Connected 25

CONNECTEDto Music & Movies

Issue No.25 Summer 2013

New mainsextension

Po w e r B a rpage 8

Kimber Select USBcablespage 10

Adventures in collectingModern Jazz - page 12

Celebrating 30

years of Torlyte

New style

speaker stands page 6

special Torlyte

Feature page 15

Mail Order Direct • 60 Day Cable Home Trial • Cable Upgrade Scheme • Free Delivery (orders over £100 within UK Mainland)

Buy online at www.russandrews.comCall UK Orderline 01539 797300International Tel +44 (0)1539 797300

Exclusive UK distributor

Stop listening to your Hi-Fi and start listening to your music

With Musicality Built In™, Russ Andrews products willhave you listening to your music, not your Hi-Fi system.

Russ’s recommended discs inConnected issue 24 included acouple of choices that whetted myappetite and has seen me expand mycollection of CDs from the ‘GoldenAge of Stereo’ (the mid 1950s to mid1960s). The first, Rachmaninoff’sSymphonic Dances recorded with theDallas Symphony orchestra andconducted by Donald Johanos in1967 was, according to Russ, a must-have on Analogue Production’s SACDrelease and was duly ordered.

The second was The Decca Sound. TheDecca Sound is a 50-CD box setwhich Russ describedas ‘virtually a classicalmusic collection in abox’, incorporatingrecordings from theearly days of stereoup to more recentdigital recordings. Ifound myself pickingout the earlierrecordings – those from the 1950sand early 1960s particularly – and,along with Symphonic Dances waswowed by the depth of sound andmusicality inherent in theperformances. The Decca box setcontains a disc of highlights fromGeorge Solti’s recordings of theWagner’s Ring cycle which was newto me and an amazing experience;but there were many others, too:Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat wasn’t apiece of music I’d heard before butwas delightful to listen to. I washooked!

Luckily for me (and unluckily for mybank balance), this was about thetime we received our copy of theMay/June 2013 issue of The AbsoluteSound. In it, Arthur B. Lintgen gives acomprehensive account of more ofthose vintage recordings I’d beenenjoying – and details howsuccessfully (or not so successfully)they’d been transferred to CD, SACD

or high-resolution download. Cuemore purchases: now I had theMercury Living Presence label toexplore: I missed out on Volume 1 ofthe box set (it’s now out of print andcommanding prices beyond myreach) but Volume 2 contains 55 discsof superb recordings. It also got mereaching for the couple of LivingStereo SACDs in my existingcollection and re-listening to them;originally recorded with threediscrete channels, the SACDs allowyou to play back each of the threechannels on a multi-channel set up,

giving a better-presented, morefocussed soundstage. Arecording made byArthur Rubinstein ofChopin’s pianoconcertos has becomea new favourite.

I was consistentlyimpressed by the

quality of many of these early stereorecordings. The recordings I waslistening to were in the most part 50years old or older, yet they were asdynamic, clear, and above all musicalas anything I’d heard. I learned fromthe booklets accompanying the box-sets that part of the success of thebest ones comes from the simplicitywith which they were mic’d and theskill of the engineers, where therewere SACD versions they soundedeven better than the CD versions –and some of them were in three andfour channel sound too, which gavemy surround sound system a realworkout. Best of all, I had discovereda previously untapped (by me!)source of great music and finerecordings that I can continue tocollect and enjoy. If you haven’t, Iurge you to find some of those I’vementioned and have a listen – and Iwelcome any of your suggestions too.

Contents

Regulars

Editorial 3

Russ’s First Words 4

News 5

Dalton‘s Deliberations 20

Your Letters 24

Competition 27

Features

It’s all about the music 12

Revisiting Torlyte® 15

ProductsNew Products 8

Recent Reviews 21

3Issue 25 Summer 2013 CONNECTED MAGAZINE

© Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2013. E & OE.Any views expressed are those of the writer and donot necessarily reflect the views of the company.

Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.

