Tabla de contenidos para October 2023 en The Absolute Sound

Email the Editor: rharley@nextscreen.com or: TAS, 2211 Denton Dr., Ste. J, Austin, Texas 78758 Matching the Speaker to the Room Although your speaker reviews normally specify the room placement used by the reviewer, very few state the dimensions and layout of the auditioning space or give any guidance on what type/size of room is required to accommodate them. Nevertheless, it seems evident that my home cannot accommodate most of these speakers. The big question is which ones I should investigate further. I suspect many other readers would benefit from guidance on how to select an excellent speaker, given the physical and aesthetic parameters of a home. My problem is a one-story, 1400-square-foot home in which the listening space must be shared among a kitchen alcove, dining alcove, and living-room area. This…

FEATURING A NEW conductor geometry that provides shielding and isolation from external interference, Wireworld's new “Power Conditioning Cords” extend the functions and benefits of power conditioning all the way to the component's power inlet. Stratus and Electra Shielded Mini Power Cords are flexible enough to use with small components like streamers, wireless speakers, and TV soundbars. Their individually insulated conductors add up to 16AWG per polarity. The conductor material in Stratus is oxygen-free copper, while Electra's conductors are made of the highest purity Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC7N) copper. The figure-8 plugs and wall plugs feature highly conductive silver-clad contacts for measurably quieter connections. The filtering effect of the cords is enhanced by Wireworld's ultra-quiet COMPOSILEX insulation. The new conductor geometry is an extension of Wireworld's exclusive Tite-Shield™ technology, which reduces…

Loudspeaker Focus Harbeth C7ES-3 XD and Monitor 40.3 XD Generally speaking, when I begin to evaluate a speaker system seriously—or any component, for that matter—I cue up some music, seat myself in the listening position, more or less upright, with ears at tweeter level, and leaning forward in a posture that suggests great concentration. This is how I began listening to Harbeth's Compact C7ES-3 XD, the latest version of the company's C7 model, which dates from 1994. Without quite realizing it, within at most, I'd say, a minute or so, I found myself easing back into a more relaxed position as a big smile appeared on my face. Man, this is one beautiful sounding speaker system—right out of the box, sans any of the usual warmup or break-in. Alan Shaw, owner…

In my review of Wilson Audio's Chrononsonic XVX in Issue 308 (September 2020) I wrote: “The XVX isn't just a landmark for Wilson Audio; I believe that it is a landmark achievement in loudspeaker design.” That statement is even more true today than when I wrote it. Wilson's flagship production speaker has become my reference standard and continues to impress even after more than three years of near-daily listening. At the time, the XVX introduced more innovations than any other single product in Wilson Audio's 42-year history. From an entirely new midrange driver to the in-house-built capacitors, to the “V” material that gives the XVX its name, to myriad other advances and refinements large and small, the XVX heralded a new era for Wilson. But the XVX has two problems:…

Memoirs often function as an arrival point, a juncture in time in which the author pauses and reflects on everything that has led up to that moment. Consequently, this literary genre frequently gives off the impression that for the author, time stood still as they looked back. If there is one thing clear from Lucinda Williams’ memoir, Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, it is that Williams’ life has been in motion from the start—touring Mexico City with Clark Jones, visiting the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Vermont, taking up odd jobs in Los Angeles—the stops on Williams’ journey go on and on. This memoir is one stop before Williams hits the road again. The singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams has been a crucial figure in shaping Americana since the…

“No matter how good or poor the recording quality is, improving a playback system inevitably yields greater musicality.” We recently posted to The Absolute Sound's YouTube channel a pair of professionally produced videos describing my listening room and system. The first video takes you through the process of designing and building a dedicated listening room, with tips and techniques on how you can improve the acoustic performance of any room, not just those built from scratch. In the second video, I take you through all the products in my reference system, describing each one and why it earned a place in my system. Not surprisingly, the videos generated many viewer comments, most of them positive. But one comment made me think about the relative value of a cutting-edge system when…

■FOR POWER CONDITIONING, I chose the AudioQuest Niagara 3000. It is less expensive than the Niagara 5000 and 7000 and is the second-lowest-priced conditioner to include AudioQuest's Transient Power Correction that supplies the power amplifier and one other high-current device with a current reservoir. This feature, designed for current-hungry amplifiers, is available on two of its outlets. I plugged the Anthem AVR and JL Audio subwoofer amplifier into these outlets. The 3000 also has AQ's AC-Ground-Noise Dissipation for reducing noise on the power feeding your components. See Muse Kastanovich's review in this issue for a full evaluation of the Niagara 3000. The 3000 doesn't ship with an AC cord; you must choose your own. For the crucial link between the 3000 and the wall outlet, I went with an AudioQuest…

