tas_164.pdf

IN THIS ISSUE

ISSUE 164

SEPTEMBER 2006

100 COVER STORY

Meridian 808 Signature Reference CD Player

Sue Kraft reviews the new reference model from the company that made

the first-ever musical-sounding CD player. Robert Harley comments.

54 Six Overachieving Audio Systems You Can Afford

Does high end always mean high-priced? We think not, as these six

affordable systems will demonstrate. Chris Martens leads the way.

35 Munich High End 2006

Roy Gregory reports from Germany’s premier audio show.

EQUIPMENT REPORTS

Absolute Analog: Pro-Ject RM-9.1 Turntable System

A very good turntable just got better— Jim Hannon looks at the latest

from Pro-Ject.

DALI IKON 6 Loudspeaker

Affordable excellence from Denmark. Robert E. Greene reports.

A Cable Survey

Neil Gader on winning wires from Crystal Cable, Nordost, and TARA

Labs.

YBA Design YA201 Integrated Amplifier and

YC201 CD player

Chris Martens finds himself listening with his eyes…as well as his ears.

Aerial Acoustics Model 9 Loudspeaker

The latest offerings from Michael Kelly delivers the goods.

Jacob Heilbrunn reports.

Cary Audio CD 306 CD/SACD Player

Excellent Super Audio sound from Cary, says Robert Harley .

Audio Research 300.2, Classé CA-M400,

and McIntosh MC 501 Power Amplifiers

Tom Martin ponders why amplifiers are so important.

THE CUTTING EDGE

110 Music-Minded Controllers, Part 3: Attractive Opposites

Can multichannel controllers satisfy the music lover the way a good

preamp can? Alan Taffel listens to Arcam’s FMJ AV9 and Halcro’s SSP100.

120 MBL 5011 and 6010D Linestage Preamps, 1521A CD

Transport, and 1511E DAC

Can any solid-state and digital components seduce a pair of grumpy ol’

tube ’n’ analog guys? Jon Valin and Wayne Garcia report.

THE ABSOLUTE SOUND

SEPTEMBER 2006

132 Pass Labs XA160 and X600.5 Monoblock Power

Amplifiers

Anthony H. Cordesman spins a tale of two amplifiers.

founder; chairman, editorial advisory board

Harry Pearson

editor-in-chief Robert Harley

editor Wayne Garcia

executive editor Jonathan Valin

managing and Bob Gendron

music editor

acquisitions manager Neil Gader

and associate editor

news editor Chris Martens

equipment setup Danny Gonzalez

editorial advisory board Sallie Reynolds

advisor, cutting edge Atul Kanagat

VIEWPOINTS

6 Letters

139 Manufacturer Comments

COLUMNS

Editorial

senior writers

John W. Cooledge, Anthony H. Cordesman,

Gary Giddins, Robert E. Greene, Fred Kaplan,

Andrew Quint, Paul Seydor, Alan Taffel

reviewers and contributing writers

Soren Baker, Greg Cahill, Dan Davis, Andy Downing,

Jim Hannon, Jacob Heilbrunn, John Higgins, Sue

Kraft, Mark Lehman, Ted Libbey, David McGee, Derk

Richardson, Don Saltzman, Aaron M. Shatzman,

Max Shepherd

design/production Design Farm, Inc.

publisher/editor, AVGuide Chris Martens

web producer Ari Koinuma

Industry News

Future TAS— New Products on the Horizon

START ME UP: Rotel RX-1052 and

Outlaw Audio RR 2150 Stereo Receivers

Rare-bird sightings by Jim Hannon —two stereo receivers that focus on

the music.

TAS JOURNAL

BASIC REPERTOIRE: Bluegrass, Part 2

David McGee wraps up his two-part journey through the annals of

bluegrass by chronicling bluegrass’ modern manifestations and

recommending the recorded essentials of its new traditions.

Absolute Multimedia, Inc.

chairman and ceo Thomas B. Martin, Jr.

vice president/publisher Mark Fisher

advertising reps Cheryl Smith

(512) 891-7775

Marvin Lewis,

MTM Sales

(718) 225-8803

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below or e-mail mfisher@absolutemultimedia.com.

MUSIC

148 Recording of the Issue

Theater of Voices/Fretwork: The Cries of London

143 Classical

Reviews of Golijov’s Ainadamar , Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito , Foulds’

Dynamic Triptych , Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, a Prokofiev

box set, R. Luke DuBois’ Timelapse , Die Walküre on SACD, and two

Everest classics on LP.

153 Jazz

The scoop on the latest from Patricia Barber, Frank Kimbrough, David

Hazeltine, and Kidd Jordan, plus box sets from Fats Waller, Miles Davis,

and John Coltrane, and a new audiophile-grade Nat “King” Cole LP.

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www.theabsolutesound.com

161 Rock, Etc.

Reviews of more than a dozen new albums and reissues, including the

latest from Tom Petty, Thom Yorke, Frank Black, Comets on Fire,

Sonic Youth, Espers, and Rhymefest as well as box sets on Bob Wills,

The Byrds, Gram Parsons, and 50s rockabilly.

