Home Entertainment 2002
Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event

From Clark Johnsen's Diaries
By Clark Johnsen
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Page 4

Edison’s was a grand library, far removed from his muckers
in the machine shops, although it’s said that he preferred

life out there.

 

I Opt Back In

Speaking of Star Wars, Samsung has given members of the
press free tickets to Episode II. It plays at the Ziegfeld
Theatre just across the street, in digital (DLP) projection.
Shortly we shall see.

Meanwhile there’s a meeting of the Phonogram List, a
bunch of guys obsessed with vinyl. We gather in the bar at
five o’clock to tip a few, under the frowning brow of Richard
Foster. We being, a motley crew: Leslie Williams, Bob Reina,
Eric Barry, Jeremy Epstein, Kal Rubinson Sid Marks and others. (Missing in action upstairs are Mike Fremer, Art Dudley and
Harry Weisfeld.) So what transpires? After several beers and no
note-taking, who knows? But we sure do talk a storm! Just
like last year.

One topic I do recall, is the announcement of the issuance
of twenty-two Stones LPs on SACD. I read from this very
morning’s USA Today: “Rolling Stones fans will soon get a
chance to listen to vibrant remastered versions... and get
a technology boost as a bonus... The ‘60s—vintage albums have
been remastered from original analog sources by Bob Ludwig...
‘If any Stones fan compares (these) to the 1986 (CD) versions,
they will be pleasantly surprised,’ Ludwig says... The (SACD)
format offers more than four times the resolution of current
CD5... ‘When we went from vinyl LP5 to CDs, that was a big
jump,’ says release supervisor Jody Klein of ABKCO. ‘We got
rid of all the pops and clicks, but we lost the warmth and
depth (of vinyl). With this release, we’re gaining that
back.’”

Bartender, ‘nother round!

 

Off To The Movies

One oughtn’t be too critical of free things, but in the
case of George Lucas’s vapid, tedious, flat and counterfeit
spectacle, why not? First, the presentation in Manhattan’s
premier film showcase is as unclassy as it gets. At some
point, without fanfare, the lights dim and we are shown
commercials for Pepsi, Moviefon, Dinner for Five and Val
Morgan, followed by blary, garish trailers for Stitch, Like
Mike, Goldmember, MIB2, Matrix2 and (whew!) Minority Report.
I am only comforted to note that, as usual, previews alert
one to the worst aspects of films and thus discourage me from
wasting any time or money on them.

The short report: Whoever hasn’t seen Episode II yet,
needn’t bother. I had heard that at least it was better than
Episode I. Not a chance! The plot machinery rumbles along
like a slow freight. Dialog falls flat, acting lacks affect.
Every digital effect possible, gets crammed into each frame.
The sound is vicious and the picture looks overlit because
digital lacks dark detail. Laser scintillation manifests
throughout. Colors seem off, especially skin tone. The image
holds steady, yes, but object motion worries me. At the end
I feel exhausted.

Just like so many audio rooms in the Show!

 

Time Perchance To Dream. Next Day:

Throughout my rambles I’ve carried Walker Audio’s Vivid
CD treatment (Viva Vivid!) and a peculiar display I’ve mounted
consisting of the two covers of the two major high-end
magazines1 current issues placed side-by-side. Quite the
little item! Not only are they the exact same color scheme,
but both covers feature tall slim grey loudspeakers pictured
dramatically slantwise, but mirror-imaged! That’s the only
real difference between them. It has come to this: What art
direction generates the most newsstand sales?
Gone, the days of whimsical or musical covers. Gone,
forever.., until a new breed of magazine commands attention,
which it inevitably will, just as Stereophile and TAS once
did. (Listener continues the old tradition, but how much
longer?)

At any rate, my crafts project elicits some cool comments.
Allen Perkins: “A stereo pair!” Oakroot: “Eye candy for the
ear.” Joe Skubinsky: “A new format war?”

With ballsy disregard I show it to John Atkinson. “Ah,
yes... This one [pointing to TAS] would be... Stereophile...
In the lobby I run across Jonathan Scull. “Clark! How
are you?” “Never mind me, look at this! As if, made for
you!” “Ah. Ah, ha ha! Yes! They quite deserve each other,
I expect. Well, I have some news. Can’t tell you
specifically, but I have a new job. It’s... monstrous!”

 

OK, OK, Back To Gear, Yes Dear

Unlike many of my colleagues, I never give Best Sound
of the Show awards. That would be presumptuous, as I spend
too much time chatting in the hallways to listen seriously
to everything, or maybe to anything. Besides, as I have
explained, too few rooms really engage my attention anyway,
owing to wrong polarity, edgy digital sound, tedious music
etc. Instead, I give the Longest Stay Award. This is granted
despite my weird preferences, solely on the basis of the clock,
and means whatever it means.

And the winner must be: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 8
Loudspeakers.

Although there’s this hitch: They’re playing in a system
consisting of VTL TL7.5s ($10K) and MB450 ($18K), Accuphase
DP-85V player ($16K) and $18K of Synergistic cabling. Ought
to sound good! Then again, when has more money necessarily...
well, you know.