Editorial

John Armer, [email protected]

■

Welcome

“ The recordings I waslistening to were, in themost part 50 years old

or older, yet they were asdynamic, clear, andabove all musical asanything I’d heard.”

4 CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 25 Summer 2013

■ Russ Andrews

Your response to our articlesdiscussing musicality havebeen overwhelmingly positive.I am heartened that most ofyou ‘get it’. I suppose youwouldn’t be enthusiastic usersof our products if you didn’t!Your responses have confirmed to methat you too have found the discoveryof musicality to be a life-changingexperience. Two letters receivedrecently reveal the extremes; the gulf between the before and afterexperience.

Tony Williams (see Your Letters page26) says “I thought I partly understoodwhat you meant by the term[musicality], but after reading yourfollow-up article in Connected 24 I’mincreasingly doubtful.” In his nextparagraph he says the term ‘visceral’conveys to him images of crudity andinstinct, separating any emotionalaspects from ‘skills and artistry of thecomposers and of the performers’.

I think we have a real problem withthe word ‘emotion’. To the repressedBrit, it conjures up images of irrationaland hysterical women, lust, sex andjungle. Yuk! We civilised, rational malesneed none of that!

I wish I could think of another word touse that isn’t so burdened with suchan emotional (sorry!) response but I’mstuck with it. Emotion comes in allstrengths from mild to extreme andALL our first reactions are ‘instinctive’and emotional. My response to apainting, a piece of music, or a flavouris instantaneous. Why do I like thecolour blue? Who knows, who cares? Ijust do. Live with it!

The concept of musicality isfundamental to the appreciation andenjoyment of music. It is not some‘aspect’, as Tony Williams asserts, that is

separate from compositional andinterpretive skills. Several professionalclassical musicians (and most recentlyviolinists in two different stringquartets) have talked to me aboutusing their learned skills andtechniques to express the emotionalmeaning in the compositions theywere playing. Their practice andrehearsal was focussed on expressingthat emotion. They judged a concert’ssuccess on how well theycommunicated it to their audienceand how the audience responded toit. They could ‘feel’ the audiencereactions as they were playing just asthey could feel their fellow playersresponding to them.

Sometime in the early 1970s Iremember listening to a MaurizioPollini recording of Chopin études andnocturnes. His performance was atechnical tour de force I thought – fullyjustifying his prize-winningreputation, but I was left wonderingwhy Chopin was so popular. It was, tome, just a cleverly arranged series ofnotes with no musical emotionalcontent I could respond to. Later, Iheard a recording of Arthur Rubinsteinplaying the same music. Wow, acouple of bars in and I was hooked forlife! Rubinstein communicated to methe full emotional musical meaningthat Chopin had written and wantedme to understand.

That may have been the moment thatI understood the fundamentalimportance of musicality. It’s not asound, not an academic analysis of itsstructure. It’s an emotional messagewith emotional meaning.

That realisation changes everything;the way you listen to music,appreciate music, judge a composer,musician, orchestra, band and (funnilyenough) a Hi-Fi system. You discoverthat it is the underlying reason youdon’t like some kinds of music orsome kinds of Hi-Fi! The London JazzCollector (page 12) expresses thatrevelation extremely well: “Instead ofmy nice new hi-fi simply making themusic I already knew sound better,it opened new doors: to music Ididn’t know, didn’t know I liked, andsome I knew I didn’t like - or so Ithought.”.

That’s exactly right and I have seen ithappen many times. I remember anelderly couple I demonstrated asystem to at Russ Andrews HighFidelity in Edinburgh in about 1976.They listened only to classical music,and that’s what I used until they hadmade their purchase. Once they had, Isaid “Listen to this for a moment” and Iplayed a few minutes of “School Days”by Stanley Clarke. Very modern jazz.They loved it and bought a copy fromour record shop upstairs! They knewthat they didn’t like the sound ofmodern jazz, but the system let themhear the music in it rather than justthe sound.

