on our kettle, boiling time dropped by 90 seconds! The best AC plug we have ever seen is the Hubbell 8215 hospital grade plug. It connects to wires under high pressure, and it should last forever.ORDER: AC-P2 Hubbell cord plug, $25.95

IEC ON YOUR DVD PLAYERWhy do big name DVD players come with those tiny two-prong plugs for their cords? A good shielded power cable will do wonders!ORDER: DVD-A, GutWire adapter, $39

AUDIOPRISM POWER FILTERThe Power Foundation III is a bargain, and does a wonderful job of cleaning the gunk from the power line. Requires 20A power cord (it has a different IEC connector. We recommend the UHF14, shown at right.ORDER: APF, Audioprism power line filter, $849ORDER: UHF14-20-1.5 cable, $99..95

SEE EVEN MORE PRODUCTSIN OUR ON-LINE CATALOG

www,uhfmag.com/AudiophileStore.html

IMPROVED CD WITH FINYLThe maker of Finyl claims it reduces surface reflections and provides a higher contrast image for the laser cell of your player. Use it just once. We get a lot of repeat orders on it. One kit can treat over 200 discs. Or order the refill.ORDER: F-1 Finyl kit, $40.00ORDER: F-1R Finyl refill, $35.00

CLEAN YOUR PLAYERAfter a few months, your player may have more trouble reading your CD’s. Unlike some commonly-available discs, the Milty CD lens cleaner is non-abrasive, so we use it and rest easy. Can be used wet or dry.ORDER: 2021 Milty CD lens cleaner, $35

BETTER DIGITAL

TURNTABLE BELT TREATMENTWhat this is not is a sticky goo for belts on their last legs. Rubber Renue removes oxidation from rubber belts, giving them a new lease on life. But what astonished us is what it does to even a brand new belt. Wipe down your belt every 3 months, and make analog sound better than ever.ORDER: RRU-100 drive belt treatment, $14.95

VINYL ESSENTIALS TEST LPThis precision-made German test record lets you check out channel identification, correct phase, crosstalk, the tracking ability of your cartridge (it’s a tougher test than the old Shure disc was, and the resonance of your tone arm and cartridge. When we need to test a turntable, this is the one we reach for.ORDER: LP 003, Image Hifi Test LP, $48.95

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TENDERFEETMachined cones are wonderful things to put under speakers or other audio equipment. They anchor it mechanically and decouple it acoustically at the same time. Tenderfeet come in various versions: tall (as shown) or flattened, in either anodized silver or black. Tall Tenderfeet have threaded holes for a machine screw, or for the optional hanger bolt, which lets you screw it into wood. If you have a fragile hardwood floor, add the optional Tendercup (shown above) to protect it.ORDER: TFG, tall silver Tenderfoot, $15ORDER: TFGN, tall black Tenderfoot, $16.50ORDER: TFP, flat silver Tenderfoot, $10ORDER: TCP, silver Tendercup, $10ORDER: THB, hanger bolt for Tenderfeet, each $0.80

Do you prefer spikes for your speakers? Target spikes and sockets mount in wood. Available with or without tools.ORDER: S4W kit, 8 spikes, sockets and tools, $39ORDER: S4WS kit, 8 spikes and sockets, $30

AN ON-THE-WALL IDEANeed to fasten a speaker securely to the wall? Nothing beats the Smarter Speaker Support for ease of installation or for sheer strength. And it holds the speaker off the wall, so it can be used even with rear-ported speakers. Easily adjustable with two hands, not three, tested to an incredible 23 kg! Glass-filled polycarbonate is unbreakable. Screws and anchors included, available in two colors.ORDER: SSPS, pair of black speaker supports, $29.95ORDER: SSPS-W, pair of white speaker supports, $29.95

AUDIOPHILE RECORDINGS, RECOMMENDED BY UHF STAFF

THE SUPERSPIKE

This is unique: a sealed unit containing a spike and a cup to receive it. It won’t scratch even hardwood floors. For speakers or equipment stands, on bare floors only. Four sizes of threaded shanks are available to fit speakers or stands.ORDER: SSKQ, 4 Superspikes, 1/4” shank, $75 ORDER: SSKT, 4 Superspikes, 5/16” shank, $75 ORDER: SSKS, 4 Superspikes, 6 mm shank, $75 ORDER: SSKH, 4 Superspikes, 8 mm shank, $75

WHAT SIZE SUPERSPIKE?A good ruler will let you figure it out. The stated size is the outer diameter of the threaded shank. Then count the threads:1/4” shank: 20 threads/inch5/16” shank: 18 threads/inchM6 (6mm) shank: 10 threads/cmM8 (8mm) shank: 8 threads/cm

OTHER SUPERSPIKESWe have also have a Superspike foot (at right) that replaces those useless feet on CD players, amps, etc., using the same screws to fasten them. And there’s a stick-on version (not shown) for other components.

ORDER: SSKF, 4 Superspike replacement feet, $80ORDER: SSKA, 3 stick-on Superspike feet, $50

SUPPORT SYSTEMS AUDIO-TAKIt’s blue, and it’s a sort of modelling clay that never dries. Anchor speakers to stands, cones to speakers, and damp out vibration. Leaflet with many suggested uses.ORDER: AT-2, Audio-Tak pack, $10

TARGET WALL STANDSWe keep our turntables on these, secure from floor vibrations, wonderful for CD players, amplifiers, and all components.

ORDER: VW-1 Target single-shelf wall stand, $225

ORDER: VW-2 Target dual-shelf wall stand, $280

SPEAKER STANDSYour “bookshelf” speaker shouldn’t be on a bookshelf. We have the four-pillar Target stands, in 24” or 28” height, ready to be filled with sand. ORDER: MR-24, one pair 24” Target stands, $325ORDER: MR-28, one pair 24” Target stands, $349

ISOBEARINGS ARE BACK!!!Long discontinued, this product from Audioprism

is back. Of the many anti-vibration products we have tried, this is the one that is by far most

effective for both vertical and lateral vibration (unfortunately some of the most famous ones don’t work at all). Each

Isobearing consists of a small ball and a cup to receive it.

There are two models, each with a weight rating. The rating indicates the maximum weight each Isobearing should bear, but for optimum performance it should bear at least half of its rated weight. Use three or more Isobearings, placed according to the weight of the different sections of the amplifier, digital player, etc. We now use Isobearings on our DVD player, and we’re glad they’re back.ORDER: ISO-M, single Isobearing, 2 kg/4.4 lbs $25 eachORDER: ISO-G, single Isobearing, 7.5 kg/17 lbs $40 each

REFERENCE RECORDINGSTutti (HDCD, SACD)A terrific symphonic sampler from Reference, with dazzling music by Bruckner, Stravinsky, etc. Also available as RR’s very first SACD release. Wow!

30th Anniversary Sampler (HDCD)A collection of excerpts from recent Reference albums.

Yerba Buena Bounce (HDCD)The (terrific) Hot Club of San Francisco is back, with great music, well-played, wonderfully recorded by “Profesor” Johnson!

Crown Imperial (HDCD)The second chapter of the famous Pomp&Pipes saga, with the Dallas Wind Symphony, in a set of perfectly recorded pieces in glorious HDCD.

Organ Odyssey (HDCD)Mary Preston, the organist of Crown Imperial, in a dazzling program of Widor, Mendelssohn, Vierne, and others.

Serenade (HDCD)A collection of choral pieces, wonderfully sung by the Turtle Creek Chorale, with perhaps the best sound Keith has given them yet.

Nojima Plays Liszt (HDCD)The famous 1986 recording of Minoru Nojima playing the B Minor Sonata and other works is back…in HDCD this time!

Nojima Plays Ravel (HDCD)Nojima’s other hit disc, now also in glorious HDCD.

Garden of Dreams (HDCD)David Maslanka’s evocative music for wind band.

Beachcomber (HDCD) �Fennell and the Dallas Wind Ensemble.Includes Tico Tico, A Chorus line, and a version of 76 Trombones you’ll remember for a long time.

Holst (LP) �From the composer of The Planets, 3 suites for wind band, plus the Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo.

Trittico (HDCD) �Large helping of wind band leader Frederick Fennell doing power-house music by Grieg, Albeniz, Nelhybel, etc. Complex and energetic.

Fennell Favorites (LP)The Dallas Wind Symphony: Bach, Brahms, Prokofiev and more. Fireworks on this rare Reference LP.



Jazz Hat (HDCD) �Pianist Michael Garson, in re-releases of some of his famous record-ings

Blazing Redheads (LP)Not all redheads, this all-female salsa-flavored big band adds a lot of red pepper to its music.

Felix Hell (HDCD)The young organ prodigy turns in mature versions of organ music of Liszt, Vierne, Rheinberger and Guilmant. Huge bottom end!

American Requiem (HDCD)Richard Danielpour's awesome Requiem mass is all about war, and about the hope for peace too, with a dedication tied to 9/11.

World Keys (HDCD)Astonishing young pianist Joel Fan amazes with music from all the world, including that of Prokofiev and Liszt

Ikon of Eros (HDCD)Huge suite for orchestra and chorus, by John Tavener. Inspired by Greek Orthodox tradition. Overwhelming HDCD sound.

PLUS THESE HDCD RECORDINGS:Pomp&Pipes (HDCD) �Requiem (HDCD) �From the Age of Swing (HDCD) �Swing is Here (HDCD) �Copland Symphony No. 3 (HDCD) �Medinah Sessions, two CDs for one (HDCD)Ports of Call (HDCD)Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (HDCD) �Ein Heldenleben (HDCD) �

SHEFFIELDSay It With Music (CD) �Margie Gibson sings Irving Berlin in what may be one the greatest jazz vocal recordings of all time. And she’s right in your living room!Growing Up in Hollywood Town (XRCD) �

The Amanda Albums (CD) �How did they do it? The two complete McBroom recordings, Growing Up in Hollywood Town and West of Oz, on one terrific CD

I’ve Got the Music in Me (CD) �This was originally Sheffield’s LAB-2 release. If you haven’t heard Thelma Houston belt out a song, you’re in for a treat.

Kodo (CD) A Japanese neo-folk group plays astonishing music, including a 400-pound drum that can take out a woofer. Or a wall!

Harry James & His Big Band (Gold CD) Harry said he would have done this recording for free, because he sounded better than ever.

The King James Version (CD) Harry James and his big band, live from the chapel!

Drum/Track Record (XRCD2) �

OPUS 3Test Records 1, 2 & 3 (SACD)A blast from the past! Here are 14 cuts from the samplers that launched Opus 3. They sound better than ever, too

Swingcerely Yours (SACD)An SACD re-re-release of tracks from superb vibraphonist Lars

Erstrand, from 1983 to 1995. Long overdue!

Unique Classical Guitar Collection (SACD)An SACD, mastered from analog, of some of Opus 3’s long-discontin-ued classical guitar LPs. Terrific!

Beyond (SACD)The second recording by the versatile guitarist Peder af Ugglas (who also did Autumn Shuffle, below), who plays every instrument there is: jazz, rock, blues, country. From Sweden???

Autumn Shuffle (SACD/LP)Ugglas plays a number of different guitars, and borrows from jazz, Blues, and (yes!) country. Piano, organ, trombone, bowed saw, etc.

Showcase 2005 (SACD)The latest Opus 3 sampler, with Eric Bibb, Mattias Wager, the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble and lots more, in glorious SACD.

Organ Treasures (SACD) �All those showpieces for big organ you remember hearing through huge systems…only with all of the power and the clarity of Super Audio. 4.1 channels, plus 2-channel CD.

Just Like Love (SACD/LP) �The newest from Eric Bibb, less oriented to Gospel and more to Blues. Bibb’s group, Needed Time, is not here, but he’s surrounded by half a dozen fine musicians. A nice recording. Hybrid SACD.

Comes Love (HDCD) �Another disc by the terrific Swedish Jazz Kings, led by saxophonist Tomas Ornberg, proving again Sweden understands jazz. The sound is luminous, sometimes dazzling.

It’s Right Here For You (HDCD) �Is there, anywhere, a better swing band than The Swedish Jazz Kings (formerly Tömas Ormberg’s Blue Five)? Closer to Kansas City than to Stockholm, they are captivating.

Test CD 4 (SACD)A sampler of Opus 3 performers, clearer than you’ve ever heard them before. Hybrid disc.

Test CD 5 (HDCD) �Another of Opus 3’s wonderful samplers, including blues, jazz, and classical music. A number of fine artists, captured with the usual pure Blumlein stereo setup. A treat.

Showcase (SACD/LP) �Available as a hybrid SACD/CD disc, or a gorgeously-cut LP, with selections from Opus 3 releases.

Good Stuff (DOUBLE 45 LP/HDCD/SACD) �As soothing as a summer breeze, this disc features singer Eric Bibb (son of Leon), singing and playing guitar along with his group. Subtle weaving of instrumentation, vivid sound.

Spirit and the Blues (DOUBLE 45 LP/CD/SACD) �Like his father, Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb understands the blues. He and the other musicians, all playing strictly acoustic instruments, have done a fine recording, and Opus 3 has made it sound exceptional.

Tiny Island (SACD)If you like Eric Bibb and his group Good Stuff as much as we do, pick this one up.

20th Anniversary Celebration Disc (HDCD) �A great sampler from Opus 3. Includes some exceptional fine pieces, jazz, folk and classical. The sound pickup is as good as it gets, and the

HDCD transfer is luminous.