176 The TAS Back Page

Retrospective: The QUAD ESL-57 by Jonathan Valin .

The Absolute Sound (ISSN #0097-1138) is published ten times per year,

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THE ABSOLUTE SOUND

SEPTEMBER 2006

LETTERS

Nielsen’s Folly

While a lot of ink has been spilled over

Robert Harley’s editorial from Issue

160, I think far more important issues

were raised by Bob Gendron’s editorial

from Issue 159 and the response in

Issue 160 by Mr. Nielson. Nielson

excoriated BG for having the temerity

to suggest that, to expand the high

end’s customer base, product reviewers

might want to demonstrate that they

listen to different kinds of post-70s

music, including hip-hop.

Nielson did not stop there. He

derided hip-hop as the product of “a

garbage culture” and lamented that

“rich suburban” kids were listening to

it. I’ve waited in vain for someone to

jump into the fray and set Mr. Nielson

straight, but none of The Absolute

Sound ’s editors or other subscribers

seems inclined to do so. Permit me to

say a few words.

Nielson’s letter certainly was

racist—what exactly is the “garbage cul-

ture” he considers to have birthed hip-

hop? And why is it a particular problem

that rich suburban kids (read: white) are

listening to that music? But my main

beef is his contention that hip-hop is

uncreative “MIDI patch stuck on repeat”

music. To the contrary, today’s avatars of

hip-hop—such as OutKast, The Roots,

The Neptunes, and Kanye West, among

many others—rely heavily on live

instrumentation, drawing from other

genres like soul, jazz, funk, and rock to

create musical works that are the most

exhilarating, and diverse, in today’s pop-

ular music. Don’t take my word for it:

Go and listen to records like Aquemini

and Speakerboxx/The Love Below by

OutKast, Late Registration by Kanye

West, Do You Want More??? or Things

Fall Apart by The Roots, or The Low End

Theory by A Tribe Called Quest. All of

these albums are destined to ascend to

the pantheon of great recorded music of

the last century, and will take their

rightful place besides such hoary chest-

nuts as Abraxas , Kind of Blue , Revolver ,

Innervisions , and Are You Experienced? .

BG, Greg Kot, and Soren Baker have

taken great pains to point this out, but

they write only for the music section—

it’s high time the equipment reviewers

joined the party.

Mr. Nielson’s letter proves the cen-

tral point of Bob Gendron’s editorial:

Too many audiophiles and equipment

reviewers dismiss any music recorded

after the 70s as unworthy of attention

(unless, of course, the music was record-

ed by an artist who rose to fame in the

70s). I do not mean to denigrate 70s

artists: I have, and listen to frequently, all

of the albums (meaning LPs) mentioned

above. But, as Gendron correctly points

out, to attract new hobbyists we have to

show them—using examples relevant to

them—how playback over a high-end

system would deepen their appreciation

for the music they love (and expand their

musical horizons, to boot). I speak from

experience: The sampled jazz in A Tribe

Called Quest’s records led me to Ron

Carter (and thence to Miles Davis),

Freddie Hubbard, Andrew Hill, and

Horace Silver. You might say that the

strange alchemy of hip-hop and the high

end turned me into a jazz-head. But none

of that would have happened without the

epiphany I experienced hearing The Low-

End Theory played back through an

Audible Illusions preamp, Marsh ampli-

fier, and Aerial Acoustic 7Bs.

So, what is the answer to this conun-

drum? Nielson also hates today’s movies,

but permit me to answer the question

with a quote from one ( Mo’ Better Blues ):

“The people don’t come because you

grandiose motherfuckers don’t play shit

that they like. If you played the shit that

they like, then people would come, sim-

ple as that.”

Rest in peace, Jay Dee.

CHIDI J. OGENE

Nielsen, Encore

I am writing to you in response to Mr.

Nielson letter, which appeared in the

latest issue of TAS (161). I met the late

lamented English DJ John Peel back in

1996 in Hamburg, Germany, while he

was shooting a feature called “Autobahn

Blues” for BBC Channel 4. While in the

city, he also visited the independent FM

radio station FSK, and then after that,

we all went and checked out a live con-

cert by the John Spencer Blues

Explosion, who were playing that night.

I have been listening to his shows on

BFBS and FSK since then.

Alas, as we all know, John is not

with us anymore. But what I learned

Upcoming in TAS

Our really big 2006 Editors’ Choice List

Ascendo M loudspeaker

Rega Apollo CD player

Paradigm Reference Signature S8 loudspeaker

Arcam FMJ CD 36 and C 31 preamp

Vienna Acoustics Beethoven loudspeaker

THE ABSOLUTE SOUND

SEPTEMBER 2006

LETTERS

from this most gracious and generous of

human beings is that just because you

don’t like other people’s taste in music or

a particular genre that they’re into does

not mean that that music or that genre is

worthless and that you should immedi-

ately dismiss them. As Peel himself once

said: “The worst snob is the music snob!”