The London Jazz Collector ablydescribes the importance and benefitsof getting closer to the music itself:“you engage with it, much as youwould if you were present at itscreation – musicians in the room!”Sadly, however, many famousmusicians, bands, and orchestras don’tcommunicate musical emotion andmost Hi-Fi systems drain the music outof those that do. Once you can hearthat difference you can do somethingabout it. Once you have had thatrevelatory moment, everything isdifferent.

First Words

Getting emotional about music

“Musicality is not a sound, notan academic analysis of itsstructure, it’s an emotion al

message...“

News


NewsOwn a Panasonic TV?We’ve had several enquiries fromowners of Panasonic TVs thatconnect to the mains supply with amains cable fitted with a right-angle IEC with latches (picture 1). They wantto know whether they can replace the cablewith one of our mains cables for betterperformance.

The IEC socket on the Panasonic TV isrecessed meaning almost all normal IEC plugs(and our Wattgates) won’t fit. The easiest wayto upgrade the mains cable is withone of our PowerMax Plus™ mainscables. The IEC connector on thePowerMax Plus™ is a very slimdesign which is perfect for therecessed socket on the PanasonicTVs (and indeed any other situationwhere the IEC socket is recessed).It’s a snug fit and latches aren’tnecessary to hold it in place(picture 2).

If you want to benefit fromincreased performance by using ourPowerKords with the larger Wattgate IECconnectors, you will need to make anadaptor, using the original mains lead andwiring one of our Male IEC plugs (£6.20,order code 1855) to a short length of theoriginal cable (picture 3).

While the PowerMax Plus™ mains leadgives a big improvement to sound andpicture quality, the woven PowerKords™will give even greater improvements –sharper images, better colours and smoothermotion (picture 4).

1.

2.

4.

3.

New Spears &Munsil 2nd edition Blu-ray set-up discavailable

SPEARS & MUNSIL Code:45392ND EDITION BLU-RAY SET UP DISC £29.99

• Calibration and evaluation patternsfor all major display controls

• 3D stereoscopic calibration andevaluation patterns

• Clips to test deinterlacingperformance

• Samples of different video and audiocodecs

• All patterns created at 1080p in nativecolor space using proprietary software

• Disc is region free and can be playedon any Blu-ray player

The new version of Spears &Munsil’s Blu-ray set up disc iseven easier to use to ensureyou are enjoying the bestpicture quality. It alsoadditionally includes new 3Dset-up patterns for optimising3D images.


News

Who should try the Select KS-3033 loudspeaker cables?

Kimber Select KS-3033 loudspeaker cables are very revealing and verymusical.So to get the very best performance from them you should follow our upgradepath and upgrade your mains and interconnects first!

KS-3033 speaker cables are a big upgrade over the cables lower in the Kimberrange. In particular, existing users of Kimber 4TC, Kimber 8TC, Russ AndrewsCrystal-24 and the Kimber Monocle-X and -XL cables should seriously consideran audition!

Audition the best!

Organising loan of the KS-3033 speaker cables.

Organising the loan of the KS-3033speaker cable is extremely easy. Callus on 01539 797300, pay a fullyrefundable deposit and we’llorganise the rest. We’ll even deliverand collect the cables for free.

The loan period lasts for 14 daysfrom when you receive the cables.We’ll contact you towards the end ofthe period to see how you’re gettingon and to arrange collection. Theloan service is currently onlyavailable to UK Mainland customers.Remember, we only have one pair ofloan cables available, so there maybe a delay in receiving the cables ifthey are already on loan.

We reserve the right to amend theterms of loan at any time.

Select KS-3033 is the first in Kimber’s range of Select speaker cables. KS-3033uses Kimber’s purest VariStrand copper, finest V-Teflon insulation and an enhancedbraided design. The cables use an inner core – a proprietary material called ‘X38R’,around which the cable is woven; the core acts as ‘sink’ to absorb vibration builtup within the cable.

