tas_175.pdf

S T E R E O • M U L T I C H A N N E L A U D I O • M U S I C

NirvaNa

PrimaLuna’s

sweet deal

Verity Audio’s New rienzi speaker

room Correction: Audio’s Final Frontier?

recording in high-res surround

18 Pages of New Music reviews

Tube

October 2007

Tube Nirvana

CoVERStoRy:PRimALunADiALoguE

tWointEgRAtEDAmPLifiER

The musical magic of tubes has never been more

accessible or affordable. Jim Hannon reports on the

breakthrough DiaLogue Two from PrimaLuna.

34 RecordingthePhilharmonicof

RussiainHigh-ResSurround

Andrew Quint compares what he

heard at two live performances of

the National Philharmonic of Russia

to recordist extraordinaire Peter

McGrath’s multichannel mastertapes

of the same concerts.

47 2007EDitoRS’

ouRAnnuALLiStoftHEbEStinHi-fi,inEVERy

ComPonEntCAtEgoRyAtEVERyPRiCEPoint.

EquiPmEntREPoRtS

26 AbsoluteAnalog

Wayne Garcia on the superb Redpoint

Model D turntable, Marchand LN-112

phonostage, and Tara Labs Zero GX

tonearm cable.

133 VerityRienziLoudspeaker

Wayne Garcia on a compact, highly

musical speaker from Canada.

137 CoplandDRC205

Robert E. Greene on Copland’s

boundary-expanding digital room-

correction device.

141 PSAudioPowerPlants

Anthony H. Cordesman on new AC

regenerators, line conditioners, and

surge protectors from PS Audio.

145 HP’sWorkshop

HP offers his Editors’ Choice picks

of the best in high-end audio.

October 2007 The Absolute Sound

Contents

124

CHoiCEAWARDS

Contents

founder;chairman,

editorialadvisoryboard

editor-in-chief

executiveeditor

acquisitionsmanager

andassociateeditor

musiceditor

proofreader

artdirector

Harry Pearson

Letters

Music

151 RECORDING OF THE

ISSUE

Bettye LaVette: Scene of the Crime .

Robert Harley

Jonathan Valin

Neil Gader

15 From The Editor

16 Future TAS

Bob Gendron

Mark Lehman

Torquil Dewar

0 Industry News

151 Rock

Reviews of the latest

from Tegan and Sara, The

New Pornographers, John

Vanderslice, Suzanne Vega, KT

Tunstall, Kelly Clarkson, Sinead

O’Connor, Shout Out Louds,

Okkervil River, High on Fire,

Smashing Pumpkins, Kinski,

Mekons, Toby Keith, Brad

Paisley, and Duke Robillard. Plus

an archival Emmylou Harris set,

a trippy San Francisco Nuggets box,

and audiophile vinyl from Marc

Broussard, Built to Spill, and

Steely Dan.

seniorwriters

John W. Cooledge, Anthony H. Cordesman,

Wayne Garcia, Robert E. Greene, Chris Martens,

Dick Olsher, Andrew Quint, Sallie Reynolds,

Paul Seydor, Alan Taffel

reviewersand

contributingwriters

Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Dan Davis,

Andy Downing, Jim Hannon, Jacob Heilbrunn,

Sue Kraft, Mark Lehman, Ted Libbey,

David McGee, Bill Milkowski,

Derk Richardson, Don Saltzman,

Max Shepherd

Start Me Up

Neil Gader on the KEF iQ7.

hp’sequipmentsetup

Danny Gonzalez

webproducer

Ari Koinuma

19 Manufacturers’

Absolutemultimedia,inc.

chairmanandceo

vicepresident/publisher

advertisingreps

Comments

169 Classical

The scoop on fresh offerings,

including Schutz’s Opus ultimum ,

a Herreweghe retrospective,

Golijov’s Oceana , Dukas’ Ariane

et Barbe-Blue , Hartke’s The

Greater Good , Medtner’s Skazki ,

John O’Conor’s rendition of

Beethoven Piano Concertos

Nos. 2 and 5, the Royal

Concertgebouw Orchestra’s

Brass , and Lou Reed’s Metal

Machine Music . Plus reissue LP

pressings from Speakers Corner

and Cisco.

Thomas B. Martin, Jr.

Mark Fisher

Cheryl Smith

(512)891-7775

Marvin Lewis

MTM Sales

(718)225-8803

reprintsande-prints: Jennifermartin,WrightsReprints

tollfree: (877)652-5295, outsidetheu.S.: (281)419-5725,

jmartin@wrightsreprints.com

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phone: (888)732-1625(u.S.)or(815)734-5833

(outsideu.S.),orwrite The Absolute Sound ,

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(gStincluded);outsidenorthAmerica,$71(includesairmail).

Paymentsmustbebycreditcard(ViSA,masterCard,

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ore-mailrharley@absolutemultimedia.com.

classiiedadvertising: Pleaseuseforminbackofissue.