Levande (CD) �The full recording from which “Tiden Bara Går” on Test Record No.1 is taken. Believe it or not, this great song isn’t even the best on the album! A fine singer, doing folklike material…and who cares about understanding the words?

Concertos for Double Bass (CD/SACD) �This album of modern and 19th Century music is a favorite for its deep, sensuous sound. And the music is worth discovering. It is sensu-ous and lyrical, a delight in every way.

Across the Bridge of Hope (SACD) An astonishing choral recording by the Erik Westberg Ensemble, famous for its Musica Sacra choral recording.

Musica Sacra (HDCD/SACD) �Test Record No.4 (LP) �

PROPRIUSAntiphone Blues (CD) �This famous disc offers an unusual mix: sax and organ! The disc includes Ellington, Negro spirituals, and some folk music. Electrify-ing performance, and the recording quality is unequalled.

Antiphone Blues (SACD/HDCD) �This is the Super Audio version, with a Red Book layer that is HDCD-encoded. The best of both worlds!

Now the Green Blade Riseth (CD/SACD) �Religious music done a new way: organ, chorus and modern orches-tra. Stunning music, arranged and performed by masters, and the effect is joyous. The sound is clear, and the sheer depth is unequalled on CD. The new SACD version is the very best SACD we have yet heard!

Jazz at the Pawnshop Set (SACD) �The entire set oin glorious SACD, plus a video DVD with interviews with the set’s creators.

Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (CD/SACD) �From the original master, another disc of jazz from this Swedish pub, with its lifelike 3-D sound. Now a classic in its own right.

Good Vibes (CD)The third volume of Jazz at the Pawnshop. And just as good!

Cantate Domino (CD/SACD) �This choral record is a classic of audiophile records. The title selec-tion is stunningly beautiful. The second half is Christmas music, and includes the most stunning version of O Holy Night we’ve ever heard.

Sketches of Standard (CD)

ANALEKTAViolonchello Español (CD) �I Musici de Montréal comes to Analekta, with a stunning album of Spanish and Spanish-like pieces for cello and orchestra.

Vivace (CD) �Classical or rock? Claude Lamothe plays two cellos at the same time in an amazing recording of modern compositions.

Pauline Viardot-Garcia (CD) �Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian steps into the role of 19th Century singer and composer Pauline Viardot so convincingly that listening to her is like going back in time. One of the best classical recordings of all time!



Romantic Pieces (CD) �How does James Ehnes manage to get such a sweet sound from his Stradivarius? Czech pieces from Smetana, Dvorak and Janacek. The playing is as glorious as the tone, and the sound is sumptuous.

Cantabile (CD)The Duo Similia is made up of striking blonde twins, who play flute and guitar. Familiar airs from Mozart, Fauré, Elgar, Ravel, lots more. Fine listening.

Nota del Sol (CD) �The Labrie twins are back, with a delightful recording of flute and guitar music by Piazzola, Pujol and Machado. Joyous works, wonder-fully played and recorded

Fantasia (CD)A third, gorgeous, recording by the twins, on flute and guitar.

Fritz Kreisler (CD)Possibly the best recording of Kreisler’s delightful violin music: James Ehnes and his Strad bring a new magic to this fine disc.

French Showpieces (CD) �Awesome violinist James Ehnes, with the Quebec City Symph. takes on Saint-Saëns, Berlioz, Chausson, Massenet, and more.

Handel (CD) �Superb soprano Karina Gauvin is joined by the Toronto chamber ensemble Tafelmusik in a series of glowing excerpts from Handel’s “Alcina” and “Agrippina.” The sound is smooth and lifelike, with an acute sense of place.

Little Notebook of Anna Magdalana Bach (CD) �Over 30 delightful pieces, most by Bach himself. Soprano Karina Gauvin’s voice is mated to Luc Beauséjour’s harpsichord work. The sound is deep, detailed and warm, truly of audiophile quality.

Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano (CD) �The wonderful soprano Karina Gauvin tackles the gorgeous but very difficult vocal music of Vivaldi: two motets and a psalm.

AUDIOQUESTMississipi Magic (CD/SACD)The legendary Blues, Gospel, rock and world beat singer and musi-cian Terry Evans, in an energetic recording we loved.

Come to Find (CD) �The first by Bluesman Doug McLeod, as impressive as the second, and no Blues fan should resist it.

You Can’t Take My Blues (CD) �Singer/songwriter Doug MacLeod and colleagues present one of the most satisfying Blues records ever made.

Unmarked Road (SACD)The third disc from the great blues singer and guitarist Doug McLeod is every bit as good as the first two.

Bluesquest sampler (CD)

SILENCETres Americas (CD)A gold audiophile disc of lively Latin fusion music. Irka Mateo and Tadeo de Marco sing and play, drawing their influence from Africa as well as their native Brazil. Clear, close-in sound.

Djembé Tigui (CD)This gold disc features the voice and percussion of African artist Sekou Camara, captured by the famous Soundfield microphone.

Camara died just before the disc was released. A long-time best-seller worldwide

Styles (CD)Is this ever a surprising disc! Violinist Marc Bélanger worked up these string études for his music students, but they actually deserve to be put out on a gold audiophile disc! The more strings he adds, the better it gets.

Fable (CD)Easygoing modern jazz by Rémi Bolduc and his quartet, on this gold disc. Some exceptional guitar and bass solos.

Musique Guy St-Onge (CD)One-man band St-Onge plays dozens of instruments — scores for fourteen films which never existed outside of his imagination. Fun pretext, clever, attractive music that makes you wish you could see the films!

HI-RES MUSIC (FOR DVD PLAYERS)Brazilian Soul (24/96 DVD)Guitarists Laurindo Almeida and Charlie Byrd, plus percussion and bass, in an intimate yet explosive recording of samba and bossa nova music. Great!

Jazz/Concord (24/96 DVD)It's 1972, and you have tickets to hear Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Jake Hanna at the Concord Jazz Festival. You won’t ever forget it. You can be there, with this high resolution disc that goes in your DVD.

Rhythm Willie (24/96DVD) �Guitarists Herb Ellis and Freddie Green, With bassist Ray Brown and others. This is an uncompressed 24 bit 96 kHz disc that can be played on any video DVD player. Awesome!

Trio (24/96 DVD) �Pianist Monty Alexander with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. “Makes CD sound seem as if it’s coming through a drinking straw.” Playable on any DVD player, uncompressed.

Seven Come Eleven (24/96 DVD)Herb Ellis and Ray Brown again, but this time with guitarist Joe Pass (he and Ellis alternate playing lead and rhythm), and a third guitarist, Jake Hanna. This is a live recording from the 1974 Concord Jazz Festival.

Soular Energy (24-96 DVD/ 24-192 DVD-Audio) �Perhaps the world’s greatest bassist, the late Ray Brown, playing with pianist Gene Harris, whom Brown called one of the greats. The proof is right on this 24/96 recording, made from the analog master. Side 2 has a 24/192 DVD-A version.

KLAVIEREvolution (CD)Lowell Graham and the USAF wind band, with two superb suites by Holst, plus music by Nelhybel, Hanson, etc. Lively, tactile sound with impact by Bruce Leek..

Poetics (CD) �A superb wind band recording which includes a breathtaking concerto for percussion.

Caprice (CD) �Can harp be spectacular? Believe it! This famous Klavier recording features Susann McDonald playing Fauré, Glinka and Liszt, is a powerhouse! Engineered by Keith O. Johnson, with a great transfer by Bruce Leek.

Sonatas for Flute and Harp These same great artists with sonatas by Krumpholz and Damase, as well as Spohr and Glinka. Oh yes, and a spectacular solo harp version of Ibert’s hilarious Entr’acte .

Norman Dello Joio (CD) �This contemporary composer delights in the tactile sound of the wind band, and the Keystone Wind Ensemble does his music justice. So does the sound, of astonishing quality!

Carmina Burana (CD)The celebrated Carl Orff oratorio sends chills down your spine, thanks to the huge orchestra, gigantic choir, and of course the clarity and depth of the Klavier sound.

Obseción (CD)The Trio Amadé plays Piazzola, Berstein, Copland, and Emilion Cólon…who is the trio cellist. The Colón and Piazzola is definitely worth the price of admission. Lifelike sound.

Misbehavin’ (CD) The superb Denver Brass does Gershwin (Cuban Overture, Porgy and Bess), plus On the Town, Sweet Georgia Brown, and of course Ain’t Misbehavin’. Great sound.

Hemispheres (CD)The North Texas Wind Symphony with new music by contemporary composers who know how to thrill. Some of the best wind band sound available.

Illuminations (CD)Absolutely great chamber musicians take on music by Villa-Lobos, Malcolm Arnold, and some composers you may not know but you’ll wish you did. Sublime sound, nothing less.

Kickin’ the Clouds Away (CD)Gershwin died more than 60 years ago, but you can hear him playing piano in glowing stereo. Nineteen of his pieces are on this fine CD, including a solo piano version of the Rhapsody in Blue.

FIRST/LAST IMPRESSIONSLa Fille Mal Gardée (XRCD)A fine ballet with the Royal Ballet Company orchestra, from the original 1962 Decca recording. Exceptional

Film Spectacular II (XRCD)The orchestra of Stanley Black plays some of the greatest film music of bygone years. From the original Decca Phase 4 tape.

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante (XRCD)Igor and David Oistrakh with the Moscow Philharmonic, in a glorious 1963 recording, from the original master tape

Artistry oi Linda Rosenthal (HDCD) �The great violinist Rosenthal plays favorites: Hora Staccato, Per-petuum Mobile, Debussy’s Beau Soir, etc.

Suite Española (XRCD) �The Albéniz suite, gorgeously orchestrated by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, who conducts the New Philharmonia. Beautifully remastered from the original 1963 tape.

Audiophile Reference IV (SACD) �A stunning sampler, with recognizable audiophile selections you have never heard sound this good!

Songs My Dad Taught Me (HDCD)Jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro and three other musicians, with a retro collection of unforgettable tunes.



Café Blue (HDCD/CD) �Gold HDCD version of jazz singer Patricia Barber’s 1994 classic, an audiophile underground favorite. Or get the original CD, at lower cost.

MISCELLANEOUSPipes Rhode Island �John Marks recorded this tour of the organs of the tiny state, with amazing tones, captured in astonishing sound

All We Need to Know �Jazz singer Margie Gibson’s first album since Say It With Music, on Sheffield. No one sings the way she does!

Classica d’Oro (CD)All of the classical world’s most important heritage, on 50 audiophile-quality gold CDs, at under $4 per CD. Fine artists from Germany, Austria, the UK, Eastern Europe. Listen to excerpts on line.

Blues for the Saxophone Club (HDCD) �Swing jazz pianist Jeremy Monteiro, with guest artists, including saxophonist Ernie Watts. The HDCD sound is explosive!

My Foolish Heart (CD)A collection of live and atudio pieces by Monteiro and other musi-cians, notably saxophonist Ernie Watts

Neil Diamond: Serenade (CD)Just eight songs on this European CBS disc, but what songs! I’ve Been This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, Reggae Strut, The Gift of Song, and more. Glowing sound too.

Harry Belafonte (CD)We haven’t heard Belafonte sound like this except on analog. The 16 songs include Island in the Sun, Jamaica Farewell, Midnight Special, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Brown Skin Girl, etc.

Sources (CD) �A wonderful recording by Bïa (pronounced Bee-yah). She’s Brazilian, lives in France, recorded this terrific album (in 5 languages!) in Montreal. Just her warm voice and guitar,

La mémoire du vent (CD)The original recording by Bïa, in French, Portuguese and English. If you love her second one, don’t hesitate.

Carmin (CD) �The third by Bïa. Different this time, with more money for production, but it has been spent wisely. Superb songs, gloriously sung in Portu-guese, French and the ancient Aymara language.

Coeur vagabond (CD)Bïa sings French songs in Portuguese, Brazilian songs in French. A delight, as usual from this astonishing singer

Nocturno (CD)Some are saying that this is Bïa’s best and most touching album since Sources. See if you agree. You won’t be disappointed.

PURE PLEASURE LPs Duke Ellington 70th Birthday Concert (LP) A double 180-gram LP set, recorded live in England Includes Take the ‘A’ Train, Satin Doll, Perdido, many others.

Is That All There Is? (LP) Yes, it’s a 180-gram vinyl version of what must be Peggy Lee’s most famous album. Includes Me and My Shadow, I’m a Woman, Don’t Smoke in Bed, more.

Blue Rose (LP)In the 50’s, Rosemary Clooney was at the top of her form, with a technique that sends chills down your spine. She is accompanied by Duke Ellington and his musicians. She does definitive versions of Ellington songs, such as Sophisticated Lady, It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing, I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good. This is a mono LP, but listen to hear how great mono could be!

After Midnight (LP) A mono double-album of Nat King Cole’s greatest performances, with his own trio. Includes Sometimes I’m Happy, Caravan, It’s Only a Paper Moon, Route 66, You Can Depend on Me. A great classic, available on premium vinyl once more..

Payment by VISA or MasterCard, cheque or money order (in Canada). All merchandise is guaranteed unless explicitly sold “as is.” Certain items (the Super Antenna, the EAC line filter, and most standard-length cables) may be returned within 21 days less shipping cost. Other items may be subject to a restocking charge. Defective recordings will be exchanged for new copies.