The precise manufacture and care over the selection of materials means that theSelect cables are a huge upgrade over the Kimber speaker cables lower down inthe range. Expensive? Yes, but you need to think about them as components intheir own right, such is the degree of improvement they can bring.

Auditioning the KS-3033We have a 4.5m pair of KS-3033available for loan. The cablesare fully burned-in but willneed a few days to settle inonce connected to your system.They are terminated with 4mmbananas as standard, but wecan fit 6mm or 8mm spades ifyou require. The cables can beauditioned for 14 days.

We have taken delivery of a demo set of Kimber Select KS-3033speaker cables. They are available for loan to try in your system athome on payment of a deposit and are the best way of finding outjust how much of a transformation these cables can bring to theperformance of your system.


- and we’ve updatedTorlyte® speaker stands!2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the originaldesign and the first manufacture of our uniquesystem support – TORLYTE.

During the anniversary year, all new Torlyte® that we send outwill be sporting special-edition 30th anniversary badges. Keep alook out for them!

We’ve also taken the opportunity to make improvements to ourTorlyte® speaker stands. We have rationalised the design (there isnow only one size of top plate and bottom plate), but there arestill two heights. The best news is that the speaker stands arenow supplied with a Torlyte® top plate as well as a Torlyte®bottom plate (previously only the bottom had been Torlyte®) foreven better performance. The new Torlyte® top plate has smallcountersunk indentations for locating the points of our ConeFeet for increased stability too.

The previous incarnation of the Torlyte® speaker stands wereWhat Hi-Fi Sound and Visionmagazine five star award winners,and were the recipient of the prestigious ‘Editor’s Choice’ awardfrom Hi-Fi Choice magazine. Our listening tests have confirmedthat the new Torlyte® speaker stands sound even cleaner, clear,open and musical and are just the thing for supporting yourbookshelf speakers.

If you are interested in reading more about Torlyte’s® uniquedesign and approach to system support, have a read of ourTorlyte® feature on page 15.

Want to know more?Contact us on 01539 797300

Torlyte® Speaker Stands Code: 4077

per pair £695

Torlyte® speaker stands are fittedwith spiked feet as standard, orJumbo Cone Feet on request atthe extra cost of the Cone Feet.The stands include two sets ofsmall cone feet to support yourspeakers on top of the stands.Torlyte® speaker stands aresupplied flat packed for ease ofshipping, and are very easy toassemble at home.

News

Torlyte® is 30!

195mm

270mm

660mm(excludingspikes &feet)

215mm

300mm

550mm(excludingspikes &feet)

Size B(Dimensions sameexcept height)

Size A

CONNECTED MAGAZINE Issue 25 Summer 20138

New Products

New productsUpgrade your system withour new mains extension!For some time we’ve been investigating ways in which we couldimprove the first mains extension in our range. Our new PowerBarmains extension features new sockets, new wiring and mains filteringoption, and a newly-developed version of our Super Burn-in process,to bring better performance to your Hi-Fi or Home Cinema system.

3 Your choice of 4, 6 or 8 high-performance UKsockets for a low impedance connection to themains supply. Sockets have a tight grip and apositive ‘click’ when a mains plug is inserted.

3 Sockets are individuallywired with high performancecable. No cheap busbars which can compromise the connection

3 IEC mains input allows your choice of mains cable forconnecting the PowerBar to the wall socket. Werecommend the PowerMax Plus as a minimum, or use aClassic PowerKord – or better – for even greater performance

3 Optional SuperClamp helpsto protect your system frommains spikes and surges andimprove sound quality.SuperClamp components arefitted internally and should bereplaced every five years tomaintain their effectiveness.

3 Sockets and robustextruded aluminiumcasework finished in blackmeans that the extension‘disappears’ visually behindyour equipment rack.

3 Sockets and cablingbenefit from a newly-developed, simplerversion of our Super Burn-in process for increasedblock performance.

