ATC SCM40 Loudspeakers
- Written by Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Deep in the Gloucestershire countryside, nestled in a pretty country lane between wild hedgerows, lies the headquarters of perhaps the world’s most respected manufacturer of professional loudspeakers. Since 1974, ATC—the Acoustic Transducer Company—has designed, engineered, and built professional monitor systems for a client list that seemingly includes most of the leading recording or mastering studios on Earth. ATC speakers hang in the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Festival Hall, and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. ATC speakers were used by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab while he was cutting many of his vinyl masterpieces. The company’s client list reads like an A–Z of the world’s most beloved artists, including Enya, Kate Bush, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, and Pink Floyd. In short, if you want to hear Pink Floyd the way that David Gilmour does, you’d better use ATC speakers.
Frank Zappa: "200 Motels"
- Written by Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Zappa Records/Universal Music Enterprises/MGM Records ZR3846-1B
Format: 2 LPs
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½
Frank Zappa’s 1971 film, 200 Motels, is a surreal, comic look at rock musicians and their lives on the road. Zappa cowrote and codirected the movie with Tony Palmer, whose long career in film and theater has included everything from rock-music documentaries to opera. The movie consists of a series of comic skits, interspersed with footage of Zappa appearing onstage with the Mothers of Invention and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Among the guest stars are Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, and Theodore Bikel.
Denafrips Venus II Digital-to-Analog Converter
- Written by Hans Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
“This Denafrips DAC is very good. And really well built. Like, really well built.” It was Tuesday, and SoundStage! publisher Doug Schneider was telling me about the company’s flagship Terminator-Plus DAC over the phone while, as so often happens, I was trying to attend to my corporate day job. “Uh-huh,” I murmured, kinda, sorta listening. I knew Denafrips as the manufacturer of some relatively affordable digital gear that had made a splash amongst YouTube reviewers in recent times, and being a reviewer myself here at SoundStage! Ultra, I was completely unprepared for what Doug said next. “What if you reviewed their Venus II for SoundStage! Ultra?” My attention was immediately wrenched from my work email, and I bemusedly blurted, “Uh, what? Why?” I knew the Terminator-Plus—which like all Denafrips products is sold in Singapore dollars (SGD)—retailed for less than $6500 in the United States based on then-current conversion rates, and that the Venus II retailed for less than $3000. No matter how good the Venus II was, in my head, its pricing automatically ruled it out as an Ultra product. But Doug, my stubborn, combustible friend from the Great White North, encouraged me to be open-minded. I’m glad I was, because the times, they are a-changin’.
Some of the Audiophile-Related Blessings I'm Thankful For
- Written by Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
I’m writing this on December 15, 2021. Since Christmas is a week from this Saturday, I thought it would be the perfect time to list some of the many things connected to the audio industry and my position with SoundStage!—editor in chief—that I’m thankful for. So here they are (in no particular order).
Alta Audio Alec Loudspeakers
- Written by Jeff Fritz
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Alta Audio is based in Huntington, New York, and manufactures a growing line of loudspeakers, all of them designed by company president Michael Levy. For my review, I chose a smallish floorstander, the Alec, for several initial reasons. First, the Alec is a two-way design that weighs under 100 pounds. My current reference loudspeaker, the Sonus Faber Maxima Amator, is similar in size and form factor; like the Alec, it’s also a slim two-driver, two-way floorstander with an ambitious design brief. Having several months of listening to the SF under my belt, I knew I wanted to sample another speaker model that would compete directly with the svelte Italian. The Alta Audio Alec fit the bill perfectly.
Harkness: "The Occasion"
- Written by Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
About 40 years ago, I used to hang out at the Harkness house after school. It was the kind of place I want my daughter to be able to hang out in when she gets into her teenage years—a house full of creativity, music, art, and positive energy. There were five siblings, one of whom is still an extremely close friend and another who is now the musician known as Harkness.
Joey DeFrancesco: "More Music"
- Written by Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Mack Avenue Records MAC1186LP
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****
While there are plenty of jazz organists who continue to play the kind of soul jazz that Jimmy Smith made popular on the instrument, it’s hard to think of any who match Joey DeFrancesco’s commitment to that tradition. Larry Goldings is a formidable and accomplished player, but he also spends a good bit of his time playing jazz piano. John Medeski is an exciting, innovative musician, but his music takes in everything from jam-band rock to free jazz.
Clarus Concerto Power Conditioner
- Written by Jeff Sirody
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
So, you’ve assembled this great high-end system—components, speakers, cabling, isolation devices, various tweaks, and so on—and you’re experiencing what you believe is the highest fidelity your system is capable of. But have you considered power conditioning? The subject is not nearly as controversial as it once was. Most major audio magazines, this publication included, have extolled the virtues of cleaning up the power that runs from the wall to your stereo.
Stereophile and D'Agostino: Is It Really a Progression?
- Written by Jeff Fritz
- Category: Opinion
On October 20, 2021, Stereophile published a review of the Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression M550 monoblock power amplifiers ($44,950 USD per pair) by Jason Victor Serinus.
Totem Acoustic Element Fire V2 Loudspeakers
- Written by Hans Wetzel
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Totem Acoustic is a company whose products I’ve long admired from a distance, but never had the opportunity to review. When I first became acquainted with the brand 15 years ago, its design aesthetic of simple, clean lines and veneered wood finishes appealed to me. Several of their current models—like their Arro and Forest floorstanding models, as well as their Sky and Signature One bookshelf speakers—continue this tradition.
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