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Absolutemultimedia,inc.

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phone: (512)892-8682fax:(512)891-0375

e-mail: tas@absolutemultimedia.com

www.theabsolutesound.com

177 Jazz

The lowdown on new discs from

Floratone, Mushroom, Marco

Benevento, the Claudia Quintet,

Steve Lacy and the Roswell Rudd

Quartet, David Murray, Dave

Brubeck, the David Hazeltine

Trio, and, on LP, Lauren White.

18 Back Page

Neil Gader interviews Julian

Pelchat of Verity Audio.

168

2007 Absolute Multimedia, Inc., October 2007. The Absolute Sound

(ISSN#0097-1138) is published ten times per year, $42 per year for U.S. residents.

Absolute Multimedia, Inc., 4544 S. Lamar, Bldg G300, Austin, Texas 78745. Periodical

Postage paid at Austin, Texas and additional mailing ofices. Canadian publication

mail account #1551566. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Absolute Sound ,

Subscription Services, PO Box 629, Mt Morris, IL 61054. Printed in the USA .

October 2007 The Absolute Sound

Letters

e-mail us: rharley@absolutemultimedia.com

or write us a letter: The Absolute Sound , Pobox1768, tijeras,newmexico87059

Analogissue

omission

It is unfortunate that your analog issue (TAS

172) did not include the period and music

when America’s hot jazz irst appeared

and lourished. This era encompasses the

years 1920–1932, when great artists such

as Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke

set the stage for the 40s and 50s. Original

recordings are all on 78rpm shellac records.

Avid collectors number in the thousands,

and are not at all happy with remastered

reissues.

Please devote some time and space to

the best components for reproducing this

marvelous music on 78rpm discs.

Marty Alexander

Sound (or Stereophile ) for us lowly peasants,

who also happen to love good music but

can’t afford the exalted systems to play it

on, is for observation. We can only enjoy

reading about, and dreaming of owning,

$40,000 ampliiers and $100,000 speaker

systems. (God, my house cost $100,000.)

We unfortunates are stuck with our

old gear like my Linn LP-12 ($350

used), Moscode 300 amp ($700 new),

Counterpoint SA-3000 preamp ($600

used), Magnepan MG1.2QR ($1400

new—I splurged). You’d be surprised at

how many of my friends consider even

this to be really expensive.

Bottom line: If all I can do is read about

this stuff, I want a lower subscription price

so that I can do it as cheaply as possible.

Since I do not believe that any length of

wire should costs thousands (what we use

in recording is pennies per foot), or that

any of this really expensive gear is that

much better than what I’m listening to

now, I want a bargain on the propaganda.

Ben Taylor

166–175, inclusive), we’ve reviewed 161

products (not including cables, acces-

sories, and HP’s Workshop), with the

following price distribution:

Less than $750

$750–$1499

$1500–$2999

$3000–$5999

$6000–$11,999

$12,000–$23,999

$24,000–$49,999

More than $50,000

And that tally doesn’t include last issue’s

feature on budget systems, in which we

assembled six systems starting at $827.

The fact is that we’ve discovered, and

continue to discover, a large number of

truly outstanding products that cost not

much more than mid-i components.

Where are your “$40,000 ampliiers and

$100,000 speaker systems,” Mr. Taylor?

Nonetheless, I make no apologies

for those times when we explore the

edge of the art in music reproduc-

tion through reviews of cost-no-object

equipment. Such experience informs our

reviews of lower-priced gear in a way

that’s otherwise impossible to achieve.

Moreover, a signiicant portion of our

readership can afford those products and

wants to read about them.

High-End

Propagandai

I’m a long-time Absolute Sound reader/

fan and have several old copies in my

collection, including Vol.1, No.4. I was an

engineer at Elektra/Nonesuch and loved

the magazine because it was a welcome

change from the standard fare of High

Fidelity , Audio , and Consumer Reports ,

which based their evaluations strictly

on measurement and very little, if any,

listening. I make my living using my ears.

But TAS now pays little or no attention

to reasonably priced equipment. The true

bargains are coming from China with

more and more manufacturers designing

in the West but assembling in the East in

an attempt at offering better prices. The

truly great gear is so outlandishly costly

that only the rich can afford it. It would

seem that the rich are the only ones with

“golden ears” these days; do they buy their

ears, as well?