3 Brackets fittedto PowerBarmean that theextension can bewall-mounted, if required.

Dimensions: (WHD)

8 way: 60mm x 48mm x 540mm



Russ Andrews Code: 1168PowerBar Packwith 1m PowerMax Plus™4 way £135.756 way £160.758 way £185.75


New Products

Russ Andrews Code: 1168PowerBar4 way £89.006 way £114.008 way £139.00

Russ on PowerBar

“A good quality extension block will use high qualitycomponents both in the wiring and the sockets toensure that the current flows as efficiently aspossible. The music benefits by becoming moremusical, more dynamic with better bass and a wider,deeper soundstage. The PowerBar is a perfect choiceif you’ve yet to upgrade a basic, DIY-store extension– partnered with a PowerMax Plus, it’s a great wayto improve your system’s performance”

Upgrading Being the first in the range, youcannot upgrade the earlierPowerLink or PowerLink Plus mainsextensions to the new PowerBar.However, buyers of the newPowerBar can upgrade it to anyextension higher in the range – theSilencerBlock and the Power/ UltraPurifierBlock – and the full upgradetrade-in values will apply.

Don’t forget!...3 60 Day

Home Trialon standard cables & accessories

3 FREE deliveryon orders over £100 within UK mainland

3 Cable Upgrade Scheme

Where can I use it?PowerBar is an ideal starter mains extension for anylevel of system. Its high performance sockets meanthat it is equally at home powering a high endsystem as it is an entry-level Hi-Fi or Home Cinema.

SuperClamp OptionAdd a SuperClamp for spike andsurge protection. Add £10.50We recommend factory replacement ofthe SuperClamp components every fiveyears to maintain their effectiveness.

SAVE 10% on a PowerMax Plus™ mains cable

when you buy a PowerBar

Dimensions:60mm W x 48mm H x 290mm long (4 way)415mm long (6 way) 540mm long (8 way)Not including wall-mount brackets


New Products

PriceKS-2416-Cu Code: 2416

0.5m £3710.75m £3981.0m £425

KS-2426-HB Code: 24260.5m £4990.75m £5901.0m £681

KS-2436-Ag Code: 24360.5m £6860.75m £8471.0m £1008Available in lengths upto 3.0m

Don’t forget!...3 60 Day

Home Trialon standard cables & accessories

3 FREE deliveryon orders over £100 within UK mainland

3 Cable Upgrade Scheme

Type B connector

Kimber braidedgeometry

Dual-layer frequency -optimised shielding

“The result is typical KIMBER SELECT, with a more open soundstageand increased realism. We have now conducted many cablelistening comparisons and I can assure you that the copper versionis more natural sounding than any other brand of cable I've comeacross. The hybrid and silver versions actually stay very true to thecopper, hybrid, silver progression of all our other cables. Silveradds an openness and smoothness to the already spooky imagingof the lesser versions. I have a completely new appreciation for thedifference a cable can make… and I was already an advocate!” Nate Mansfield, Kimber Kable

We were very excited to hear earlierin the year of the development of an entirely new range of Selectinterconnects from Kimber Kable. The new cables are USB cables, and they are available now!

Like other interconnects in the Kimber Select range, three versions are available. KS-2416-CU is an all-copper cable, using the very high-purity Kimber Select copper; KS-2426-HB is a hybrid cable employing a mix of Select copper and silver wire; and KS-2436-AG is the all-silver version using Kimber’s finest silver.

Kimber’s approach to the production of the new USB cables (they are entirelyhand-built at the Kimber factory in Utah, USA) ensures that – in our opinion – theydeliver improvements in sound quality that cannot be achieved by mass produced machine-built cables. We believe they are the ultimate cables for connecting a computer to a USB audio device.

New Kimber Select USB cables

Large gauge VariStrandpower conductors

Solid core signalconductors

Signal and power conductorsgeometrically isolated

Custom Ebonyheadshell

Kimber KS-2416-CuHDMI cable

Kimber KS-2436-Ag HDMI cable

Type A connector


New ProductsNew Ringmat productsavailable to improve theperformance of yourturntableWe’ve increased the number of Ringmat products that we haveavailable to buy. The first are a pair of anti-static mats that arefitted above and below your record to reduce the problem ofstatic charge that can build up when playing LPs. If you’ve evernoticed that the turntable mat sticks to the record when you liftan LP off it at the end of playing the side, these are just theproducts to help reduce the problem and improve soundquality to boot.