HERE’S HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR SHIPPING COST:IN CANADA: up to $30, 7%, up to $60, 5%, above $60 not counting taxes, free. In Canada shipping costs are taxable.TO THE USA: up to $30, 10%, up to $60 7%, above $60, 5%.TO OTHER COUNTRIES: up to $30, 18%. Up to $60, 15%. Above $60, 10%, MINIMUM $6. Magazines, books and taxes are not counted toward the total.

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VINYL ALBUMSAfter Midnight (2 LP) W782 48.00Autumn Shuffle LP22042 27.95Blazing Redheads RR-26 25.00Blue Rose CL872 36.00Duke Ellington 70th B’day (2 LP) 60001 48.00Fennell Favorites RR-43 25.00Good Stuff (2 LP) LP19603 47.95Is That All There Is? ST-386 36.00Jazz at the Pawnshop 7778-79 65.00Just like Love LP20002 27.95Showcase LP20000 27.95Spirit and the Blues (2 LP) LP19401 47.95Test Record No.4 OPLP9200 27.95Trittico RR-52 32.00Vinyl Essentials (test) LP003 48.95

NEW MEDIA (SACD, DVD, ETC.)Across the Bridge of Hope CD22012 24.95Antiphone Blues (SACD) 7744SACD 37.95Audiophile Reference IV SACD 029 40.00Autumn Shuffle (SACD) CD22042 24.95Beethoven/Mendelssohn 5186 102 29.95Beyond (SACD) CD22072 24.95Brazilian Soul (DVD) HRM2009 24.95 Cantate Domino (SACD) PSACD7762 29.95Conc. for Double Bass (SACD) CD8522 37.95Good Stuff (SACD) CD19623 37.95Jazz at the Pawnshop (3-SACD) PRSACD7879 90.00Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 (SACD) PRSACD7079 37.95Jazz/Concord (DVD) HRM2006 24.95Just Like Love (SACD) CD21002 24.95Mississipi Magic (SACD) AQSACD1057 24.95Musica Sacra (SACD) CD19516 24.95Now the Green Blade Riseth PRSACD9093 29.95Organ Treasures (SACD) CD22031 24.95Rhythm Willie (Audio DVD) HRM2010 24.95Seven Come Eleven (DVD) HRM2005 24.95Showcase (SACD) CD21000 24.95Showcase 2005 (SACD) CD22050 24.95Soular Energy (DVD/DVD-A) HRM2011 24.95Spirit & the Blues (SACD) CD19411 24.95Swingcerely Yours CD22081 24.95Tchaikovsky: Symph. #6 (SACD) 5186 107 29.95Test CD 4 (SACD) CD19420 24.95Test Records 1-2-3 CD19520 24.95Tiny Island (SACD) CD19824 24.95Trio (Audio DVD) HRM2008 24.95Tutti (SACD) RR-906SACD 24.00Unique Classical Guitar (SACD). CD22062 24.95Unmarked Road (SACD) AQ1046SACD 29.95Whose Truth, Whose Lies? AQ1054SACD 29.95

RED BOOK COMPACT DISCS20th Anniversary Celebration CD19692 19.9530th Anniversary Sampler RR-908 16.95Alleluía AN 2 8810 21.00All We Need to Know GG-1 21.00An American Requiem RR-97CD 16.95Antiphone Blues 7744CD 21.95

Artistry of Linda Rosenthal FIM022VD 27.95Bach Sonatas, violin & harpsi. AN 2 9829 21.00Bach Suites, Airs & Dances FL 2 3133 21.00Beachcomber RR-62CD 16.95Best of Chesky & Test, vol.3 JD111 21.95Best of the Red Army Chorus AN 2 8800 21.00Beethoven Symph. 5 & 6 AN 2 9891 21.00Blues for the Saxophone Club 26-1084-78-2 21.95Bluesquest AQCD1052 21.95Bossa Nova JD129 21.95Bruckner: Symph. No.9 RR-81CD 16.95Café Blue 21810 21.95Café Blue (HDCD gold) CD 010 39.95Cantabile AN 2 9810 21.00Cantate Domino 7762CD 21.95Caprice K11133 21.00Carmin ADCD10163 21.00Carmina Burana K 11136 21.00Classica d’Oro (50 CDs) GCM-50 149.95Come to Find AQCD1027 21.95Come Love CD19703 19.95Companion 22963 21.00Coeur vagabond ADCD10191 21.00Concertos for Double Bass OPCD8502 21.95Copland Symphony No.3 RR-93CD 16.95Djembé Tigui SLC9605-2 22.00Drum/Track Record 10081 21.00Ein Heldenleben RR-83CD 16.95Evolution K11161 21.95Eybler Quartets AN 2 9914 21.00Fable SLC9603-2 22.00Fantasia AN 2 9819 23.00Felix Hell RR-101CD 16.95Flm Spectacular II XR24 070 35.00French Showpieces FL 2 3151 21.00Fritz Kreisler FL 2 3159 21.00From the Age of Swing RR-59CD 16.95Garden of Dreams RR-108 16.95Gitans Y225035 24.95Good Stuff CD19603 19.95Good Vibes PRCD9058 19.95Growing up in Hollywood Town LIM XR 001 38.95Handel FL 2 3137 21.00Harry Belafonte 295-037 19.95Harry James & His Big Band 10057-2-G 24.00Hemispheres K11137 21.00Illuminations K11135 21.00Infernal Violins AN 2 8718 21.00It’s Right Here For You CD19404 19.95I’ve Got the Music in Me 10076 21.00Jazz at the Pawnshop PRCD-7778 19.95Jazz at the Pawnshop 2 PRCD9044 19.95Jazz Hat RR-114 16.95Jazz/Vol.1 JD37 19.95Keep on Movin’ AQCD1031 19.95Kickin’ the Clouds Away K77031 21.00Kodo 12222-2 21.00La Fille Mal Gardée XR24 013 38.95La mémoire du vent ADCD10144 21.00Les matins habitables GSIC-895 21.00

Levande OPCD7917 19.95Leyrac chante Nelligan AN 2 8815 21.00Liszt-Laplante FL 2 3030 21.00Little Notebook of Anna M. Bach FL 2 3064 21.00Masters of Flute & Harp KCD11019 21.00Medinah Sessions RR-2102 16.95Mendelssohn: 2 Violin Conc. FL 2 3098 21.00Misbehavin’ K77034 21.00Mozart Complete Piano Trios AN 2 9827-8 27.50Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante XR24 069 38.95Mozart: Soprano Arias FL 2 3131 21.00Musica Sacra CD19506 19.95Musique Guy St-Onge SLC9700-2 22.00Musiques d’Europe centrale 88001 24.95My Foolish Heart 26-1084-92-2 21.95Neil Diamond: Serenade 465012-2 16.95Nocturno ADCD10227 21.00Nojima Plays Liszt RR-25CD 16.95Nojima Plays Ravel RR-35CD 16.95Non-Stop to Brazil JD29 19.95Norman Dello Joio K11138 21.00Nota del Sol AN 2 9817 21.00Now the Green Blade Riseth PRCD9093 19.95Obseción K11134 21.95Opera for Two FL 2 3076 21.00Organ Odyssey RR-113 16.95Pauline Viardot-Garcia AN 2 9903 21.00Pipes Rhode Island CD101 15.95Poetics K11153 21.00Pomp&Pipes RR-58CD 16.95Ports of Call RR-80CD 16.95Requiem RR-57CD 16.95Rio After Dark JD28 19.95Romantic Pieces FL 2 3191 21.00Sans Domicile Fixe 19012-2 24.95Say It With Music CD-36 21.00Serenade RR-110 16.95Sketches of Standard PRCD 9036 19.95Songs My Dad Taught Me FIM0009 27.95Sources ADCD10132 21.00Spirit and the Blues CD19401 19.95Styles SLC9604-2 22.00Suite Española XR24 068 38.95Swing is Here RR-72CD 16.95Telemann Sonatas for 2 Violins FL 2 3085 21.00Test CD 5 CD20000 21.95The King James Version 10068-2-F 21.00Tres Americas SLC9602-2 22.00Trittico RR-52CD 16.95Tutti (HDCD) RR-906CD 16.95Ultimate Demonstration Disc UD95 20.00Villa-Lobos FL 2 3051 21.00Violonchelo Español AN 2 9897 21.00Vivace AN 2 9808 21.00Vivaldi: Motets for Soprano FL 2 3099 21.00Vivaldi: Per Archi FL 2 3128 21.00World Keys RR-106 16.95Yerba Buena Bounce RR-109 16.95You Can’t Take My Blues AQCD1041 21.95


The Ian Fleming books seem dated now. The later ones were the product of the Cold War, but it was clear that Ian

Fleming’s sensibilities were formed in an earlier era, that of World War II. This matters little in fact, because the famous series of 22 (or more) Bond movies have only a tenuous connection with the novels whose titles they sometimes borrowed. I didn’t enter 007’s web until Gold-finger, the third of the Bond films, and arguably one of the best ones even today. You may remember the scene before the main titles: Bond arrives in a diving suit and overpowers some guards so that he can plant a time bomb in…well, an oil storage depot, or in any case something that can blow up spectaculaly. So far so mundane. But then he swims out, emerges from the water, unzips his diving suit to reveal that he is wearing a white dinner jacket, and he pauses to place a red carnation in his lapel. I was hooked! Of course I needed to catch up, and — what luck! — the very next week a neighborhood cinema (remember them?) was showing Dr. No and From Russia With Love as a double feature. That was a

lot of Bond, but it got me up to speed. Since then I’ve caught them all, the good, the bad (oh, they did get pretty bad at times), and the indifferent. I mostly adjusted to Bond’s changing face and style, as new actors stepped into the role, sometimes with more success than others. By the time Goldfinger was released, the format of the story was pretty much established. The villain was not, typi-cally, working for a foreign power, even if it might seem that way. Rather, he was connected with a shadowy criminal organization, such as SPECTER, an acronym for SPecial Executive for Coun-terintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Extortion is actually their main game, though if Bond has elimi-nated a member of the organization in a previous film, it can go in for a little

revenge too. Sometimes the organiza-tion is a little more up-to-date, like the terrorist clan whose Chief Financial Officer is Le Chiffre (Casino Royale). Sometimes the villain works only for himself, like Auric Goldfinger. There are two recurring themes: extortion and cornering the market. The extortion is often based on the theft of some sort of weapon, and espe-cially nuclear weapons, as in Thunderball, to be used in a rather irresponsible way, unless… In Moonraker the space shuttle is stolen right from the back of the Boeing 747 ferrying it. A frequent element is the existence of the villain’s lair, which is usually remote and difficult to get to. It may be on an island, as in Dr. No and The Man With the Golden Gun, it may be a floating city, as in The Spy Who Loved Me, or it may even be in orbit (Moonraker). Wherever it is is located, it is loaded with expensive high-tech accoutrements that have been added for no obvious purpose. Bond always succeeds in getting in, of course, because there is inevitably a weakness in the defense system, though the real trick is to get out in time. And oh yes, to save the Bond girl, who will burn or drown or be sucked into outer space if her hero is not there for the rescue. It seems evident that the villains’ high-tech gadgets didn’t come out of the Brookstone catalog, but where do you go to pick up all these flashy devices includ-ing (for instance) an elevator which, at the tap of a button on a console, will drop you into a giant aquarium with sharks? That’s from The Spy Who Loved Me. At the same time, we know that the lair installations have not gone through even elementary security tests, because it will take very little to cause them to burn, sink or (nearly always) explode spectacularly. In The Man With the Golden Gun, for example, Scaramanga’s solar energy installation has vats of fluid at “absolute zero” (would they then be fluid, even if absolute zero were attain-able?), with a warning sign that the vats must remain at absolute zero. When Bond’s ditzy assistant Mary Goodnight

SoftwareThe 007 Franchise

by Gerard Rejskind

James Bond must be about 85 by now, but secret agents are forever…


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catapults an evildoer into the fluid, thus raising its temperature, the system does not fail gracefully. It catches fire and begins to explode, casting into doubt the security of solar energy! Even the many monitoring instruments explode. By the time Bond and Goodnight get away the entire island, somewhere off China, is wiped off the map. Haven’t these people ever heard of fuses? Bond himself has plenty of gadgets at his disposal, even if they’re less cumber-sone than those of the opposition, and seeing them rolled out is an important part of the fun. British intelligence has its own research lab, headed by the dour Q, who little appreciates what happens

to his gear “in the field.” Everyone’s favorite, I think, remains the Aston Mart in DB6 (shown at top) that costars in Goldfinger (and makes a repeat appearance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, even though it was demolished in the earlier film). One of the best scenes with Q is the one where he is showing Bond the buttons for the rotating license plates, the smoke screen, the oil slick, the bulletproof shield, the machine guns, and finally the ejector seat. “Ejector seat?” says Bond. “You’re joking.” “I never joke about my work, 007,” replies a weary Q, confirming what we have come to suspect about him. The rest of this article can be found in the com-plete print or electronic version of UHF No. 88. Order the print issue from www.uhfmag.com/IndividualIssue.html (it’s case sensitive). Or sub-scribe at www.uhfmag.com/Subscription.html. The electronic issue is avai lable f rom www.magzee.com.