Loudspeaker Focus Magico A1 Loudspeaker It would be senseless for me to deny that I'm a fan of Magico loudspeakers. I own six of them—M2s as my preferred stereo pair, a single S3 Mk2 for the center channel and S1 Mk2s as surrounds for multichannel applications, plus an S-Sub. But I'd had no at-home experience with Magico's entry-level A Series speakers and the opportunity to live for a couple of months with the company's smallest and least expensive model was of considerable interest. The A1 is currently the only bookshelf/stand-mount in Magico's product line, but it's certainly not the manufacturer's first go at a small two-way loudspeaker. Progenitors include the Mini and the Mini II as well as the Q1 that Jonathan Valin reviewed favorably back in Issue 219. [JV actually…

Over the past three years Alan Shaw has completed a project of upgrading the entire line of Harbeth loudspeakers. Once upgraded, the moniker of each model is given the suffix “XD,” which stands for “eXtended definition.” Though XD modifications include numerous small changes in parts—inevitable with any long-lived products, as all Harbeth speakers are—the most substantial improvements consist in cone material and crossovers. The bass and midrange drivers for all Harbeths are made from RADIAL 2, the latest formulation of RADIAL™, Harbeth's proprietary compound, known for its lightness, rigidity, and extremely low coloration. “All Harbeths have also progressively focused on refining the integration of the bass/midrange driver and tweeter,” Shaw told me in a Zoom interview. “Crossovers have been selectively upgraded and now more carefully integrate the drive units across…

THIS article marks the third time in a decade and a half that I've reviewed the MBL X-Treme Radialstrahler system. On the first two occasions, I evaluated the MKI versions of these gigantic, four-box, omnidirectional loudspeakers—the original and the 10th Anniversary Edition (which incorporated small, audible improvements to the Radialstrahler drivers and their tower structure). This time around, I'm going to talk about the MKII 101 X-Treme, which has new and substantially different subwoofer stacks. It is the first major change to the 101 X-Tremes in 16 years, and MBL's genius designer Jürgen Reis has deemed it a large enough sonic improvement to award the speaker a MKII designation—and justify raising the price of the entire system to a staggering $398,000. (Current MKI owners can purchase the new subwoofer stacks…

MBL 101 X-Treme MKII Loudspeaker Our sincere thanks to JV and TAS for the interesting, exciting, and informative review, following the evolution of the MBL Radiastrahler technology generally, and here with the 101 X-Treme MKII specifically. We feel the article is very accurate from the technical standpoint and easy to read and comprehend. Jeremy Bryan MBL USA Zanden 1200 Signature Phonostage We would like to thank Andre for a thorough and thoughtful review. We would like to make a few points regarding the features and functions of the unit. Nearly all Zanden products include an absolute-phase switch allowing users to select “normal” or “reverse” settings. The primary reason for the inclusion of such a feature is the history of the balanced XLR connector and its use in professional recording. The…

Sometime in the early aughts the enterprising British conductor John Wilson scheduled a concert of songs and instrumental music from the classic MGM movies and movie-musicals of the 40s, 50s, and 60s he loved from his childhood, to be performed by the John Wilson Orchestra, an ensemble he had founded 10 years earlier, while still in college, for the express purpose of playing such music, plus jazz. Upon discovering the studio had in 1969 destroyed most of the orchestral scores (for storage!), Wilson, rather than cancel the concert, elected to reconstruct them. Using piano reductions and the soundtrack recordings themselves, he began the almost inconceivably arduous task of creating new instrumental parts by ear—a whole morning,” he recalled, “to get five or six seconds of music,” a full weekend for…

Kenny Wheeler: Gnu High. ECM (LP). Larry Coryell: Tricycles. In + Out (2 LPs). When a record company with over 1700 titles under its belt launches an audiophile vinyl reissue series, it pays to be picky, as the label will only be able to revisit a small percentage of its discography. As it turns out, Kenny Wheeler's Gnu High is an excellent choice to help roll out ECM's new Luminessence series. Upon its release in 1975, Gnu High was widely heralded by critics and jazz fans alike, and it's now looked upon as an early ECM classic that was unique both for its personnel and ambition. Although some of the musicians had collaborated in the past, this was a one-time-ever lineup that happened to include pianist Keith Jarrett in a…

“Music is like food and drink; you need it daily and it should be quality.” What ignited your interest in the high end? Did it come from the music side or the electronics side? It's a combination. When I was growing up in the early 1960s, my family listened to LPs (folk music, classical, and comedy) on a Telefunken console. I played accordion as a young child, ranging from Liszt to Maurice Jarre, then started buying rock LPs, going to concerts, reading the stereo magazines at our public library, and getting product literature mailed to my house. My fascination with the role of electronics and the recording studio in making music grew. I earned both a BA and a Masters in Electronic Music while selling PA gear to bands, working…

