August 2010
Changes
Editorial By Robert Harley

 

  As I mentioned in last month’s From the Editor, I recently moved house, giving up my custom-built, computer-modeled, acoustically-treated dedicated listening room for the uncertainty of a standard living room in an existing home. Changing listening rooms was a scary proposition, not just because of the potential of reduced musical enjoyment, but because it’s vital that I have a good-sounding platform for evaluating products under review. Nonetheless, I searched long and hard for a house with a suitable room and found one that at least had the potential of being compatible with world-class hi-fi equipment. But you never know how a room will sound until you set up a system and play music; there’s absolutely no substitute for listening.

It was thus with great anticipation that I took delivery of my first review system, the Vandersteen Model 7 loudspeakers driven by the BALabo preamplifier and amplifier, wired with AudioQuest interconnects and cables. I had kept during the move the dCS Puccini and U-Clock along with the Shunyata and Running Springs Audio AC conditioners and power cords (a Basis Inspiration turntable is on the way). I also moved some ASC 16" Full-Round Tube Traps, which I’ve found to be indispensable in the corners behind loudspeakers. Richard Vandersteen, BALabo distributor Fred Nadel, and AudioQuest’s Joe Harley (no relation, by the way) all visited on the same day to install the system.

I’m thrilled (and greatly relieved) to report that the new room sounds fabulous—better in some ways than my previous room. The listening space is much bigger, with large architectural elements (columns, adjacent hallways, a high sloped ceiling, large protruding fireplace) that provide more diffusion (and less absorption) than my previous room. The sound is big, open, dynamic, lively without sounding bright, and has a tremendous sense of air and bloom. The bass is also smooth and linear (in listening and measurement), no doubt helped by the larger dimensions that result in more uniform spacing of room modes. Putting a hi-fi system into an unknown space is always a crapshoot, and I’ve got some fine-tuning to do, but the new listening room is making music. I’ll have more details (and photos) in my review of the Vandersteen 7 in the next issue.

I’m pleased to announce two new additions to the writing staff of The Absolute Sound. The first is Peter Breuninger, who actually began his hi-fi writing career more than 20 years ago in TAS and returns home after a stint at Stereophile and as a senior reviewer at Listener. Peter founded the Philadelphia Audio Society in 1987 by taking out an ad in this very magazine. The Society became one of the most vibrant in the country with more than 450 members. Peter joined TAS in 1990 at the invitation of HP, who had read Peter’s writing in the Society’s newsletter.

Peter is an expert in LP playback systems and specializes in both very high-powered amplifiers and low-powered amps driving high-sensitivity loudspeakers. In fact, he maintains two systems, one based on the (very low sensitivity) MBL 101E and another that employs single-ended triode amplifiers. Not surprisingly, Peter will be reviewing a wide range of products. In addition, Peter will contribute a quarterly column, a platform that will allow him to write about system setup, accessories, musical discoveries, and other topics that fall outside the conventional product-review structure.

Peter’s first contribution is his list of the 12 Most Significant Loudspeakers of All Time (all of which he has heard) in this issue. Be assured that you’ll see a lot more of Peter in the future.

I’d also like to welcome Kirk Midtskog to our pool of freelance reviewers. Kirk is a long-time TAS reader who comes to us after two years as a reviewer at SoundStage! As you’ll see from Kirk’s review of the Dynaudio Excite X32 loudspeaker in this issue, he has a good ear, keen musical insight, and that rare ability to convey through words the essence of how a product sounds.

Kirk grew up in a musical household — his mother was a classically trained soprano, and his father had a tubed B&O hi-fi. Music was central to family life while he was growing up in Germany; the family either listened to music or played music daily. Kirk is an amateur guitarist and composer, and played guitar in a pop band while in college. He earned degrees in English and German at Western Washington University. Kirk works for Boeing as a computer programmer and analyst, and serves on the Board of his wife’s contemporary ballet company, ARC Dance, in Seattle.

I think you’ll enjoy the perspectives that Peter’s and Kirk’s distinctive voices bring to The Absolute Sound.

 

 

 

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