We now cont inue in imitat ion Latin. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla

feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit








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ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait nia-mcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nostrud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi blamcon utpat verostio et wisi tetueros nos autat lutat prat, commy nullamet adip esto delis dignisl dolorpe rcilis eum eu feu feugiam zzrit utat, con elenisi. Commod dolestrud te te euis alis niamconsed eummod te tet ing exerili quatummod dolute tem zzrit at alit, con ut iusto dit nos accum nummodiam, quamet, sequiscipit accum adiat volorem nos aliquatuerit iusto con velenit ilit luptat. Od tat lor sim nisci tat at ut iril eum vullaor se ex enim dignim digna com-modolore commy num veniam dolut wiscipit exercil ut ilis eum non volessim dunt wisl do do commod magniat. Ut wisisim zzrit nonsequatie magnit nos nonsed delenim dolenis adiatem zzrilisit ad doluptat. Quat ip eugait wissenis adipissecte do eu feugait praessit ute veniamc onulla feugueril et lore min essenis nos et amet lore molobor percipit in eniam, vulla coreet, venim eugiate dolore dionseniam nulla conse dip ex exerat, sequat nosto do euisciliqui etum delit nos nonse tem iriureet, secte dolor sum zzriustrud tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore modo conse modolortio et nos nit utem zzrit irit pratueros dolorem diat, quipit nonsequate magna facip exer summodion vullaore duis euismod ignibh esting et, vel estrud estrud dipisit inciduis aliquam eum doloborer sed tion-senit lum nos dolore eum niam iustrud euis am euipsum molobore cor at. Duis-cilla adigna feugiam vent aliquam alit eu

feu facip eu feugait ulputat, volortisisi. Il dignit erostie facidunt atio dolorem iustie magna core duipit wismod modit vel inibh et lore commolo rerosto delesseniat. Eliquis ex eugiam, suscidu ismodoloreet at. Molum zzriurem ad tem ipit aliquat. Ut nisl erciduis at. Ectem dolobore vulpute feu faci endre dipsuscip el etum-san diametu mmodoloreet lore volore faccummy nulla at velit alit lorperos ad dio dolortin euis am il dolenibh eummy nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum nos atue dolorerat la feumsandit enisim velis aut velit veros adipsusto odiamet augait iriliquisim velesse quatet alisi exero

odolestrud mincipiscing endre doluptat prat, sit adignisl utet accum volor at, quis adit luptat. Ud dolor incipis modigniat acinibh erilla adignim num nim am, commod ea aut essequate ming ea facin velis dolore magna con ulla feugait augiamcore commy nisi. Ommy nim in ea augait, quam dolore consed tetue eu faccum vel utat. Ut aci bla facip et autatis autem dolenim nit, velisl ing el er suscill utpatin henibh ese duis alit, suscil dolesto coreet et vel et nummy nulla adit lorpero odo doluptatie verosting et vel utpat volorem quat adionsent ad molore deliqui psummy nit luptat, venibh erat.

“Gun Barrel” Sequence? That’s the opening sequence shown on the previous page (that is one from Dr. No). We’re not certain where the “gun barrel” appelation came from, butit is clearly wrong, because no gun barrel looks like that. The spiral pattern is that of the diaphragm of a human eye, seen from the inside. It is in fact that of the victim of 007’s shot. Note, by the way, the hat on what we presume to be James Bond himself. Men once wore those, summer or winter. Once Roger Moore took over the role, 007 was bare-headed in that sequence.


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Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugueros niat, quisl dunt aute te dolor si. Ecte tatisim irit erat er sum iliquat am erit adiam, susci bla faci exerilit at praestrud magnim volore tis aut nim nostio commy nim deliqui sciduis nonsequatue euip ea aut ad eugait, conse ex essi tat, quis num ipit utem dolor sit aci eros dolorperat, volor sum atumsandre magna aut nos at praestie velisl et augait. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer susc-ing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullum-san henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volo-bore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliqu-iscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommol-ore con utatuer ost init nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril

doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla faccumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esendit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat. Lorem eum iurer iure tatue modigna feugait eros nisl utatum ip el ex eu feui eu facipsusto ea faccums andignis dit illaore do odit ilis dipit do euis eui te feugait niamcom modolor perilluptat. To commy nim iustio duipis num nos-trud magna facip euis exerosto dolor sequipit augait lor se commodo lobore dolore conse conumsandit aliquisci tet lore tio eugait ad magnit utpat la feum nisl exercil lutatio consed tatem zzrilit aliquam quat utpat wisit praestie feuisim num do od exer augait duisse et lumsan etuercilisit nonsectet wissi.


Software

No, the series hasn’t evolved socially to the point where we can speak plausibly of the Bond women. These are

girls in the original, macho sense. They may be grown up (indeed, they’re big girls if you see what I mean), but they mostly haven’t acquired an identity. Bond won’t take no for an answer, and the Bond girls for the most part don’t stick to that no for very long. Certainly it took a lot of classes in gender sensitivity before movies — any movies — treated women as full-fledged humans. There’s a quick flash in the 1964 film Goldfinger, in which Bond runs across his CIA pal Felix. He introduces him to the young woman who has been giving Bond a massage called Dink. “Felix, say hello to Dink. Dink, say goodbye to Felix.” She begins to protest. He gives a tap on the bum. “Man talk,” he explains. Over a number of films there were always two Bond girls. There had to be a second one, because the first one invari-ably came to a bad end. Take the example of Goldfinger. Bond meets an accomplice of Goldfinger, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), and easily converts her to his side, and then of course beds her. The indiscretion costs her dearly, as she finds herself covered with gold paint, quite dead (there is a cock and bull explana-tion involving “skin suffocation”). The

second Bond girl of the film, shown below, has the evocative name of Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman of Avengers fame). It is fairly solidly estab-lished, or as solidly established as it could be in a 1964 Hollywood picture, that she is a Lesbian (she runs an all-girl flying corps, and she assures Bond that “you can turn off the charm, I’m immune”). But one forced kiss later… Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis

ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat.

The Bond “Girls”


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Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore

exerat acidunt dolesto ex er inc i l i s ess im numsandrem verosto eummy nim velendre er ing euis nonulla fac-

cumm olortionulla feuipsum eu facipis cipit, volobore erillaor in utpatie vel iustisl dipisim zzrillutetue corpera esen-dit ipisi blandrer susci te magna feugait vel ut iniam, velis amcore facilisl erit venit augait lute tem ing ercilit, velisci liquatuer il utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl utat, sed tio dion-sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidunt lobor iure do ero dignit ullaortion ute feugiat.

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A super hero like 007 requires a worthy adversary. The typical Bond villain is a megalomaniac who want to rule the world. If

he is from an identifiable country, he usually turns out to be a renegades — you don’t make the villain a Bulgarian if you think you can sell your movie to a Bulgarian cinema chain. Whatever the villain’s identity, for him to be worthy, he (or she, now and again) must be played by a first-rate actor. One reason Goldfinger (above) was so good was that the title role was played by the fine German actor Gert Fröbe. Subsequently he was in Is Paris Burn-ing? playing the last German governor of occupied Paris. He’s fun to watch, though not quite enough for me to root for him to win. At upper right is the late Canadian actor Joseph Wiseman as the first of the Bond villains, Dr. No. Of course he came to a bad end, and wasn’t seen again. But he was referred to in a later film, because his boss at SPECTER, Ernst Blofeld, wants to avenge him in From Russia With Love. He doesn’t succeed. Blofeld was played by a number of actors, including Anthony Dawson (the man with the eyepatch in Thunderball) and by the formidable Max von Sydow (lower right), complete with the traditional cat, in Never Say Never Again.

The man with the prominent smile to the immediate right is Christopher Lee, who plays Francisco Scaramanga in The Man With the Golden Gun. If you think you’ve seen that smile before, perhaps you have. He was the star of Horror of Dracula and lesser vampire films. His outgoing and engaging personality made him an excellent foil for Bond. Just below him is Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the terrorist financier Le Chiffre (meaning either “the number” or “the cypher”) in Casino Royale. Note the blood in the corner of his eye. He and James Bond play a high stakes game of poker at the casino of the title, with th poker game continuing even once they both leave the table. Le Chiffre has an accomplice. But whom?

The Villains


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Did I say that a good Bond film needed a good villain? Yes, of course it does, but it helps if it also has a good

henchman. Henchmen (Bond-heads actually call them that) are accomplices, or at least secondary villains, who make the sybaritic life of the main villain possible. They are menacing, amusing, and will-ing to sacrifice themselves for the good (actually the evil) of the cause. In the picture above is, possibly, the most successful of the Bond hench-men, Oddjob. A Korean manservant to Goldfinger, he is strong enough to crush a golf ball in the palm of his hand (try it, if you think it’s easy). When Bond rushes him, he simply bounces off. His secret weapon, the one he is preparing to unleash in the picture, is his derby hat, whose brim is not exactly soft felt. He throws it like a Frisbee and decapitates a statue, and not much later he takes on an even more…statuesque target. Of course he cares more for his boss than for himself. In the Fort Knox scene, when Bond is trying to defuse an atomic bomb (which has a convenient digital readout to let passersby know how much time they have left), Oddjob unleashes his considerable strength to prevent him from succeeding. Where do you find help like that? The most blatant case of gay stereo-typing came in Diamonds Are Forever.

Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wynt (they call each other that) are caricatures of a gay couple. What their motivation is, I’m not sure is clear, but they come to an explosive end. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sus-trud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad mol-orem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praes-tismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse

quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in henis-cidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt.

The Henchmen


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The right music can make a film, and directors have known that for a long time. Think about the scores from

(to choose a few at random) Breakfast at Tiffany, Casablanca, High Noon, The Third Man, Life is Beautiful, Schindler’s List, and the countless spaghetti westerns. The first of the Bond films had a couple of mood pieces from Jamaica (where it was set), including a rollicking, and ultimately sinister, version of Three Blind Mice. It also featured a lively instrumen-tal score to accompany action scenes, to be known as The James Bond Theme. Subsequently, however, the produc-ers of the Bond series hit on a lucky idea. The right song could turn out to be a hot marketing opportunity. Find the song, find the artist, and build the promotion around it. The formula really came together with Goldfinger, but it was already in place with the second film, From Russia With Love. The idea was to commission a catchy song whose title happened to be that of the movie. A big name would be hired to sing it well in advance of the film’s release, in order to insure that it had time to become a hit and get lots of radio play. And then, once the film was released, potential ticket buyers would already know the title, and indeed be humming the tune. The “name” hired for the second film was Matt Monro, then well-known in the UK, though not so much in North America. Monro sang the song during the closing credits rather than the open-

ing titles, a mistake that would not be made again. Starting with Goldfinger, with few exceptions the sequence was the same: there would be the so-called gun-barrel introduction, to be followed by an action scene that was usually, but not always, unrelated to the main story, then the titles, featuring nude and semi-nude women in silhouette, while the title song was sung by the star of the hour. (Actually, there is some doubt about the “semi,” as you can see from the image above, from Diamonds are Forever.) Of course the song had to be more than merely catchy. It also had to lend itself to orchestration to suit different scenes in the film. Goldfinger, sung by Shirley Bassey (another UK star of the day, shown on the next page), is a powerful, upbeat song, but the melody is reorchestrated by John Barry as a tender ballad that can suit quieter scenes. Note the almost romantic arrangement, com-plete with harp arpeggios, during the scene when Bond is trailing Goldfinger’s Rolls Royce on a scenic Swiss road. The James Bond Theme is the one piece that has followed the Bond fran-chise from film to film. Monty Norman composed it for piano, and it was John Barry who did the orchestration and the adaptation into its different forms. Indeed, Barry claimed that Norman got the credit for contractual reasons, but that he himself deserved the lucrative copyright. Though Barry did very well for himself, writing scores for nearly a dozen Bond films, The James Bond Theme was in all of them too, earning

Norman continued royalties, and of course continuing credits in each of the Bond movies. In fact it lent itself well to more than the signature chase scenes, because it has a distinctive introduction that can be played by itself to build tension, or even be attached to the film’s main theme. The sequence is a familiar one:

C, C-sharp, D, C-sharprepeated twice. John Barry, however, wrote his own theme to add tension to certain scenes, with its repeated staccato notes. Known simply as the 007 Theme, it was first used in From Russia With Love, where you can hear it during the gunfight at the Gypsy camp. Barry actually wrote the music for no fewer than 11 of the Bond films, leaving aside the disputed Dr. No authorship. Sometimes, however, choosing the singer also meant choosing the com-poser. In the case of Live and Let Die, for instance, the title song was composed by George Martin, the Beatles pro-ducer. The reason: the singer was Paul McCartney. That song, incidentally, was particularly successful, earning a 1974 Oscar nomination as best original song. In the US it got to second place in the pop music charts. McCartney was rather happy with the song, and kept it in his repertoire. When he was invited to sing at the 2005 Super Bowl, that was the song he chose. The Man With the Golden Gun fol-lowed the usual formula of having a song with the same title as the movie, but there’s some controversy as to which song it was to be. Alice Cooper has a song of that title on one of his albums, and he maintains that his was the song that was to be used in the film. Certainly hiring Cooper to do the Bond song was in keep-ing with the marketing policy of using big names, but perhaps the producers were not familiar with the Alice Cooper sound. In any case, the title song was finally sung by Lulu, a Scottish singer with little international reputation. John Barry wrote the music, but calls it the weakest of the Bond songs. Perhaps in part for that reason, the film was initially not well received, though — like all Bond films — it made money for its producers.