The second Ringmat product is the updated LP Ringcap.Ringcap is a lightweight paper disc designed to sit on top of arecord when it is playing; Ringcap helps to reduce and absorbvibrations and resonance built up in a record when it is playing.The new Ringcap uses a darker-colour paper than the previousbuff-coloured version.

LP BLUE STATMAT Code: 5023& STATCAP £42.00

LP RINGCAP Code: 5003£15.60

RINGMAT ANNIVERSARYGOLD SPOT Code: 5029

£78.00

Ringmat Anniversary Gold SpotThe Anniversary Gold Spot turntable mat is Ringmat’s best-performing LP support mat. The Ringmat sits directly on yourturntable platter and helps to support your LP and reduce vibration,so that there is the minimum possible error in the signal. Typically,you will hear a reduction in background noise, and a cleaner andmore detailed sound; bass is deeper and more musical too.

Using the Ringmatproducts to upgradeyour turntableWe recommend using the Ringmatproducts in the following sequenceto upgrade your turntable’s sound:

1. Replace your existing turntablefelt or rubber mat with theAnniversary Gold Spot Ringmat.The Ringmat is the foundation ofyour record’s support and is thebest place to start.

2. Then add the Ringcap followedby the LP Blue Statmat and Statcap(or, ideally, all of them for the bestperformance).


Article

It’s all about the MusicIt all started with a plan to improvemy hi-fi and to get more enjoymentfrom listening to music. Newequipment replaced the elderlyEighties units, and a friendintroduced me to the beneficialeffect of improving power andinterconnects, something I didn’tunderstand but could certainlyhear. Things were sounding good,but events took an unexpected turnwhen these improvements revealedthere was another even moresignificantopportunity toget closer to themusic – thevery sourceitself. Asimprovementsprogressed, thequality of soundof vinyl easilyovertook that from CD or CD rippedand played through a networkmusic player, but the real magicstarted to happen with vintagevinyl – pressed in the years beforedigital, between the mid Fifties andearly Seventies. During these yearsentirely analogue equipment wasused at every stage of the recordcreation, from acoustic instrumentsmoving air, captured by a newgeneration of studio engineersusing revolutionary valvemicrophones, recorded to tape, cutinto the lacquer on an analoguelathe, and all that musicalinformation transferred deep in thegroove of heavy vinyl.

The listening experience wastransformed: now the musicians

were in the room with you. Yourarmchair was transported to thefront table of the Bohemianightclub, 1959, as Art Blakey’s JazzMessengers roared into life; you area guest diner at the VillageVanguard as the sparkling cascadeof notes from Bill Evans’ pianoengaged telepathically with thesonorous tones of Scott LaFaro’sacoustic bass and Paul Motian’scymbal washes. A newly-discovered passion for modern jazz

took on greaterurgency, fuelledby the power ofmusicexperienced atthis level ofintensity. Differentartists, differentrecord labels,probing at the

edges of modern jazz and itsevolution from Bop towards greaterharmonic and rhythmic freedom,towards modal post-bop forms. Themusic as fresh today as fifty yearsago, unlike much of what followed.

Instead of my nice new hi-fi simplymaking the music I already knewsound better, it opened new doors:to music I didn’t know, didn’t know Iliked, and some I knew I didn’t like -or so I thought. I became open tomusicians I had previously wrestledwith. The articulation of the briefestof individual notes in a run, insteadof a continuous messy flow, yousuddenly grasped the musicalintelligence driving the fingers ofJohn Coltrane. What before hadseemed like a cacophony started to

One of our customers runsa website devoted to hisexperiences in collecting –and listening to – modernjazz on vintage vinyl. Weasked him to pensomething for us about hiswebsite, and here in hisown words is The LondonJazz Collector.

