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MAY 2008
A TRIP TO CHICAGO
My wife had a class in Chicago in early April so I went along for the ride.
We took Amtrak Sunday afternoon from St. Louis to downtown Chicago. I
really enjoyed the train trip. It is a boring drive from St. Louis to Chicago
and then you have to cope with downtown traffic and parking. I would
rather just ride. We paid extra for the “business class” seating and it was
well worth it. My plan while my wife was in class was to visit Music Direct,
Glen Poor Audio, and go back to Jazz Record Mart and look around.
MONDAY
Music Direct is located about two miles west of where I was staying. The
Lake Street El line runs close by so my first task was to learn how to get a
ticket out of the El’s vending machine. Fortunately, the attendant was
very nice and very helpful. I failed to consider the fact that the El does not
stop at every street and also had to figure out which was the closest stop
to Laflin Avenue where MD is located. It turns out you can get off at
Ashland. By the time I left the Ashland El station platform, I was only a
block west of Laflin and about two blocks south of Music Direct.
It was instantly obvious that MD is not located in a typical retail
environment. I had no idea what the neighborhood would be like and it
turns out that it is a somewhat run-down-looking industrial area. I found
my way there all right though. Here is a photo of the front door. I rang
the bell and was let in.
The people working there were very nice. They do not get a lot of walk-in
retail but they do not discourage it either. I bought a Shunyata Venom AC
cord for my main system preamp while I was there and looked through
their selection of close-out CDs. I picked out six CDs for $18 including a
Holly Cole that I did not have, an Eleanor McEvoy that HiFi+ raved about a
few years back, a two-CD Charles Lloyd album, two John Marks recordings,
and an ECM sampler. It was a deal.
Music Direct had a very nice system running and I listened to it for a few
minutes. It consisted of an Esoteric UX-3, BAT VK 52SE preamp, a Valve
Audio amp, and a pair of Focal Alto Utopia speakers. The sound was
disappointing. It sounded thin and unfocused. The system was playing at
a somewhat low level but I certainly expected better sound given the
equipment. I would be happy to take it home and see what I could do with
it.
I got back to the hotel and it was only around noon so I decided to walk
over to Glen Poor’s downtown store and check it out. It was closed. So I
went over to Jazz Record Mart, which is just around the corner from Glen
Poor. The sheer amount of recordings in this store is overwhelming. I
spent a couple of hours and just got through the bargain bin and new
arrivals. I picked up a couple of vocal albums. The first, by Carol Sloane,
The Songs Sinatra Sang, attracted me because Bill Charlap plays piano on
it. I have been picking up Charlap albums since discovering him last year.
The second album, Ballads—Remembering John Coltrane, is by Karrin
Allyson, whom I have never heard of before. Both albums proved very
enjoyable; both are on Concord.
TUESDAY
Monday had been breezy, no surprise there, it is Chicago, but Tuesday
added cold and rainy as well. I sloshed over to Glen Poor just after eleven,
when they open. Except for the receptionist, I was the only person there.
I checked the place out and then settled down in one of their large listening
rooms. I spent the next two and a half hours listening, essentially
uninterrupted. The system playing consisted of a T+A K1 all-in-one
system (about $4500). www.taelektroakustik.com This was connected to
a pair of Linn Akurate 242 speakers (about $10,500). Again the sound
was somewhat disappointing. There was a subwoofer connected to the
system and it was too loud. Whether it was the sub or something else, a
number of the CDs I listened to just did not have well-centered vocals. I
have several of these CDs and I know where the vocalist should be coming
from.
I really did not feel comfortable reconfiguring their system, despite the
temptation to do so. If I had, I would have moved the Linn speakers
closer together and shut off the sub. Still, the sound was by no means
horrible and I took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with
this system. It turns out that I could live with the Linn speakers if I had to.
Sitting there silently, though, was a Luxman L590A II integrated amp as
well as both the Luxman DU-50 and DU-80 universal players. I would have
really liked to have heard them.
One of the CDs in the listening room was Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black,
which I had not heard. So I listened to it. I was just stunned by it. I did
not expect it to be so emotionally raw and involving and so good. I suffer
from the prejudice that if a CD is popular, it probably is not very good.
There is an exception to everything and this CD certainly is. I bought a
copy after I got home.
I appreciate the patience and tolerance of everyone at Glen Poor. I spent a
miserably rainy day inside indulging myself in the sound of a very good
audio system. I really enjoyed it.
MINGDA
I am working on the article on the Mingda preamp that I have been
listening to. I hope to get it on the website very shortly. I am also in the
process of breaking-in some interconnects from Morrow Audio. I hope to
get to them fairly soon. The break-in time is substantial.
This equipment is the first that has been loaned to me and I greatly
appreciate having the chance to hear it. I hope that I can borrow more
equipment in the future—equipment that will be interesting to both listen
to and write about.