The Music of Bond


The Spy Who Loved Me broke with the formula in a different way: it was the first Bond film whose commissioned song had a different title. Sung admirably by international star Carly Simon, the song was titled Nobody Does It Better, an obvious reference to…well, an obvious reference. Even so the film and the song meshed. The lyrics do contain the film title, and the posters for the film included the claim, in large letters, that “Nobody does it better.” With Moonraker, the marketing com-ponent of the song fell apart. The pro-ducers dithered too long before making a choice. They might have a chance to get Frank Sinatra, which would be a big catch. But well, perhaps they ought to cater to a younger crowd and use Kate Bush. But the discussions didn’t lead to a contract, let alone a recording date, and there were only weeks to go before the film launch. Finally they returned to the singer who had already done so well with Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, Shirley Bassey (in the picture above). But it was too late to do the proper push, and Bassey, perhaps realizing she was a third choice, wasn’t enthusiastic about promoting it. Incidentally, there are two versions of the song, a ballad for the usual main titles with the semi-clad women in sil-

houette, and a disco version for the end titles. Incredibly, the same error was repeated with For Your Eyes Only, despite the two-year gap between the two films. Ever eager to cater to a younger audience, they turned to Debbie Harry, lead singer of the rock group Blondie. Though Blondie did sing a song with the film’s title, Harry ultimately declined the contract, and so at the last moment the producers got Sheena Easton to sing a different song with the same title. To persuade her to do it, she was given screen time, becoming the first artist in a Bond film to be seen singing. The next film, Octopussy, was a challenge. The title is really from Ian Fleming, who wrote a short story titled Octopussy and The Living Day-lights (the second half of the title was given to a later movie). But the Bond song had to be moved up the charts

where (gasp!) children would hear it. The song couldn’t have that title. And it didn’t, but it was a major success. Titled All Time High, it was a magnificent song for Rita Coolidge, spending four weeks at top spot on the US Billboard chart, and still played on radio even today. Would it have done all that with the title Octopussy? You think? Producer Cubby Broccoli, however, continued to see rock music as a mar-keting tool to push his successful 007 movies even harder. Legend has it that bassist John Taylor approached Broc-coli at a party and asked, rhetorically, “When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?” The result was that the song in A View to a Kill were sung by the rock group Duran Duran. It was a huge hit, fulfilling at the same time its purpose: to build advance awareness of the movie, and put people into seats. The Living Daylights was the first Bond movie whose song was performed by a non-English-speaking group, Norwe-gian pop group a-ha (perhaps they don’t like upper case letter in Norway). The score was the last one from John Barry, who had scored most of the Bond films, except Live and Let Die. Barry wasn’t the one who chose a-ha, and he didn’t like

their music, choosing to overdub his own additions overtop theirs. Of course his version was in the movie, but a-ha used its own version on its album. Live and let live, we might say. The excellent guitarist Eric Clapton was asked to do the song for Licence to Kill, and so was Vic Flick. It was finally sung by Gladys Knight, and included elements from the best-known of the Bond songs Goldfinger. The producers, of course, had to pay extra royalties. One innovation: Patti LaBelle sang a different song, If You Asked Me To, over the end credits. That would later become a major hit for Céline Dion. Goldeneye, the first Bond film with Pierce Brosnan, had Tina Turner sing-ing a song from Bono and The Edge. By this time there was no longer much collaboration between producers and artists, and none of the song was adapted to the score. As a promotional vehicle it fell flat. Tomorrow Never Dies had two songs, at the beginning and end, sung respectively by Sheryl Crow and k.d. lang. Curiously, the title of the film was worked into the lyrics of both songs. David Arnold had written the score of the film, and would score the next three as well. He wrote the music for the next film, The World Is Not Enough, which was sung by the grunge group Garbage. It was a hit, and — like so many other songs — helped support the film it was written for. Madonna composed and wrote the title song of Die Another Day. It has lots of electronic elements, not the first Bond song to have them. It got Golden Globe and Grammy nominations, but it also earned a Golden Raspberry for “Worst Original Song of 2002.” Madonna does that to people. Chris Cornell wrote and sang You Know My Name in Casino Royale. The song’s theme is substituted for the James Bond Theme, until the end, when Bond really becomes Bond. Jack White and Alicia Keys sang Another Way to Die, the opening song of Quantum of Solace. Barbara Broccoli is in the saddle now, having taken over from her father, and it may be that we will never again see a Bond song with the same title as the movie. It was a blast while it lasted.


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Tombeau pour Mr. de S.te ColombeAndrea de Carlo, et al.M•A M069ARejsk ind: Many people, on f irst encountering the string instruments known collectively as the viol family, assume that they must be the ancestors of the modern (well, early Baroque) string instruments: the violin, viola, cello and double bass. In fact the viol is to modern strings as the chimpanzee is to humans: a cousin with a common ancestor. The supposition is maintained by the fact that a bass viol looks much like a modern double bass. There are in fact notable differences. The viol has frets, like a guitar, and gut strings rather than steel. The tuning scheme is different as well. And its distinctive sound…well, those who find it grating suggest that it is not happenstance that the word viol is pronounced vile. In recent years, however, there has been renewed interest in and taste for this ancient family of instruments. That interest was accelerated by Alain Corneau’s 1991 f ilm Tous les matins du monde (English title: All the Mornings of the World), in which the major characters are Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (to whom this CD pays homage), and Marin Marais, his pupil, and the composer of the music on the disc. Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe is so little known (he considered public

performance to be a defilement of his art) that we don’t know his first name. Played by Jean-Pierre Marielle, he is a lonely widower who retires to a garden shed to play his viol. A young man, none other than Marin Marais (played by famed French actor Gérard Depardieu as an older man, and his son Guillaume as a youth), creeps regularly underneath the shed to listen to him, and persuades the reclusive musician to take him on as a pupil. The film is filled with solo viol music, and it became an overnight sensation. I know this, because at the time the soundtrack CD was listed at our Audiophile Store, and it remained a best-seller for as long as we were able to get it. We also then listed a recording of viol music on the Pierre Verany label (with better sound, it should be said), and that too sold in prodigious quantities. So much for its “vile” character! Now comes a recording of Marin Marais’ music that is sonically superior to either of those older recordings, and has the potential to bring the haunting sound of the viol to a new audience. Though Sainte-Colombe (the spelling on the disc is a common archaic rendition) was a prolific composer, his works are seldom played today, and we know him mainly through the works of Marais. The “tombeau” (tomb) is actually the title of the final movement of the Suite en mi mineur, 2e livre, one of three suites on this recording. The bass viol played by soloist Andrea de Carlo sounds not unlike a double bass, but with a richer sound, f illed with harmonics, sounding at times like a cello. Its texture is however totally different from that of the more familiar instruments, less smooth, with more string sound accompanying the deep resonance from the instrument’s body. If you’re not familiar with the viol family (except for the viola da gamba, the sole family member that survived

to be played alongside the modern instruments), you’ll find it disconcerting at first, wondering why the “double bass” is being played in that fashion. Once you get used to this distinctive sound, it becomes haunting. No wonder the young Marin Marais would spend hours under that shed (he rather liked Sainte-Colombe’s daughter too, but let’s not get sidetracked). The bass viol has plenty of body, but it is with the appearance of Leonard Garcia Alarco’s harpsichord and Dolores Costoya’s theorbo that the music really lifts. A second bass viol, played by Sergio Alvarez, joins in for the Suite en ré mineur, 1er livre. The sound on this recording, done in Switzerland in 2004, is lively, with fine focus and detail, but also a wide reverberant field that gives the music a three-dimensional aspect. I doubt there is a better introduction to this often neglected instrumental clan. Of course, if you are already an enthusiast, you need no invitation.

O Nata LuxMusica IntimaAtma ACD2 2577Rejskind: Tired of the usual Christmas recordings, featuring Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I’ll Be Home for Christmas and (gack, choke!) The Little Drummer Boy? Relief is at hand. Over the holidays, put on this CD, and hit the “repeat” button. It’s my experience that the less talent

Software Reviewsby Gerard Rejskind and Albert Simon

http://www.uhfmag.com/ma.html


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singers have, the more the (presumably desperate) producers feel the need to pile on the massed strings, the jingle bells, and the percussion. On the other hand, if you have a number of truly talented singers, competently conducted, you don’t need accompaniment at all. Those are the winning conditions on this recording, which features a dozen singers (three each of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses), in Christmas songs you may not hear over shopping mall loudspeakers. Musica Intima (the name says it) is a Vancouver choral ensemble that doesn’t always sing a capella, nor is it specialized in traditional music. It has in fact premiered a number of works of new Canadian composers. On this recording their arrangements, often in canon form, are so well done that you may get two or three songs in before you realize that there is no accompaniment. Though the CD begins with the familiar In Dulci Jubilo, and it includes Ce matin, j’ai rencontré le train (if you can’t place the title, the melody will be instantly recognizable as The March of the Kings), there are much newer pieces as well. Benjamin Britten contributed two: Jesu, as Thou Art Our Saviour and A Hymn to the Virgin. Gabriel’s Message is a unique arrangement of a traditional Basque carol by Jonathan Rathbone, former director of the scat singing group The Swingle Singers. Sing Lullaby meshes perfectly with traditional music, though its flowing verses are from 20th Century composer Herbert Howells. Adam Lay Ybounden features a telling of a chapter of the book of Genesis, probably from a 15th Century wandering minstrel, with wholly appropriate music by modern composer Matthew Larkin. The voices of these singers are a pleasure to hear. Recorded by Anne-Marie Sylvestre at a church in Mirabel, Québec, that has been used for many exceptional recordings, it sounds very fine too, with a lot of space around the singers. With Christmas coming up, it may be time to retire Bing Crosby.

Tonos y TonadasEnsemble La ChimeraM•A M072A

Simon: Unlike the rest of Europe, writes Adrian Besné in the highly informative liner notes, Spain was not producing Baroque instrumental music, and both highbrow and lowbrow literature existed side by side. Tonos y Tonadas (tones and ballads) seeks to offer us a glimpse of the musical world that existed in the last 30 years of the 17th Century. An interesting connection is reflected here between a declining Spain and its new colonies in the Americas, more specifically an area along the Andes mountain chain. As I expected from the folks at M•A Recordings — who really know how to record strings accurately, incidentally — the sound is wonderfully reproduced, no excesses, no need to impress their audience, just a superbly played set of songs and ballads from another era, sung by Barbara Kusa and Isabel Monar’s outstanding voices. Luis Rigou’s powerful voice has an impressive presence in some of the songs, and Adrian Besné’s recitations are an interesting addition. Everything sounds so polished and impeccably done. The Ensemble La Chimera is a treat to listen to, with modern and period instruments featuring lute, guitars, viola da gambas and southamerican (yes, that’s the way they like to spell it) flutes. However, considering that the style is in such contrast to the religious music of the time, I can’t keep from imagining how they might have sounded at that time; I see two musicians, a singer with an unpolished yet highly expressive voice, belting it out at passersby in narrow dirt-covered streets, accompanied by a lone guitar. Or were they going at it late

at night, attempting to be heard over a noisy crowd at the local inn? If you’ve ever listened to the original “street” version of Ariel Ramirez’s Missa Criolla and compared it with the relatively more recent, polished “operatic” version featuring tenor José Carreras, you’ll know what I am talking about. (By the way, if you know that piece, you’ll notice similar percussion sounds heard twice on this CD.) You should also know that I love both versions, just as I love this version of a distant past when this music was closer to people and was meant for ordinary folks. True folklore with superb sound. And as I am writing this, the air around me is filling up with the sounds of fluttering flutes and deep percussion. That’s how this album ends, with the instrumental piece aptly named Canto al silencio.

LlamaSilvia Pérez Cruz, Ravid GoldschmidtM•A M070ASimon: Don’t raise the volume as you hear the first soft notes on the hang appearing in space between your speakers. Wait, and let the voice of Silvia Pérez Cruz rise, and suddenly reach the poignant level of Flamenco laments. It is an acquired taste, they say. Do you like it? If you do, it gets better as you discover all the possibilities of this unusual combination of voice and hang. Based on the steel pan drums of Trinidad and Tobago, the hang is built to perfection by two instrument designers, Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer of PANArt in Bern, Switzerland. It is played here with finesse by the swift




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hands of Ravid Goldschmidt, a young and talented Israeli musician, now living in Barcelona, who loves playing in the streets, favouring direct contact with his audience. He met Silvia Pérez Cruz at one of the local concerts. She also plays saxophone, and she is involved in an all-female flamenco quartet known as Las Migas. The sound of the hang and the textures that Ravid produces with his hands on his instruments are unlike anything you can actually compare to. There are many tracks where his solos appear to be interludes, so to speak, but they are wonderful pieces on their own, often introspective. I’m sure you’ll be back again and again to hear them, as I was. Silvia’s young voice is on the light side, but it sounds original, with superb control, best suited for Flamenco and Fado. It has that haunting quality that tears the air in sheer desperation. However, it needs to acquire more maturity, more living, more suffering, I would say. And it is not suited to jazz. Her interpretation of a jazz piece called Smiles was disappointing to these ears. You’ll find the sound on this CD an unmitigated pleasure on each track, with natural reproduction of the performers within the recording venue, a little church in the Barri Gotic quarter of Barcelona. And as usual for M•A Recordings, the best technical means were used to produce an album intended for the most discriminating audiophiles.