The only purpose served by The Absolute

RobertHarleyreplies: I’m bafled by

letters complaining that The Absolute

Sound doesn’t review affordable gear,

as well as those that suggest that the

preponderance of our coverage is

of “$40,000 ampliiers and $100,000

speaker systems.” In the past year (Issues

thismonthonAVguide.com

•CEDiAEXPo2007:

getvideosand

highlightsfrom

theshow

•SeeRobertHarley’s

“HowtoChoosea

Loudspeaker”

•Checkoutlast

year’sEditors’

ChoiceAwards

•Plus,moredaily

newsfromhigh-

endaudio

8 October 2007 The Absolute Sound

Letters

Incidentally, before I became a hi-i

writer (in 1989), my system comprised a

Luxman CL-34 tube preamp ($249 new

on a closeout), Albert von Schweikert’s

garage-built Vortex Screens ($750

new—Albert and I worked in a hi-i

store together in the early 80s), Adcom

GFA-555 power amp ($549 new), and an

AR turntable ($300 used).

such as Wharfedale, Audiolab, Mission,

and Quad are now owned by Chinese

entrepreneurs and manufactured in

China. I hope you will consider this trend

another indication that value for money

continues to be an important criterion in

the audiophile market, as it is in practically

every other commercial enterprise.

I will continue to scan TAS from time

to time on the magazine rack to gauge if

its content improves suficiently to make

it interesting to read once again. In the

meantime, please save the jokes for the

April Fools issue.

Audio Equipment Quality” (reprinted in

The Complete Guide to High-End Audio,

Third Edition).

As for TAS’s alleged indifference to

value-for-money and the impact of

Chinese-made equipment, I challenge

you to name a high-end audio magazine

that devotes more coverage to afford-

able products than does TAS (see my

response to the previous letter above).

Many of those affordable products

do come from China, including the

PrimaLuna DiaLogue Two integrated

ampliier featured on this issue’s cover.

When you “scan TAS from time to time

on the magazine rack to gauge whether

its content has suficiently improved to

make it interesting to read once again,”

keep an eye out for my feature story

on Chinese audio manufacturing after I

return from a tour of China’s major audio

factories later this year.

High-End

Propagandaii

Having subscribed to TAS since the days

when it was still the size of a pocketbook,

I am inally letting my subscription lapse.

Over the years, I have made several purchase

decisions based on the discussions within its

pages, including Audible Illusions, SOTA,

Rotel, Sunire, B&W, Antique Sound Lab,

and McIntosh, with satisfying results. More

recently, my conidence in the credibility of

TAS authors is sadly diminished. I simply

cannot stomach the increasingly frequent

reviews that glowingly report distinctly au-

dible enhancements of such things as AC

power cords or blocks that raise the speaker

cables a few inches off the loor. Not only

are these articles absurd and without any

support of quantitative or double-blind

tests, if the parts in question actually did

change the quality of sound, then some-

thing was seriously wrong with the rest of

the system being auditioned. These articles

ruin the credibility of the same reviewers

when they write about other products that

may actually contribute something to the

listening experience. To preserve the integ-

rity of its information, TAS editors should

draw the line in such instances where “value

for money” is so doubtful.

On a related note, I am enclosing an

article published last weekend in the

San Francisco Chronicle that describes

how products made in China are taking

an increasing portion of the audiophile

market. Not only are their products lower

in cost, their quality control is improving

dramatically, as is the level of technology

and innovation. I was especially interested

to learn that several big-name companies,

Phil Ballou

RHreplies: Your complaints about

TAS, Mr. Ballou, seem to be that: 1)

TAS writers engage in observational

reporting without double-blind listening

tests; 2) we sometimes recommend

products that you, a priori , have deter-

mined don’t make a sonic difference

(power cords, to use your example);

and 3) we fail to report on high-value

products, particularly those from China.

It’s odd that you bought products

based on TAS’ recommendations for

decades with “satisfying results”—rec-

ommendations that were arrived at

without double-blind listening tests—yet

you now dismiss observational listening

impressions when the results don’t agree

with your preconceived notions of which

products make an audible difference and

which don’t. I won’t rehash the laws in

double-blind listening tests here. Instead,

I refer you to the 2004 revision of my

Audio Engineering Society paper “The

Role of Critical Listening in Evaluating

SomeoneWho

getsit

I have been buying and reading your maga-

zine for awhile (I get it at the local Barnes

& Noble store). I want to thank you for

having the sense to include vinyl and sub-

$1000 equipment reviews each month along

with the stuff I can’t afford. In this age of

equipment costing tends of thousands of

dollars, your reports on affordable equip-

ment are relevant to me. My average pur-

chase price for equipment is about $1000,

each time I’m ready for an upgrade.

I would like to see you have a survey

that includes:

upcomingin The Absolute Sound issue176

•Special Speaker Issue

Wilson’snewDuette

technicalprimer

Howtoshopforspeakers

Reviewsof8newspeakers

•naim’snewpreampandamp

•Simaudio’smooni-7integrated

•gaumtDi150integrated

•novaLPs

•nagra’sirstCDplayer

•Desktopspeakersurvey

•$699integratedfromDussen

•quad’sbudgetsurroundspeakers

•SmE’s20/12turntableandarm

The Absolute Sound October 2007 11

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