I felt I should take a moment to mention that in accepting this equipment,
I did so with the understanding that I would write about it as accurately as
I could and I would relate what I heard, whatever that might be. I do not
think anyone reading my articles should expect less.
At the same time, there is a responsibility on the part of the reviewer to
set the equipment up properly and use it properly, to reveal any prejudices
that the reviewer may have, to reveal the equipment (and recordings)
being used with the reviewed components, and to describe how the
equipment sounds as accurately as possible. If this is done, then the
reader has the information needed to evaluate on their own what the
reviewer has written. I take the responsibility for doing these things very
seriously. A reader might think I am deaf and that’s OK. What I don’t
want is a reader to think that I did not care about what I was doing or
saying. On that note, we will see what the future brings.
A CLASSE 47.5 PREAMP IS HEARD
I have been listening to a Classe Audio 47.5 preamp recently. This is the
first piece of solid state equipment that I have used as either a preamp or
amplifier in my main system since around 1994. The 47.5 sounds very
good, but it does sound somewhat different. I have been dealing with that
difference and I am still trying to figure out what to make of it. The Classe
definitely sounds very good. The soundstage it presents is essentially the
same as what I have been listening to as far as width and depth go. The
Classe is extremely quiet. Bass may be somewhat tighter but, since I am
running a biamped system, it is hard to hear much of a difference. Best of
all, the Classe has a wonderful digital volume read-out that I can actually
see at my listening position and the volume level is repeatable. Hallelujah!
But…
As good as it sounds, voices seem subtly less real and fully developed.
Cymbals just do not have quite the same sheen. There may be some
other subtle differences but these are the two that have stood out. If
voices sounded the same, I could live with the cymbals, believe me. I
would do that for the volume control alone. But they don’t. It is the
classic dilemma. Is the tube equipment adding something while the solid
state remains neutral or are the tubes neutral while the solid state
equipment is losing something? I don’t know.
I want to be fair to the Classe, though. I am going to continue to listen so
that there is no question as to whether I have heard it at its best. I do
wish I had some balanced interconnects around. I can run the Cullen DAC
balanced into the Classe and I have to wonder how that would sound. I
may or may not be having more to say about this preamp. Its future
around here is uncertain but I definitely feel better informed from having
had the chance to listen to it.
What a month this has been. Amy Winehouse—solid state equipment—I’m
frightened by what I might do next.
Kent Johnson
April 29, 2008
A TRIP TO CHICAGO
My wife had a class in Chicago in early April so I went along for the ride.
We took Amtrak Sunday afternoon from St. Louis to downtown Chicago. I
really enjoyed the train trip. It is a boring drive from St. Louis to Chicago
and then you have to cope with downtown traffic and parking. I would
rather just ride. We paid extra for the “business class” seating and it was
well worth it. My plan while my wife was in class was to visit Music Direct,
Glen Poor Audio, and go back to Jazz Record Mart and look around.
MONDAY
Music Direct is located about two miles west of where I was staying. The
Lake Street El line runs close by so my first task was to learn how to get a
ticket out of the El’s vending machine. Fortunately, the attendant was
very nice and very helpful. I failed to consider the fact that the El does not
stop at every street and also had to figure out which was the closest stop
to Laflin Avenue where MD is located. It turns out you can get off at
Ashland. By the time I left the Ashland El station platform, I was only a
block west of Laflin and about two blocks south of Music Direct.
It was instantly obvious that MD is not located in a typical retail
environment. I had no idea what the neighborhood would be like and it
turns out that it is a somewhat run-down-looking industrial area. I found
my way there all right though. Here is a photo of the front door. I rang
the bell and was let in.
The people working there were very nice. They do not get a lot of walk-in
retail but they do not discourage it either. I bought a Shunyata Venom AC
cord for my main system preamp while I was there and looked through
their selection of close-out CDs. I picked out six CDs for $18 including a
Holly Cole that I did not have, an Eleanor McEvoy that HiFi+ raved about a
few years back, a two-CD Charles Lloyd album, two John Marks recordings,
and an ECM sampler. It was a deal.
Music Direct had a very nice system running and I listened to it for a few
minutes. It consisted of an Esoteric UX-3, BAT VK 52SE preamp, a Valve
Audio amp, and a pair of Focal Alto Utopia speakers. The sound was
disappointing. It sounded thin and unfocused. The system was playing at
a somewhat low level but I certainly expected better sound given the
equipment. I would be happy to take it home and see what I could do with
it.
I got back to the hotel and it was only around noon so I decided to walk
over to Glen Poor’s downtown store and check it out. It was closed. So I
went over to Jazz Record Mart, which is just around the corner from Glen
Poor. The sheer amount of recordings in this store is overwhelming. I
spent a couple of hours and just got through the bargain bin and new
arrivals. I picked up a couple of vocal albums. The first, by Carol Sloane,
The Songs Sinatra Sang, attracted me because Bill Charlap plays piano on
it. I have been picking up Charlap albums since discovering him last year.