Britten’s OrchestraStern & Kansas City Symph.Reference Recordings RR-120Rejskind: I must confess to having past reservations concerning the music of

Benjamin Britten, and especially his operas. However I have always had the greatest enthusiasm for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, composed just after the Second World War for a British educational film, to be called Instruments of the Orchestra. It takes up a third of this quite short CD, and I would rate it as the best version I have heard of this attractive suite. For this commission, Brit ten borrowed a melody by 17th Century British composer Henry Purcell, from incidental music for a play with the disturbing title of Abdelazer, or The Moor’s Revenge. It was of course common at one time for composers to borrow themes, with or without credit, and to write variations around them. I should warn you that, if you choose to look up the original, you will have difficulty putting it together with the brilliant Britten suite. Purcell (possibly the last great British composer before the 20th Century) may have provided the seed, but the work of genius that is the Guide is entirely Britten’s own. I have not seen the film, and I rather wonder how much impact the antiquated sound, played through the small open-backed speakers of the typical school auditorium, might have had on the young persons of the title. I know that, as a child, my own exposure to symphonic music was through such primitive gear, and the sound was so unlike that of real music that it gave me little taste for further exploration. When, in my teens, I finally heard the sound of a live symphony orchestra, it was so new an experience that I was left thrilled to my very core. It was, I believe I can say, a life-changing event. The suite is a delight, a voyage of discovery through the resources marshalled by a modern symphony orchestra. More than six decades after its composition, it remains a persuasive plea for the continuation of acoustic music, which sometimes seems menaced by genres with much less vivid colors. Playing it must be a treat for the members of the Kansas City Symphony too, because each section gets a solo. All of them rise to the occasion, all for our greater pleasure. The suite is followed by the Sinfonia

da requiem. It is not in mourning for the millions of deaths that were the legacy of the War (that would come in Britten’s War Requiem composed after the end of hostilities), but rather in mourning for the millions yet to die. Oddly, it was commissioned by the Japanese in early 1940, when Japan was busy with China but was not yet an official member of the Axis. The commission was ostensibly in honor of the 2600th anniversary of its ruling dynasty, but Britten, a pacifist and conscientious objector, could see where events were leading, and he added the word requiem to the title in order to make it a plea for peace. Japan rejected the work, not for its implicit anti-war message, but on the dubious pretext that it borrowed titles from the Christian liturgy and was therefore insulting: the three movements are titled Lacrymosa, Dies irae and Requiem æternam. The young Britten (he was then 26) wrote a conciliatory letter, but shortly after Japan signed its pact with Germany and Italy, and there could be no more talk of peace. The work was finally premiered by the New York Philharmonic. There can be no doubt that, like the later War Requiem, this Sinfonia is a work of genius. The Lacrymosa enters with powerful drums that shake the hall (the drums of war?), followed by a chant of great sadness from the lower strings, with new occasional outbursts. The Dies irae (which means literally “days of anger”) is a rapid movement for lower strings and trumpet, rapid and terrifying. Here too, the tympani contribute to the foreboding, even the terror. The final movement is a sorrowful extended melody that must not have pleased the Japanese much as they were preparing to participate in the worldwide holocaust. No wonder they rejected it! Not w it hst a nd ing my ea rl ier comment on Britten’s operas, the suite from Peter Grimes is of great beauty (I’ve actually seen the opera, sung by Britten’s favorite tenor, Peter Pears, and it didn’t leave me the same impression). The violent and unappealing story of Peter Grimes may have affected me, but the fictional character Grimes was a fisherman, and the suite evokes the sea. These orchestral excerpts include the

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Four Sea Interludes and the Passacaglia. As in the other works, the music showcases Britten’s remarkable mastery of the orchestra. The Kansas Cit y Sy mphony, conducted in masterly fashion by Michael Stern, is pretty much f lawless in its execution of music which depends so much on the beauty of the instruments, and of the powerful effect they have on the emotions.. The sound is of great help as well. Keith O. Johnson has brought forward all of the many colors and shades of the orchestra in most subtle fashion, though there is nothing subtle in the percussion and full orchestral crescendos that are found in all three pieces. I listened to it with full HDCD decoding, and more than once the music and the sound gave me major goose bumps. Perhaps symphonic music is not your thing, but pick up a copy anyway, and spend some time with The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Perhaps you’ll have the epiphany I did, and if you do, it can change your life. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

West of the SunJoel Fan, pianoReference Recordings RR-119Rejskind: The New York-born Fan’s earlier recording for Reference, World Keys (RR-106) was sensational, and brought him to the attention of a wider public, beyond the concertgoers who knew very well of what he was capable. Of course Fan is hardly a child prodigy. Despite his youthful looks he is now 40, and he has a lot of playing time behind him. That experience explains his awesome musicianship, but also his natural sensitivity to the emotional side

of music, and control of fine nuances. World Keys revealed his eclectic side, because the pieces selected from the usual West European repertoire were accompanies by others from such countries as Turkey and Egypt. This time he has selected music from a little farther west, specifically from the Americas, Of course that is a rich treasure, perhaps too much to serve as the source for a single album. It made me think of an album I once ran across titled Piano Music of 18th and 19th Century Europe. It lasted all of 40 minutes! Joel Fan’s playing is still superb, at once sensitive and effortless, with a mastery of rhythm, which figures prominently in several of the works he has chosen, The choices are, to my taste, uneven, and I was less enthusiastic than I had been about his inaugural disc. My favorites first. Brazil’s Ernesto Nazareth contributes a tango, Vem cá Branquinha. The booklet notes list Scott Joplin as one of his influences (along with Chopin), and that’s no surprise. I loved the offbeat Suis moi! Caprice from Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who was sort of a rock star before his time in 19th Century New Orleans. Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 5 is always a pleasure to hear, in whatever form it is presented. There is also a lovely piano Sonata (the Opus 26) by Samuel Barber. Two women are represented. Amy Marcy Beach’s poetic Firef lies is a delight, and makes one wonder whether she might be yet another example of a composer overlooked because of her gender. Troubled Water is inspired by the Negro Spiritual Wade in the Water. It is from Margaret Bonds, mentioned as the first Black American to solo with the Chicago Symphony. It is very much worth repeated hearings. On the other hand I was looking forward to a milonga prelude from Astor Piazzola titled Flora’s Game. It turned out to be more chaotic than Piazzola’s music usually is, without a clear rhythmic line, and it left me cold. Also on the album is a piano sonata by Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera and Nine New Bagatelles from modern American composer William Bolcom. The HDCD sound is, of course, very clear. Fan’s Steinway is farther back

and more reverberant than if he were in the room with us, but the sound is clearer and more detailed than if one had good seats to a concert.

It’s Never Too LateDan and the ElectrosOpus 3 CD22091Rejskind: So what’s going on at Opus 3? Are you nostalgic for the days when Jan-Eric Persson would chase away with a stick any musician who didn’t play a purely acoustic instrument, and would spend most of the first day finding exactly the right place for his two (not one, not three) microphones? Well, that day moved into the past tense a while back. It was years ago that Jan-Eric first included Blues numbers with such instruments as electric organ. Electric guitars and bass? He’s done not one but two albums with eclectic guitarist Peder af Ugglas, who definitely knows why his guitars have cords. Now, welcome to Opus 3’s very first rock’n’roll album. Actually it’s billed as a tribute rock’n’roll album, though whom it’s a tribute to is left to your imagination and perhaps to your musical memory. The specific billing is as “The Dan & the Electros Inspiration Tour 1954-1963.” Why those years? It seems obvious. The year 1954 saw the musical tsunami that was Elvis Presley. And 1963 was the final year for pre-Beatles rock. After that, you couldn’t play the same way ever again, except perhaps in taverns. So what we have here is a group of Swedish musicians (including the “Dan” of the title, Bert Dan Östlund) playing original soft rock pieces that are meant to evoke memories of a simpler time.


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If you ask me the theme doesn’t work at all, at least not as a tribute album, but that may not matter, because it’s hugely entertaining, and if there had been this sort of music around when I was a kid I’d probably have bought it. The instruments include Östlund’s Fender Stratocaster, a Hammond L-100 organ, a tenor sax, a 1961 Danelectro bass, a harpsichord (and why not?), an upright piano with thumbtacks shoved into its hammers (on Greyhound Ride), a normal (grand) piano, and — oh yes — a couple of female singers (on Hey Man and Downbeat), plus banjo and…I’m probably forgetting something here. The sound is lively (this is an SACD after all), with just enough of the slightly raw early rock sound to add pseudo-authenticity to the production. It may not be vintage Opus 3, but heck, I liked it.

ReVisionsJen ChapinChesky SACD347Rejskind: Singer Jen Chapin comes by her musical talent honestly, which is to say genetically. Her father is singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, and her mother Sandra was his frequent lyricist (they co-wrote the hit song Cat’s in the Cradle). In this remarkable recording she puts her strong voice to work in singing a dozen of Stevie Wonder’s best songs. These are not cover versions, but actual (to use her word) ReVisions. The accompaniment is simple, but it is all the more powerful for its simplicity. On either side of her are the bass of her husband, Stephan Crump, and the saxophone of Chris Cheek. You could buy the album just

for Cheek’s startling sax exclamations. As for Crump, he maintains a strong rhythm in counterpoint to Cheek’s sax and Chapin’s singing. Stevie Wonder’s songs probably don’t require much in the way of introduction. Included in Chapin’s reinterpretation are Master Blaster, Higher Ground, She’s Gone and Big Brother. Chapin’s voice is strong and clear, and you’ll discover, if you didn’t know already, that Stevie Wonder is no Moon-June songwriter. He has things to say. The recording was done with a modified version of the celebrated Soundfield microphone, a sort of 3-D evolution of Alan Blumlein’s coincident pair recipe. Not only is it clean and natural, but the sense of real space is about as good as you’ll find on any recording. This recording is a winner, and I recommend it in the highest terms.

Love is the AnswerBarbra StreisandColumbia 48283 2Rejskind: One of Barbra Streisand’s concert tours bore the title Timeless, and she truly does appear to live outside of time. She is now 67, and she is not diminished in any sense. She just keeps getting better and better. Her vocal range has evolved downward into chesty tones she once could not have reached, but her range goes as far up as it ever did. Not only can she hit the high notes — she doesn’t have to “talk” her way through difficult songs, the way even many younger singers must — but she can hold a note longer than seems humanly possible, and she doesn’t even let the strain show. But I realize I’m misrepresenting her, because I don’t mean to suggest that

she sings really well for her age. If she were shy of her 30th birthday, I would still rate this as one of her best albums ever. One caution before I proceed, though. Don’t take this CD to the cashier unless you see the mention that it’s a double CD. There’s only a couple of dollars difference between the single album and the double, and if you’re like me you’ll listen exclusively to the second CD, which everyone has been calling “Barbra’s jazz album.” Here’s why. The recording was produced by Canadian jazz pianist Diana Krall, and Krall’s piano accompanies Barbra on most of the songs, sometimes with bass, acoustic guitar, and the subtlest of drumming. But that’s the second CD. Barbra Streisand is a major international star who can expect to sell millions of records, and most of those million purchaserss don’t listen to jazz. And so on the first CD (the only one if you snap up the wrong version) there will be extra layers of orchestration that everyone expects on a mainstream album. There will be strings added, to “sweeten” the sound. True, the sweetening is closer to Aspartame than to fructose, but what are you gonna do? Most of the songs are ballads, something Streisand has always done with exquisite style and emotion. My favorite (which we pressed into service in some of our equipment reviews in this issue) is Jacques Brel’s Ne me quitte pas. The English version is titled If You Go Away, but she sings one verse in the original French. This classic song, the story of a jilted lover who will do anything, anything, to keep her lover, is achingly moving if it is sung with an understanding of that story. Barbra uses her astonishing control of tone and pace to add an extra poignant touch. Listen to the way the song ends…you’ve never heard even Barbra Streisand do something like that. Other particularly beautiful songs: Here’s to Life, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Make Someone Happy and Smoke Gets In your Eyes. But in fact it’s good from first to final track. The first disc? Offer it to someone you know, someone who — if I dare say it — has no taste.

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Live in Concert 2006Barbra StreisandRejskind: Just before I received the CD Love is the Answer that I’ve just been writing about, I had viewed this 2006 Florida concert in a superb Blu-ray production. It too is amazing. My amazement is especially tied to one particular song, which I remember from her very beginnings, or at least from the time I first became aware of her existence. Forgive a digression into a personal anecdote. I had been alerted to Streisand by a reviewer who then frequently wrote on music in both US and Canadian publications, and who loathed her with a passion one usually reserves for maggots.

But I was aware he loathed anyone who was any good, and that prompted me to go out and pick up an album, her second one. I played it twice in a row, but long before the end I was a convert. A few days later I mentioned her to a colleague at the CBC, where I then worked, and he dismissed her with a prediction that in six months no one would recall who she was. I beckoned for him to follow me into the studio, where I played him a song from the second side, Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair? When it was over there were tears running down his cheeks. I was reminded of that event, because in the second half of the concert she sings that very song, for the first time since

the 60’s, she says. My initial impression was that she sang it exactly the way she had on the record, when she was only 21 years old. I pulled out my original LP to check, and I was wrong. Though her vocal range still reaches great heights, especially at the very end of the song, she has a lot more weight to her voice today, adding a serious note she could not have accomplished when she was younger. Very simply, she has lived, and she can more acutely understand what she is singing about. Her performance was astonishing then, and it is astonishing now! Barbra remains of course a stunning woman, and even the sharpness of Blu-ray never betrays her. There is but one detail that indicates that a long concert has become a physical strain: she climbs the stairs to the stage in slippers, and on the second last step she pauses while a dresser removes the slippers and straps on high-heeled sandals. After the intermission she has ditched the sandals and continues barefoot. I did mention it’s a long concert, though I never got the sense it was a second too long. She sings a number of songs that are well known (and loved): Starting Here, Starting Now, The Way We Were, Somewhere, Don’t Rain On My Parade. In a clip of spectators streaming in, someone expresses the hope that she will sing Happy Days Are Here Again, which he had heard her sing many years before. She does. She even sings the very first song she ever wrote (out of about ten, she claims). The title: Ma première chanson. On several occasions she shares the stage with the international singing quartet Il Divo. Nice. I know I sound like an unabashed fan, but I’m not alone. Barbra gets a standing ovation after every song! When the camera sweeps across the spectators, which include such recognizable faces as those of Nancy Pelosi and the Clintons, everyone appears to be enraptured, as if being there at that instant was the best thing that had happened in their entire lives. Get it. By the way, why don’t DVDs and Blu-ray discs have numbers, the way sound recordings do? Never mind, you’ve got the title.