I am not into hip-hop myself, but I

am pretty sure that I have more adven-

turous taste in music than Mr. Nielson.

He considers hip-hop to be “garbage

music from a garbage culture that glori-

fies gangs.” I remember Peel playing

quite a lot of early Fugees records when

they were still hot.

Bob Gendron is the only writer in

the field (hi-fi or even music journals,

for that matter) that I identify with and

can relate to. The records he reviews are

always of great interest to me. Proof?

Just listen to the latest record by Edith

Frost, It’s a Game .

What also makes my day is when I see

great underground records reviewed in

TAS, like Animal Collective’s latest, feels .

Mr. Nielson mentions Neil Young’s

Prairie Wind as an example of great

music. Sure...an artist whose best work is

behind him. For a younger generation of

music enthusiasts at least, he has nothing

interesting to say anymore, except of

course...nostalgia. While one can surely

enjoy an artist like Young, I can also rec-

ommend to you, Mr. Nielson, the work

of Eric Clapton in the 90s. The most bor-

ing of all artists, no doubt! ( I am sure

that Peel would agree on this one!)

ROGER RAHAL

the most celebrated improvisational acts

of all time, depended upon a MIDI

patch stuck on repeat?

BTW, MIDI (musical instrument

digital interface) is not synonymous with

looping. It’s just another tool in the cre-

ative palette, allowing string players to

explore flute sounds, turn tom-toms into

tympanis, keyboards into brass sections,

etc. If Mozart were alive today he might

very well utilize MIDI technology to

audition parts and conceptual voicing in

a non-destructive environment.

The guy keeps referring to garbage.

Perhaps before passing judgment, he

should first look to his own uniformed,

ignorant, arrogant, useless opinion.

Keep fighting.

behind these Japanese mini-LP CDs? Do

you have any info? Are they considered to

be audiophile-quality recordings or just a

marketing ploy? The artwork and pack-

aging seem to be very nice (much better

than the norm), but what about the actu-

al music on the CD?

WILLIAM CHILDRESS

More Exotics, Please

I’ve been a long-time reader of both

Stereophile and TAS. I’ve always been fas-

cinated by “exotic” speaker technology,

having gone through Infinity EMIT,

ESS Heil AMT, Apogee ribbons (Slant 6,

Stage), Quad 988, Elac AMT, Elac

Ribbon supertweeters, and Piega

Ribbon Coax mid/tweeters.

How about a discussion and compar-

ison reviews of some exotics?

COLIE BRICE

MOBILE FIDELITY

KEITH

Obi, Anyone?

I am an avid reader of the magazine and

thoroughly enjoy it. Bravo on adding a

few more issues per year. I have been col-

lecting CDs for the last 20 years.

Though I have auditioned SACD, my

collection is too vast to replace, thus I

soldier on with CDs. In addition to the

standard record store stuff, I seek out

higher-quality CDs whenever

possible—DCC Gold, Sony Mastersound,

MFSL, Rhino Handmade, Reference

Recording, etc.

My question concerns the remasters

coming out of Japan, the so-called “obi”

mini-LPs. Very little information is on

the Net about them (other than that

they are “collectable” and usually marked

200% to 300% above usual CD

markup). I have bought a few, and do

notice differences. Primarily they seem

to be remastered at a higher volume.

Some CDs such as Santana seem to be a

bit clearer, less veiled, more airy around

the instruments; however, I also notice a

bit too much clinical scrubbing to the

voices; they almost seem to loose some

of their harmonic cohesion and warmth.

Aside from the fact that they are a dif-

ferent remastering job, what is the story

Get Off the Couch!

To me at least, an absolute sound must

have the ability to reach out and touch

me physically. Nature has programmed

in us the need to feel the presence of real-

ity. I suspect that stereo components are

one bearer of this role. Secondly, the emo-

tional part of this reality comes from the

musical performance and the recording

from the hands of the engineer. Certainly,

the microphones are a hindrance to cap-

turing the absolute sound, but the HP

list, especially the LP selection, do convey

the joy we witness in a live concert.

At times we are aware of a certain

constriction of the sound waves at the

edge of the frequency range or the smear-

ing of the images on the stage. Here we

experience the problems of an absolute

sound without the natural blending of

dimensionality of a live event.

Of course the absolute sound does

exist. Just get off the couch and go to a

concert. I am sure exposure to a live con-

cert will help the readers appreciate the

essays written in TAS; the magazine is

pushing for a better reality.

MORGAN HEW

Nielsen’s Third

I just read [Mr. Nielson’s] letter. What a

pompous, arrogant ass! It’s precisely this

elitism that suffocates the high-end

industry and repels would-be audiophiles.

Generally blanket statements are

indicative of profound ignorance; this

reader’s letter is no exception. Like any

genres, hip-hop, jam rock, electronica,

etc. have their own prodigies and

poseurs. Since when has Phish, one of

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