The bass, guitar, and drums simply didn't propel the music the way they were meant to be propelled. Chico Hamilton's "Passin' Thru," from Man from Two Worlds (GRP GRD-127), is typical of multi-miked jazz recordings. In a composition with little dynamic range, what dynamics there had been were now virtually absent.ĭynamics, and consequently the perceived pace and tempo of the music, suffered with the CAT in comparison to the SFL-2. The strings, which have a lot of information in the upper octaves, and upon which this recording hangs its emotional hat, were much subdued. Such was the case with Orquesta Nova's "Milonga Del Angél" ( Salon New York, Chesky JD86)-a superbly recorded work, and very romantic in its own right.īut by the time I got to my third selection-Tobias Picker's "Old and Lost Rivers," from The Encantadas (Virgin Classics 59007)-I was noting that everything seemed very distant. My early notes reflected enchantment: liquidity, space between instruments, lack of glare, a large rectangular soundstage beginning well in back of the speakers, romance. After four selections-about 40 minutes of listening-I grew tired of the formatted sound. The next night I sat down with both preamps, a pen and paper, and my selection of test CDs, and became unsettled with the CAT. Notes emerged from a very black background. The sense of depth extended from the speakers to forever. The CAT, I thought, had a clear advantage in dimensionality and sweetness. Perhaps because I didn't have an extra set of balanced interconnects of RSC quality, I couldn't achieve the beautiful sound I obtained from the Monarchy using single-ended Kimber Kable KCAG.Īfter a casual listen to the CAT, I called the guy who loaned it to me and told him it was no contest in the old "palpable presence" category. I also chose single-ended connection for the Monarchy DAC. The system was run balanced between the amp and preamp, but had to be switched to single-ended operation for the preamp comparisons following the general listening. My reference system consists of Mirage M1si speakers driven by a Krell KSA-250 amplifier, TARA Labs' superb new RSC Master Generation 2 speaker cables and interconnects, a Museatex CD transport with re-clocking circuit, a Monarchy DAC, a Clear Image Audio T-4 Power Line Isolator, and a Bright Star Big Rock/Little Rock isolation system (sand bases and weights). Russ Novak compared the SL-1 with the Sonic Frontiers SFL-2 in November 1995 (Vol.18 No.11):
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