Not just hardware… What long-time readers tell us they most like about UHF is that it does more than review amplifiers and speakers. In every issue, we discuss ideas. We try to tell you what you need to know, besides what CD player to buy. It’s one of the features that makes UHF Magazine unlike any other audio magazine.


Is this a sign of the times? A celebrated high end speaker manufacturer, Martin-Logan (it now spells its name with no hyphen) has a new Canadian dealer, and it’s not whom you’d expect. It’s Future Shop, a clone of its US owner, Best Buy. Why? For one thing MartinLogan has been spinning off its technology to lower-priced products, which might be a natural for a big box store. The argument of MartinLogan’s Canadian distributor, Plurison, is that this initiative will help all dealers by getting the MartinLogan brand name better known, but that spe-cialty dealers will still carry more models, especially upscale models, the ones that the second-time buyer may be looking for. All the regular dealers need to do is stay alive until that second sale arrives. So, as you might suppose, skeptics abound. Here’s what they’re saying. Even the

supposed economy ML products are not what a Future Shop buyer thinks of as cheap. When we checked the site it had no speaker cheaper than a $700 centre model. The trashy acoustics of a big box store are not ideal for showing off the subtleties of good sound. Their “associ-ates,” whose salaries require that many

of them live with their parents, probably won’t be the best people to advise buyers on what matches what. And finally these stores are not known for carrying the sort of amplification that electrostatic speakers require anyway. But you know what? Drop by the parent company’s US store (bestbuy.com) and there’s MartinLogan. One other detail: Plurison president Daniel Jacques is quoted by Marketnews as reassuring dealers that Future Shop won’t undersell them. But hold on a second. Canadian law doesn’t allow that sort of enforcement. (Neither did US law, until a US Supreme Court decision last year.) We’re guessing that if MartinLogan’s order books were full, this would not be happening, and we’ll be interested in seeing how this plays out. We’ll check back on the Future Shop site a year from now.

Over a number of issues, we’ve been writing about transferring music to computer hard drives, as even hard core audiophiles are doing anyway, and getting it off and into a quality music system with a minimum of casualties. In our last issue we wrote about using an inexpensive device (about $100) to do it wirelessly, Apple’s tiny Airport Express. See Music Through the Air in UHF No. 87. But since then we’ve made a happy discovery. Interesting though the Air-port Express may be, it can sound even better. The trick is to switch bands. When we did our work on the last issue, our Wi-Fi router was a D-Link 624+, operating on the crowded 2.4 GHz band. It had to share bandwidth with a lot of traffic, including other Wi-Fi networks in the neighborhood, cordless phones, baby monitors, wireless cameras, and even microwave ovens. We figured

we were doing fairly well, choosing a less crowded channel (channel 11) rather than one of the default channels of popular routers. We had rare dropouts, though, and we thought we could solve that, and other problems, by switching bands.

We swapped out the aging D-Link for an Apple Airport Extreme, which can broadcast on the far less crowded 5 GHz band (it can actually broadcast on both bands at the same time), using the faster 802.11n protocol (now official,

and no longer a “draft” standard). Sure enough, the greater speed got rid of the dropout problem. But what we hadn’t expected was that changing bands also greatly improved the sonic quality of what the Airport Express gave us. It has now become comparable with what we can expect by connecting directly to the computer holding the music. Frankly, that’s rather exciting. A quick reminder of what the Airport Express is. It’s a tiny device that connects to Wi-Fi using any of the available pro-tocols on either band. You set it up with your computer using included software, and then the computer can stream music to it wirelessly. Though the little box has a mini-jack analog output, it can also accept a mini-TOSLINK optical cable, thus providing a clean digital signal for a standalone digital-to-analog converter or one of the growing number of CD players that include digital inputs.

Better Music through the Air

MartinLogan Going Mid-Fi?Gossip&News

Yes, it’s interactive

Just click on the ad on the next page, and you know what will happen?

You’ll go right to the advertiser’s Web site…if there is one, and of course

if you are connected to the Internet at that moment.

Try it with any of the other ads in this issue.

Of course it works with the full (paid) electronic issue as well.


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When we heard about the death of loudspeaker genius Jim Thiel in Septem-ber, it was a shock, because we knew him, esteemed him, admired him. So imagine the shock for co-founder Kathy Gornik and the rest of the Thiel team.

The company went through a period of mourning, which is natural, but the company will go on. Jim was meticulous not only in his speaker designs, but also in his careful documentation of those designs. A team of engineers has been hired, and Jim’s ideas will live on. We’re delighted to hear it. The con-trary would be a tragedy.

Are you getting the impression that “HD,” the buzzword of the half-decade, is being applied so widely it’s getting way, way out of hand? See the headline above? We actually saw it on the label of a pair of sunglasses. Cheap sunglasses. In a dollar store.

HD is being used in increasingly misleading fashion. And misleading is not even a strong enough name, because it aids and abets blatant fraud. Check this out: the new ZuneHD.

The Zune is Microsoft’s entry for the elusive stakes in the search for an iPod killer. In its first incarnation it carved out a niche among music players that were not iPods, but Microsoft has loftier ambitions. The ZuneHD is intended to take on the iPod touch, and it is similarly priced. We have not reviewed it (it will not be available outside of the US for reasons that turned out to be evident). Early reviews are largely favorable, but we have a serious problem with its name. “HD” does not mean what you might assume. Indeed, it helps perpetrate a trend to fraudulent use of what consum-ers assume means “high definition.” And Microsoft is not alone in this. One reason for the HD in the new Zune’s name is the presence of an HD Radio receiver. Some reviewers, taken in by the name, have parroted the claim that HD Radio is “clearer” than FM. It’s not. This bastardized USA-only digital broadcasting service piggybacks on conventional AM and FM frequencies, and uses such radical lossy compression that less than 20% of the data is actually transmitted. True, other (failed) digital

radio systems share that little drawback, but they don’t use the initials HD. Oh yes…the HD in HD Radio originally stood for “hybrid digital,” not “high definition.” Its promoters are now claiming it doesn’t really stand for anything at all (and what a shame that we’re misunderstanding it! That wasn’t their intention at all). There’s a second reason for the HD in the Zune’s name. Unlike the iPod, whose video content can be viewed only in standard (DVD) definition, the Zune, if you buy a $60 accessory, can feed your TV a “high definition” signal. But that claim too is misleading. It’s 720p rather than the 1080p of “real” high definition, and even so it’s compressed to within a hair’s breadth of its life. It may have the lines (or at least some of them), but that doesn’t translate into actual image detail. This misuse of the term HD is found elsewhere: at the iTunes store, which sells or rents “HD” movies, or in the predictions that Blu-ray will fail because you can download HD movies over the Net. No you can’t. And real HD files are so huge that there is little prospect of such downloads being available in the foreseeable future. Go with them if you want, but don’t call them HD. And if you do, we call fraud.

And speaking of iTunes… Last Summer, the research firm NPD issued one of its periodic reports on who the big music retailers are in the US. Notwithstanding the dark fore-casts of the end of Compact Discs, NPD says that format st il l domi-nates, with 65% of music sales. But digital sales belong to iTunes, which has a whopping 69% of the digital music market, and a quarter of all music sales. Walmart is the runner-up, with 14%, spl it bet ween it s CD sa les and it s US-only download store. But there are a couple of gotchas in these figures. First, the figures are only for the United States. Second, NPD doesn’t count the “all-you-can-eat” on-line stores. A worldwide survey, if such a thing could be done, might reveal a very different picture.

Now with HD Lenses

CD Still Rules

Thiel Will Go On

UHF on line is interactive! Unlike with a physical magazine, which forces you to turn pages, the on-line version of UHF Magazine helps you along with technology. For instance, click on any title in the table of contents (on the previous page), and you’ll be whisked right to the article itself. Turn to the table of advertisers on page 81 (and that, by the way, is a link), and click on the name of a product or company, and an an instant you’ll be looking at the ad itself. And then try clicking on an ad… If you are connected to the Internet, you’ll be taken right to the adver-tiser’s Web site in your default Web browser. Those interactive features were designed for the paid electronic version of UHF, but they work every bit as well on the free PDF version you’re looking at. We hope you enjoy it.


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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: cleanliness is next to...high fidelity! The way to clean LPs is with a vacuum machine. Lots of companies make them, and in fact the issue of UHF with plans for a DIY machine (issue 58, close to being out of print) was our all-time best-selling issue. But at the other end of the price scale is the original LP cleaning machine, the Keith Monks.

They don’t come cheap, and you need to own a pretty good collection to justify one. That goes double for the new Keith Monks Ruby, a limited edition version of the Omni which is being made in limited quantities…like 40! (Not coincidentally, this is the 40th anniversary of the original Keith Monks.) The Ruby could get by on looks alone. It has a rather handsome cabinet, including a matching wood lid, and a vacuum gauge styled to look like a dial from a Mini Cooper. You might be surprised to learn that it doesn’t clean both sides at once, as the top Nitty Gritty does, but a two-sided machine couldn’t have the finicky features of the Keith Monks. Besides, whassa matter, you can’t turn the record over? The price? Not stated, but if you have to ask...

Anybody hear a peep out of the Canadian government on its plans for the next copyright law? Us either. Earlier this year there were government hearings on the question of “modernizing” Canada’s copyright law. True, the law looks a little quaint in the age of always-on broadband Internet

and iPhones, but many Canadians are wary of what the government is up to. Last time a bill to overhaul the law was presented (it died on the order paper when an election was called), it was widely seen as even more restrictive than the draconian DMCA in the US. Put a single movie you had paid for onto your iPod, and you could face a fine of $20,000 (popcorn and large Slurpee extra). And that’s merely an example. Anyway, hearings were held in a number of cities. At the Montreal hear-

ings, the Union des Artistes demanded that buyers of iPods and other music players (this would take in most modern cell phones) pay a stipend that would go to “compensate” artists whose works are “stolen” by being transferred from one device to another. Sigh! We suspect the recent rumors of an impending election (squashed for the moment) have prompted Heritage Canada to put the issue on a slow simmer. But we’re keeping an eye on this, and we suggest you do too.

Copyright Hearings

Clean Machine

Equipment reviews are done on at least one of UHF’s reference systems, selected as working tools. They are changed as infrequently as possible.

The Alpha systemOur original reference is in a room with special acoustics, originally a recording studio, letting us hear what we can’t hear elsewhere.

Main digital player: Linn Unidisk 1.1Additional CD player: CEC TL-51X belt-driven transport, Counterpoint DA-10A converter with HDCD card.Digital cable: Atlas Opus 1.5mDigital portable: Apple iPod 60 GbTurntable: Audiomeca J-1Tone arm: Audiomeca SL-5Pickup: Goldring ExcelPhono preamp: Audiomat Phono 1.6Preamplifier: Copland CTA-305Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-5LELoudspeakers: Living Voice Avatar OBX-R Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1, Atlas Navigator All-Cu Loudspeaker cables: Atlas Mavros with WBT nextgen banana connectorsPower cords: Gutwire, Wireworld AuroraAC filters: Foundation Research LC-2 (power amp), Inouye SPLC.

The Omega systemIt serves for reviews of gear that cannot easily fit into the Alpha system, with its small room.

Digital players: shared with the Alpha systemTurntable: Linn LP12/Lingo IITone arm: Alphason HR-100S MCSPickup: London ReferencePhono preamp: Audiomat Phono 1.6Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon P-8Power amplifier: Simaudio Moon W-8

Loudspeakers: Reference 3a Suprema II Interconnects: Pierre Gabriel ML-1, Atlas Navigator All-Cu, Atlas MavrosLoudspeaker cables: Pierre Gabriel ML-1 for most of the range, Wireworld Polaris for the twin subwoofers.Power cords: BIS Audio Maestro, GutWire B-12, WireworldAC filters: GutWire MaxCon Squared, Foundation Research LC-1Acoustics: Gershman Acoustic Art panels

The Kappa systemThis is our home theatre system. As with the original Alpha system, we had limited space, and that pretty much ruled out huge projec-tors and two-metre screens. We did, however, finally come up with a system whose perfor-mance gladdens both eye and ear, with the needed resolution for reviews.

HDTV monitor: Samsung PN50A550 plasma screen DVD player (provisional): Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-Ray playerPreamplifier/processor: Simaudio Moon Attraction, 5.1 channel versionPower amplifiers: Simaudio Moon W-3 (main speakers), bridged Celeste 4070se (centre speaker), Robertson 4010 (rear) Main speakers: Energy Reference Con-noisseur (1984)Centre speaker: Thiel MCS1 Rear speakers: Elipson 1400 Subwoofer: 3a Design Acoustics Cables: Atlas, Van den Hul, MIT, GutWire, WireworldLine filter: GutWire MaxCon Squared

All three systems have dedicated power lines, with Hubbell hospital grade outlets. Extensions and power bars are equipped with hospital-grade connectors.

