Audiophilia

by Anthony Kershaw

Great artists, no matter their particular specialty or genre, usually find their way to great music, whether by accident or Darwinian musical design. Frank’s favourite piece was Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, Jimi Hendrix listened to mostly classical music and purchased Handel’s house in London, and Paul Anka, while busy being a pop icon and composer of Top 40 hits, wrote the swinging theme for the Tonight Show and channeled his inner Frank and Ella.

2005’s Rock Swings is an album of real quality from Paul Anka, who is in spectacular, swinging voice. Unlike like some of the classical/pop crossover disasters, this rock/jazz crossover might have seemed an easier fit. But, in truth, rock rhythms have far more to do with classical music (strong beats on 1 and 3) than jazz (strong beats on 2 and 4 — hence the ‘swing’). No matter, though, as the fourteen songs have been superbly arranged by Patrick Williams, Randy Kerber, and John Clayton. Not everything works to jazz’ advantage. Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ is so brilliant as a rock anthem that Anka and the all star band have a hard time getting up as high as Eddie and his gang (as for finding connections to great music, Eddie named his son Wolfgang, after his favourite composer). And, the most maligned, brilliant rock ballad ‘Hello’ sounds even more poignant with Lionel Richie than Anka. Yet, both songs still work as arranged here.

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by Karl Sigman

Speakers are, as my closest audiophile friends and colleagues always remind me, the most important component of any high-end audio system. But unlike, say, an interconnect cable or a DAC, or even an amplifier, speakers are not easy to slip into a New York City apartment unnoticed. More importantly, they usually come with certain serious constraints attached to them by others who live with you, such as one’s wife. Speakers are viewed like furniture: a curio cabinet, a dinner table or even a couch — they are not supposed to be (or allowed to be) visually intrusive in the general ambiance of your home. Navigating this fact to optimize the sound of your system is an art and the constraints imposed can vary widely from home to home. I am fortunate to have a wife who does not impose a strict ‘heard but not seen’ condition, but instead imposes only two required conditions — all reasonable — before allowing me to bring speakers into our apartment:

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photo: Andrea Mohin/The New York Times. Thomas Bernich, who founded Brooklyn Phono in 2000, at his factory, which he says now produces around 440,000 LPs a year.

A little late to the vinyl resurgence party, but nice to read even the venerable New York Times are adding to the fervour.

From the New York Times:

Vinyl is growing out of its niche.

There were always record collectors who disdained the compact disc, arguing that an LP’s grooves yielded warmth and depth that the CD’s digital code could not match.

But the market largely ignored them. Record labels shuttered their LP pressing plants, except for a few that pressed mostly dance music, since vinyl remained the medium of choice for D. J.s.

As it turned out, that early resistance was not futile, thanks largely to an audience of record collectors, many born after CDs were introduced in the 1980s.

These days, every major label and many smaller ones are releasing vinyl, and most major new releases have a vinyl version, leading to a spate of new pressing plants.

Read more of Allan Kozinn’s article at the New York Times.

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I was lucky enough to tour Denmark in the early 80s and play in some stunning venues, including the home of Carl Nielsen and Egeskov Castle. Denmark is a very refined, cultured country with a musically educated population.

One of the stops on our tour was Struer, home of Bang & Olufsen (B&O). I still remember observing the care and pride the workers of Bang & Olufsen took with every product the company was producing during our afternoon tour of the plant. I still have the the very cool B&O bottle opener parting gift to prove I was there!

Now, much more to do with lifestyle than pure Audiophilia, B&O produce good sounding products that look amazing. With audiophiles, we are mostly happy with the opposite. Imagine if B&O’s designers hooked up with Audio Research, Quad, etc. Oh, what a world.

As you can see from the photo, the new Bang & Olufsen Beolab 14 Sound System is no slouch in the looks department. The 14 is the company’s latest system. You’ll be setting up four 140 watt satellite speakers with 2.5-inch drivers housed in aluminum casings and a freestanding 280 watt 8-inch subwoofer. The sub’s response can be modified for position and bass frequency.

Priced at $3,995, B&O expects that the soundbars on your TV will serve as your centre channel. If you want pure B&O, you can add a middle speaker for a total of $4,395. The set will come in black or white with individual colour choices for grilles to match your room decor for an additional $99.

website

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The Orbit Renaissance Edition for a $500 pledge. Less colourful models available for as low as a $150 pledge.

In Social Media terms and values, product incubator and pledge funding site Kickstarter is sexy. We did a post on it here.

It’s nice to see an audiophile analogue product up for grabs. The Orbit Turntable by U-Turn Audio looks little more than a Rega/Project clone, but it’s inexpensive, it promotes vinyl and encourages manufacturing. No losers there. But, be warned, some fully funded Kickstarter projects do not end up at your door via UPS. Like many pledge funded projects, you’re taking a bit of a gamble. But, much like the Pebble Watch excitement (they expected $100K and ended up with over 10 million dollars in pledges!), you may be in on the ground floor of a truly ground breaking product.

U-Turn calls the Orbit ‘an all-analog turntable for today’s vinyl listener. High-performance playback, attainably priced.’ The Orbit includes: a unipivot tonearm, Ortofon MM cartridge, manual belt-drive (33/45 RPM), inverted main bearing, a 24V synchronous motor, machined MDF plinth and vibration damping feet. Dustcover, too.

I’ve thrown in on a few projects. It’s fun and makes you feel good. Nice to see that audiophiles are getting in on the action. Now, what we need is a $500 phono stage that sounds like $5K and an exquisite moving coil cartridge that never needs a retip and sells for $999. Okay, designers, what are you waiting for? Your funding public awaits.

Kickstarter website

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by Anthony Kershaw

The music for Philip Glass’ second concerto for cello and orchestra is cobbled from a 2001 film score, Naqoyqatsi: Life as War. Glass seems to have particular success when using Hopi Indian words as musical inspiration. Remember the famous scores to the films Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi?

While not a huge Glass fan, I’ve enjoyed some scores on recent CD releases. His Symphony No. 3 in a fine performance with Anne Manson conducting the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra springs to mind. As a ‘minimalist’ composer, with ostinato replacing melody for the most part, the rhythms (and underlying harmony) had better be interesting. The shorter works appeal to me much more than his much longer operas, Satyagraha, Akhenaten, and Einstein on the Beach. The 40 minute Cello Concerto No. 2 is such a work.

At times mysterious, tuneful, and very powerful, Glass has taken his musical imagery and has transcribed the notes beautifully as a concerted work. The concerto has seven movements and receives what I would assume is a definitive performance by cellist Matt Haimovitz.

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