Trick here is, the DeVores retail for only $2,850! That’s
less than 5% of the total system cost. Who ever told you
to spend that little on speakers? And yet... And they are
placed halfway out into the room, a theory much admired but
rarely followed, either by users or dealers. And here they
do attain that most-desired attribute of speaker systems:
Disappearance! The image is wide, deep and focused; the
timbres are natural; dynamics are expansive; rhythm is
tap-tap-tap. What’s not to stick around for? John DeVore
even happily plays classical music, although he’s a drummer.

The price of all that support equipment worries me,
however, so I ask John how much it may be contributing to
the overall effect. Laconically he replies, “I believe in
the front end.”

Good answer. But still...

Then the fellow next to me pipes up. “Say, you’re Clark
Johnsen? Pleased to meet you!” This proves to be Paul
Boileau, a conductor late of Santa Fe, now of New York, and
an audio enthusiast who reads the more obscure journals in
which I appear. “Do you like these speakers?” “Sure do!”
“So do I!” Paul turns to John and introduces himself, and
in the ensuing conversation it develops that he worked for
Andy Singer several years previously, but his independent
attitude got him booted after two weeks. “Andy’s a bitch,”

Paul says, but two weeks later he called me to come back.
I refused.” “I know what you mean,” I reply. “He sold me
a pair of speakers over the phone twenty years ago, and they
sucked, and when I went down to his store to hear how he played
them, he rebuffed me totally, me a list-price, no fuss, no
muss customer. Couldn’t spare the time. What an s.o.b.!

I hear it’s been all downhill since then...

So perhaps the length of time spent, that earns DeVore
its fine award, is partly accounted for by reminiscence;
nevertheless I spend a good long while with music, including
the CD that Maestro Boileau pulls out, the Brandenburg
Concertos done up by Ii Giardino Armonico, and a more spirited,
boisterous, and probably authentic account I have never heard.
What were these guys drinking? The Force was with them!

Unlike a certain movie...

 

(I Got Dem) Big Room Blues

The TacT people are very tactful about it. “Please excuse
the rumble presentation next door.” That would be Toys from
the Attic, a dealership in White Plains showing videos so
offensively loud and boomy, I never even glanced in from the
hallway.

Not to say that TacT’s room doesn’t have some problems
of its own. Wider than it is deep, several resonant modes
are easily detectable even after correction by TacT circuitry.
Well, what can one do about a banquet room with flappy walls?

The system is quite elaborate: Tall two—way line—source
speakers reinforced by subwoofers with four 10” drivers each.
Crossovers are accomplished throughout, within the TacT preamp,
and three 52150 amps are employed. In effect we have a
three-way tri-amplified setup, sourced by a Pioneer DV-47 player.

The sound has great depth and body, especially with the
Kimber recordings on loan, but I am almost ready to flee
because of digititis. Although I tend to blame the extensive
digital processing, naturally I want to give designer Peter
Lyngdorf a fair shot, so I offer to employ Vivid. The man
is highly skeptical, but after the last audience member leaves
he allows me a moment. Well! The headache disappears, the
sound is punchier and the bass tighter. (Time to retune?)

I’m not sure whether the circumspect Peter agrees,
although the improvement is quite clear to me. Even more
importantly, Vivid shows that the difficulty I heard, occured
at the source, not in the TacT technology. But by now Peter
and I are discussing recordings in general. “The problem with
today’s recordings is MTV and MP3 and computer sound cards.
Recordings are mixed for a pair of $1 speakers, with the ironic
result that now we have $20 CDs created for $2 of speakers.”

Amen to that!

 

Intermezzo II

The press are invited to a luncheon. Free food! Yay!
But we think we’ll leave before the dreadful speechifying.
Unfortunately it begins before dessert is polished off and
we re stuck! The Keynote happens to be Dr. Joseph Flaherty,
Technology VP of the Columbia Broadcasting System. That name
again...

His topic: “HDTV Here and Now.” Bully. And he begins:
“I am honored to be invited to address this distinguished
group of journalists.” Aha! The man has a sense of humor.
“Actually, I might have entitled the address: ‘Is HDTV Coming
Around the Corner at Last?’ to which I would have answered
in the strong affirmative.

“However, the question is not a new one. Seventy years
ago, in the Fall 1931 edition of the important trade magazine
of the day, Radio Design, another journalist, Robert Hertzberg,
asked the identical question of the emergence of television.

“‘The over-enthusiastic televisionists are making their
big mistake in thinking that television will repeat the
glamorous history of radio broadcasting, when every sign
indicates that it will not and indeed cannot. Conditions now
are altogether different from what they were ten years ago.
Today we have a Federal Radio Commission, an aggravating patent
situation, an over-crowded ether, an overabundance of radio
factories, a lot of politicians with radio axes to grind, and
worst of all, a sophisticated buying element that has been
spoiled by high quality broadcasting and high quality talking
pictures.

“‘If not for the “talkies”, the present crude televisors
might stand a slight chance, as the mere novelty of a
sight-and-sound combination would be enough to sell a lot of
radio apparatus. However, the “talkies” have entirely erased
this possibility.

“Fortunately, Mr. Hertzberg has passed into merciful
oblivion, and I’m sure that no journalist here today, would
ever make such an erroneous prediction.”

Thanks, Doc

 

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