The UHF Reference Systems


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Yes, there will be a 2010 edition of the Montreal Sound & Vision Salon. But not at the usual place. The Salon, now over two decades old, is still hurting, as are most trade and consumer shows. The past year, with its economic meltdown, has not been a good year for either trade or consumer shows. If you’re going to cut back on either food or show expenses, it’s an easy call. And show organizers are reacting. The Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is branching out (adding, for instance, a large Apple-themed pavilion, in the hope of cannibalizing the ailing Macworld). Its rival, T.H.E.Show, is moving from the isolated Alexis Park to the Flamingo Hilton, which is right on the Strip. And Montreal’s Salon Son & Image is moving too. To the building shown here. For the past few years it has been at the Centre Sheraton, which is well equipped with large rooms for major exhibitors. Only those exhibitors were nowhere to be found at the 2009 Salon. And the Sheraton’s small hotel rooms, with their narrow entranceways, were unpopular with high end exhibitors, many of whom were quite vocal about their wish for the Salon to return to the Delta, where it had held sway for many years.

The down side to the Delta: the paucity of elevators, and the absence of a loading dock, which made moving in and out a nightmare. Instead, the Salon will move to the Hotel Bonaventure, which shares this massive building with what was once Montreal’s largest convention centre. The hotel is perched high upon Place Bonaventure, long considered one of Montreal’s architectural jewels…and this in a city renown for its architecture. It includes a spectacular rooftop garden, and even an outdoor four-season swim-ming pool, in which you can swim next to a snowbank. You have to see it to believe it. The Salon will be held a little earlier than in recent years, running from March 25th through the 28th (the 25th is the trade-only day). The dates were selected to run concurrently with the National Home Show, which will be held in the Bonaventure’s huge conven-tion space March 20th through 29th. Salon organizers hope that new visitors will attend thanks to the home show. The Bonaventure is of course well equipped with loading docks, and that will be handy. And, as you can guess from the photo of the complex, the rooms are

not made of cardboard. On the down side, with the Home Show in the same venue, the underground parking lot is going to be saturated. Then again, the Bonaven-ture sits atop its own Métro station. You can visit the Salon’s Web site, at www.salonsonimage.com. We wish the Salon well, and of course we will be covering it on line from start to finish. For our part, we’re not sorry to say goodbye to the Centre Sheraton.

You probably noticed that audio dis-tributor Justice Audio and its companion corporation, Just May Audio, were no longer at their usual place on the inside front cover of our last issue.

The reason? President Nabil Akhrass, finding his time taken up by the grave illness of his mother, Alice, sold the company. Alice died shortly after. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Nabil, to Nizar, whose May Audio Marketing continues in Niagara Falls, NY, and to the whole Akhrass family. So what happens now? The assets of Justice/Just May have been purchased by another prominent audio distributor, Tri-Cell, which has taken over the premises and some of the brand lines, but not the name. Nabil, for his part, has launched a new venture, Liberty Trading. He has picked up two brands Tri-Cell turned down, Atlas and GutWire, and he has just picked up Canadian distribution for Audes (the Audes Orpheus is reviewed in this issue).. He’ll be at the Montreal Salon in March. New name, same stand.

So longJustice Audio

The Montreal Salon on the Move


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1877Phono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Allnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 2

Arcadia Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Audes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Audiophileboutique.com . . . . Cover 4

Audiophile Store . . . . . . . . . . 53-60

Audio Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Audiyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Audio Zendo . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3

BIS Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Blue Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Charisma Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Cyrus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Diamond Groove . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Divergent Technologies . . . . . . . . 11

ELAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Entre’acte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

ETI (Eichmann) . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Europroducts International . . . 13, 17

Hammertone Audio . . . . . . . Cover 2

Liberty Trading . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

MagZee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Marchand Electronics. . . . . . . . . 12

Moon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Mutine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover 3

Reference 3a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Simaudio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Tri-Cell Enterprises . . . . . . . . . . 51

UHF Back Issues . . . . . . . . . . . 34

UHF Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Actually it never went away. Sure everyone talks about music downloads, authorized or otherwise, and down-loaders may think that “everyone” is getting their music that way, but in fact album sales — of CD and the resurgent LP — dominate. Only for how long? The big record labels are happy that their albums are still selling through the few remaining record stores, but downloaders mostly buy singles. That’s because they consider albums to be com-posed mostly of filler, often written for contractual reasons. Sure, you can buy a whole album from the iTunes store, but most people don’t. Remember “concept albums”? Those are so 1970. But record executives tend to live in the past, as we know, and they would love for album sales to take off again. They are hatching not one but two plans to revive them. The first is called CMX (which stands for…oh, let’s see now), which is yet another copy-protected format, which will include a full album (including crappy lossy cmpressn) plus album art, lyrics, videos, and other shovelware. It seems that CMX was offered to Apple, which wasn’t interested. In the meantime, however, Apple is said to be working on its own (incompat-ible) version, called the Cocktail Project. The rumor mill has the Cocktail Project being launched at the same time as an Apple tablet computer, sort of an over-sized iPod touch. There are a number of problems with these scenarios, and in fact we barely know where to begin. First, you don’t need either system to get lyrics, which you can grab right off the Internet, and you can add them right to the files of some players (labels began adding lyrics to albums right about the time multi-track recording came out, since you could no longer make out the words on the songs themselves). Second, album art pretty much died as of the Beatles’ White Album, which was released forty years ago! Album

information? You’re lucky if the name of the artist is on the sleeve (or booklet) of an album. Third, CD prices have tumbled with demand, and these pseudo-albums will have to be pretty cheap to compete. Fourth, our take on the Apple Tablet (though we could be proven wrong early next year) is that it will never happen. Microsoft launched a product like that some four years ago, and it was a resounding failure. Apple itself once built the Newton Message Pad, a product Steve Jobs killed before his name was even on his office door. Fifth, it was only last year that down-loadable music, at iTunes and elsewhere, began appearing without copy protec-tion. Enthusiasm for new copy-protected incompatible formats is going to be low, low, low. What the record companies need is a time machine. Set it to arrive in 2009.

It seems more and more electronic gear runs not from an internal power supply, but from little plastic boxes known as wall warts. You know, those things that take up two outlets when you’re already short of them. We often see this as an opportunity. With the power plug so accessible, you can substitute a more potent power source, as we did a few issues back with the Logitech Squeezebox. But those are ad hoc solutions. Red Wine Audio has launched the Black Lightning, a device that can plug right in where the wall wart is meant to go.

And it’s better than you might think. It’s a battery supply, with voltage regula-tion and its own built-in charger. We think the potential is enormous. Of course, it’s not what you’d call cheap, starting at US$625. We won’t be using it on our iPod dock! But we’re looking at the possibilities…

Will the Album come Back?

Better than a Wall Wart

ADVERTISERS


Does the quality of the parts used to build an audio prod-uct matter, or does the qual-ity of the design trump

everything else? Perhaps you think I’m setting up a straw man, a dubious proposition put out just so I can say “D’oh!” Not so. You can find lots of hi-fi collectors who deplore that “they don’t make ’em like they used to,” and that for the best quality you have to look for speakers and amplifiers built 20 years ago, or perhaps 30 years ago. True? At the very least it’s an oversimpli-fication, but let’s climb into that musty collector’s attic and get a good look at one of those amplifiers from two or three decades ago. I have pleasant memories of listening to it, and perhaps you do too, but what is it made from? Well, let’s get a look at what’s visible, such as the input jacks. I’m used to seeing phono jacks that are shaped from nothing more than sheet metal wrapped around a plastic core, but today at least the metal is gold-plated (or at least gold-flashed, but don’t expect the manufacturer to point out the difference). The ones on the expensive classic amplifier? They’re nickel-plated, or at least they were until the years began to take their toll. Don’t even ask what’s underneath the nickel plating. Then again, sometimes the parts weren’t even plated, just tinned, which made them even easier to solder to. When you think about the fact that the plugs on interconnects were then made of the same nickel or tin, it’s a miracle the amplifier worked at all. Let’s look at the output binding posts. Actually, there aren’t any. There aren’t even those dreadful “guillotine” connectors that were once all the rage. No, the output connectors are merely a row of screws mounted on a dark strip of what looks like Bakelite, a prewar plastic made from phenolic resin and wood dust. Nickel plating? But of course. If this is a tube amplifier, pull a tube (gently!) and get a look at the socket. If you’re lucky it’s also Bakelite. Much of the time, especially in the case of output

tube sockets, they’re made of cotton paper hardened with epoxy. As for the pins…do I need to spell out what they’re made of? And it’s worse than it looks. Like the phono jacks, the metal used for the socket pins is not tempered, so it will bend under pressure, but it won’t spring back. With parts like that, time is not on your side. Now lets’s open the chassis and look around. The selector switch? Good ones would be ceramic, but what do we have here? Our friend, the cotton paper and epoxy, and the contacts are made of a metal that is now starting to look all too familiar. Of course the contacts are right out in the open, with no protection against dust. I could go on, but I’m sure you’ve gotten the idea. In years past equipment designers didn’t understand the impor-tance of top-grade parts (I know, because I was one of them), and they probably couldn’t have found such parts if they had. Of course we did know about the dif-ferences that clever design could make,

and that is for the most part what made the difference between one product and a competitor. Unable to buy silver solder, Teflon-insulated oxygen-free wire, gold-plated anything, we looked for ways to get more out of the circuit itself. Can we stabilize the output to prevent oscillation on transients with capacitive loads? Can we design a solid state buffer with higher impedance? Can we find a better way of inverting phase? Can we get away with eliminating inverse feedback, or perhaps use it in some other way? Collectively, designers came up with great ideas. Imagine if we’d had the parts you can buy today! But what is the situation today? Certainly using first-grade parts is an option, and a supplier is only a Google search away. Some companies do in fact seek out the best connectors, switches, sockets, capacitors and wiring, and that may allow them to make a product that will outperform anything from years gone by. Others make do with whatever is going to cost them the least, figuring it can’t make that much difference. And who are these miscreants? It’s tempting to jump to a conclusion that might be a bit hasty. Are the Chinese the guilty parties, putting glitz on parts that work but only just? Sometimes, yes, but not always. I know of one Chinese amplifier manufacturer so preoccupied by quality that it buys its connectors in the US. I also know of manufacturers in North America and Europe who spend on quality parts only where they’ll show, and make do with trash inside. Yet others figure that buying the most advanced connectors and switches will make for a good product, even though they them-selves couldn’t get 60% on a second-year electrical engineering exam. Ultimately, everything matters. It is possible to make a system sound good without using the ultimate in parts — and I know this because that’s how nearly all the great classic products were made. Parts alone won’t make it great, though. The designer is the magician who hopes to dazzle us. The parts he uses for his products are his magic wand.

STATE OF THE ART:THE BOOK

Get the 258-page bookcontaining the State of the Art

columns from the first 60 issuesof UHF, with all-new introductions.

See page 6.

State of the Artby Gerard Rejskind

http://www.uhfmag.com/stateoftheart.html

Why doUHF readers

start reading their magazines

at the back?Countless readers have confirmed it over the years: when they get their hands on the latest issue of UHF, they open it to the last page. The reason all of them mention: Gerard Rejskind’s last-page column, State of the Art. Since the magazine’s founding, the column has grappled with the major questions of high end audio. It has been acclaimed by readers around the world. Now, the columns from the first 60 issues of UHF are brought together into one book. Each is exactly as it was originally published, and each is accompanied by a new introduction. Order your copy today: $18.95 in Canada or the US, C$32 elsewhere in the world, air mail included.

http://www.mutine.com

Luxury audio electronics of unique value and reference quality at unique prices.Some of the best-built high-end products ever madeThe legendary Van den Hul amplifiers and preamps at less than half the original priceM-1 Monoblocks, US$7350 now C$3400S-1 Stereo power amplifier, US$3795 now C$1900A-1 Preamplifier, US$3895 now C$1785See them at:www.audiophileboutique.com

New, with one-year North American warrantyShipped from points in either Canada orUSA. Billed in Canadian dollars, currently trading between US$0.93 and $0.96.

ALSO AT THE AUDIOPHILE BOUTIQUE:Moon phono preamplifiers, Goldring phono cartridges with line contact stylus, tube headphone amps, Thorens turntables.

audiophileboutique.coma division of UHF [email protected](450) 651-5720

What do we know about indoor FM and TV antennas that they don’t?A lot, it turns out. With the stampede to satellite and cable over the past 20 years, the design of dipole antennas has been left to the makers of junk.It was years ago that UHF designed a high-quality antenna for its own use. It was so good we offered it for sale as the Super Antenna, and saw thousands of them sold. Why? Because it’s better. In this, the Super Antenna’s third incarnation, we buy one of those trashy antennas, rip everything out until we are left with the rods and the case, and we rebuild it. We add our own high-quality transformer (can you believe the junk antenna didn’t even have one?), and a luxurious low-loss shielded cable with a 24K gold-plated slip-on F-connector.The broadband design covers the range from analog channels 2 to 69, including the entire FM band. And yes, it does a fine job with digital channels, including over-the-air HDTV.

SEE THE SUPER ANTENNA MkIII at The Audiophile Store, page 55


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