FUTURE TAS THE 727 PREAMPLIFIER from Switzerland's Solution is the successor to the fabulous 725 that has won many of our top awards. The 725 isn't an update of that preamp, but rather a ground-up design that features an innovative input stage which increases common-mode rejection by 20dB, ensuring that no music signal details are lost at the inputs. As a result, the noise level of the volume control has been reduced significantly. On board are two volume controls—one is designed with high-precision metal-foil resistors for lowest noise levels, while the other uses PGAs for clickfree volume adjustments. Thanks to its low distortion and ultra-broadband Class A output stage, the 727 preamplifier can drive even long interconnects to power amplifiers. Stable and quiet power supplies are keys for a reference…

■ NOT ALL READERS will want to invest as much time, effort, and money as I did, so I've listed below the steps I would take in order of priority and value. • Optimize loudspeaker placement; this no cost tweak can yield a surprisingly big sonic improvement. All the other upgrades should be built on a founda tion of good loudspeaker placement. • Paint the wall behind the TV a dark color if painting the entire room is out of the question. If used only for TV watching, consider painting the entire room. • Position a pair of Curve Diffusers or Fabric-Wrapped Panels on the sidewalls at the first-reflection points. • Add a power conditioner and replace stock AC cables. AudioQuest makes the PowerQuest Series starting at $100, with AC…

Bowers & Wilkins has been around for a long time. My recitation of its history would be neither the first nor the most interesting to ever grace these pages, so I'll skip all that. But it is worth mentioning that the Bowers & Wilkins of today is not the B&W of 1966—and that's a good thing. In the stereo world, technology has been on a steady pro gressive march toward higher quality and greater accessibility. Sure, there might be some glorified heyday where every speaker sounded perfect and cost the same as a hamburger, but we all know we're better off now than we were back then. It's the same with B&W and, in particular, its new 703 S3 ($5999 per pair) floorstanding loudspeaker, which have benefitted from that steady…

Loudspeaker Focus KEF R11 Meta Loudspeaker The term “trickle-down” first saw wide usage in the 1980s in the context of supply-side economics. The idea was that the advantages realized by wealthy people and corporations from Reagan Era tax cuts would eventually make their way to individuals of modest means. It has since been employed broadly to refer to other instances where something initially helpful to an elite group later benefits a more general constituency, and the concept is invoked with regularity in reviews of audio gear. It's certainly applicable to the new KEF R11 Meta loudspeaker and the other models in the British manufacturer's R Series that have acquired the Meta designation. “Meta” indicates “metamaterial”—a technology previously utilized in KEF's Reference Series speakers for absorbing the backwave from KEF's ever-improving Uni-Q…

Type: 4-way system with double tweeters, midranges, and woofers (D'Appolito arrangement), up-firing silk-dome ambient tweeter, and active subwoofer stack per side Acoustic center: 100cm/39” Subwoofer: Active subwoofer, each channel 6x12” (per side) aluminum cone drivers in three cabinets, pushpush arrangement, cabinet volume 3x86liters Woofer: 2x Radial TT100 (per side), copper-aluminum-magnesium Midrange: 2x Radial MT50 (per side), woven carbon fiber Tweeter: 2x Radial HT37, unidirectional carbon fiber Lowest frequency: 24Hz Crossover frequencies: 85Hz, 600Hz, 3.5kHz Nominal impedance: 2 ohms each channel; 4 ohms each upper/lower Radialstrahler trio Continuous power handling each channel: 320W @ 4 ohms each Radialstrahler trio of drivers (one upper, one lower trio per side) Dimensions: Radial system: 496 x1854x687mm; subwoofer: 410x1860x670mm Weight: Radial system: each channel 584lbs.; subwoofer: each channel 500lbs.; total system: 2170lbs. Price: $398,000 MKII…

John Mellencamp: Orpheus Descending. UMG/Republic. Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp gets straght to the crux of the matter, opening this politically and socially conscious album with “Hey God,” a stinging powerblues appeal to the man upstairs to clean up his Earthly mess. “This is not the garden of Eden, for sure,” Mellencamp croaks in a cigarettes-scorched rasp. Mellencamp always has had a left-leaning libertarian viewpoint filtered through a heartland sensibility, and such songs as “The Eyes of Portland” and “The SoCalled Free” decry homelessness, police violence, and what he sees as callous public policies that are failing America (“A land of plenty where nothing gets done”). He can be poetic or prosaic, even suggesting in “Understated Reverence” that the listener might just find the meaning of life, not in church, but in…

C.P.E. Bach: Württemberg Sonatas. Keith Jarrett, piano. ECM. The mighty J.S. Bach had several children who established musical careers, but Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, or C.P.E. Bach as he is commonly known, was the most successful. Father and son worked in different eras; J.S. was, of course, a pillar of the Baroque age, and C.P.E., a contemporary of Haydn, was a product of Classicism. And while Papa's music was largely, magnificent, the scion's work was delightful in an exuberant way that rarely registers in his father's music. These sonatas were written in 1744, when the elder Bach was still alive and composing, and thus function, stylistically, as a kind of bridge to the Classical era. They also reflect a major evolution in keyboard design; CPE Bach wrote for both the…