The second album, Ballads—Remembering John Coltrane, is by Karrin
Allyson, whom I have never heard of before. Both albums proved very
enjoyable; both are on Concord.
TUESDAY
Monday had been breezy, no surprise there, it is Chicago, but Tuesday
added cold and rainy as well. I sloshed over to Glen Poor just after eleven,
when they open. Except for the receptionist, I was the only person there.
I checked the place out and then settled down in one of their large listening
rooms. I spent the next two and a half hours listening, essentially
uninterrupted. The system playing consisted of a T+A K1 all-in-one
system (about $4500). www.taelektroakustik.com This was connected to
a pair of Linn Akurate 242 speakers (about $10,500). Again the sound
was somewhat disappointing. There was a subwoofer connected to the
system and it was too loud. Whether it was the sub or something else, a
number of the CDs I listened to just did not have well-centered vocals. I
have several of these CDs and I know where the vocalist should be coming
from.
I really did not feel comfortable reconfiguring their system, despite the
temptation to do so. If I had, I would have moved the Linn speakers
closer together and shut off the sub. Still, the sound was by no means
horrible and I took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with
this system. It turns out that I could live with the Linn speakers if I had to.
Sitting there silently, though, was a Luxman L590A II integrated amp as
well as both the Luxman DU-50 and DU-80 universal players. I would have
really liked to have heard them.
One of the CDs in the listening room was Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black,
which I had not heard. So I listened to it. I was just stunned by it. I did
not expect it to be so emotionally raw and involving and so good. I suffer
from the prejudice that if a CD is popular, it probably is not very good.
There is an exception to everything and this CD certainly is. I bought a
copy after I got home.
I appreciate the patience and tolerance of everyone at Glen Poor. I spent a
miserably rainy day inside indulging myself in the sound of a very good
audio system. I really enjoyed it.
MINGDA
I am working on the article on the Mingda preamp that I have been
listening to. I hope to get it on the website very shortly. I am also in the
process of breaking-in some interconnects from Morrow Audio. I hope to
get to them fairly soon. The break-in time is substantial.
This equipment is the first that has been loaned to me and I greatly
appreciate having the chance to hear it. I hope that I can borrow more
equipment in the future—equipment that will be interesting to both listen
to and write about.
I felt I should take a moment to mention that in accepting this equipment,
I did so with the understanding that I would write about it as accurately as
I could and I would relate what I heard, whatever that might be. I do not
think anyone reading my articles should expect less.
At the same time, there is a responsibility on the part of the reviewer to
set the equipment up properly and use it properly, to reveal any prejudices
that the reviewer may have, to reveal the equipment (and recordings)
being used with the reviewed components, and to describe how the
equipment sounds as accurately as possible. If this is done, then the
reader has the information needed to evaluate on their own what the
reviewer has written. I take the responsibility for doing these things very
seriously. A reader might think I am deaf and that’s OK. What I don’t
want is a reader to think that I did not care about what I was doing or
saying. On that note, we will see what the future brings.
A CLASSE 47.5 PREAMP IS HEARD
I have been listening to a Classe Audio 47.5 preamp recently. This is the
first piece of solid state equipment that I have used as either a preamp or
amplifier in my main system since around 1994. The 47.5 sounds very
good, but it does sound somewhat different. I have been dealing with that
difference and I am still trying to figure out what to make of it. The Classe
definitely sounds very good. The soundstage it presents is essentially the
same as what I have been listening to as far as width and depth go. The
Classe is extremely quiet. Bass may be somewhat tighter but, since I am
running a biamped system, it is hard to hear much of a difference. Best of
all, the Classe has a wonderful digital volume read-out that I can actually
see at my listening position and the volume level is repeatable. Hallelujah!
But…
As good as it sounds, voices seem subtly less real and fully developed.
Cymbals just do not have quite the same sheen. There may be some
other subtle differences but these are the two that have stood out. If
voices sounded the same, I could live with the cymbals, believe me. I
would do that for the volume control alone. But they don’t. It is the
classic dilemma. Is the tube equipment adding something while the solid
state remains neutral or are the tubes neutral while the solid state
equipment is losing something? I don’t know.
I want to be fair to the Classe, though. I am going to continue to listen so
that there is no question as to whether I have heard it at its best. I do
wish I had some balanced interconnects around. I can run the Cullen DAC
balanced into the Classe and I have to wonder how that would sound. I
may or may not be having more to say about this preamp. Its future
around here is uncertain but I definitely feel better informed from having
had the chance to listen to it.
What a month this has been. Amy Winehouse—solid state equipment—I’m
frightened by what I might do next.
Kent Johnson
April 29, 2008