”it opened new doors: to music I didn’t know,didn’t know I liked, andsome I knew I didn’t like -

or so I thought.“

Issue 25 Summer 2013 CONNECTED MAGAZINE 13

Dalton’s Deliberations

make sense, and to sound beautiful.That is what happens when themusic evokes an emotionalresponse, draws you in, makes youwant to listen. You engage with it,much as you would if you werepresent at its creation: musicians inthe room.

None of this is, of itself, remarkable -a journey I am sure made by manymusic enthusiasts. What followedhowever was even moreunexpected. I was struggling tobuy vintage vinyl over theinternet but mistakes provedexpensive and I lacked theessential knowledge to be sureof buying the real thing.Looking around the internet Ikept coming across sites andblogs about music which all toooften consisted of links to file-sharing sites for a “free” piratedownload, a list of the track titlesand a cut and paste threeparagraph review from AllMusic.

The comments consisted of “Wow,thanks, man!” What it is to bepopular. With little interest in MP3downloads and hungry forknowledge, there seemed very littleoriginal writing of interest, apartfrom the “train spotter” forums, for

people who know probably morethan is good for them.

Slowly, an idea began to takeshape. I knew what I was lookingfor, but it wasn’t there. Why notstart your own “place for everythingmusical” on the web? So aroundeighteen months ago, with noexperience in web design but thehelp of the Wordpress bloggingplatform, I started my first everblog/website, Londonjazzcollector.

This gave me the freedom to write,use graphics and multimedia toshare and accumulate knowledgeabout collecting modern jazz onauthentic vintage vinyl. From ashaky start I discovered thatoriginal writing was hard, and that Ihad to look within as to why I like apiece, not to just say “I like this” orpress a ‘like’ button. Why is BillEvans such a great pianist? What’s

going on in Thelonious Monk, andhow can Bud Powell play the sameinstrument so fundamentallydifferently? Which of all the trackson this record is the standout track,and why? Writing about music is adifferent experience from justlistening to it. Writing stretches youin different ways, sharpens yourcritical faculties, in the same way asactive listening. Writing takes youplaces merely listening doesn’t, itdemands you expand yourknowledge and horizons, pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

Often I had to research to fill ingaps in my own knowledge, andrealised that other people had alot greater depth of knowledgethan me, on just abouteverything. The quickest way to

attract a comment on the internetis to say something wrong. Theycome raining down on you. Soonpeople around the world withcommon interest in some aspect ofmusic and hi-fi were visiting theblog and comments, suggestions,advice and opinion started flowingin. Having started by handing outknowledge, it was now comingback in, in spades. >>

“Writing takes you places merelylistening doesn’t, it demands youexpand your knowledge and

horizons, pulling yourself up byyour own bootstraps.”

www.londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com

Adventures in collecting "modern jazz": the classical music of America from the Fifties andSixties, on original vinyl, on a budget, from England. And writing about it.

14

The standing pages about the greatjazz record labels like Blue Note,Prestige and Impulse wereattracting hundreds of visitors aday. I added pages aboutadventures in hi-fi, includingequipment, interconnects andtweakery, even a recipe for recordcleaning fluid. As a competentphotographer, the website allowedme to show everything off life-sizeincluding those all-importantengravings found in the dead-waxof vinyl, show off the beauty ofretro cover design, read linernotes at full screen. Somethingwas being done right - my firstyear online attracted a quartermillion page views. With feedbackand comments, more featureshave been added to regularposts: short biographies of artists,snippets of discography,contemporary cultural eventsfrom the year of recording, a lookbehind the curtain at eBayauctions, and most recently,online polls, for example,favourite musicians, allinteractive.

Among new friends andfollowers, I have encounteredmusicians, DJs, studioengineers, erudite lifetime

collectors, not a few First PressingFundamentalists, Nostalgists stillliving in the Sixties, young recordcollectors just starting out, retroDandies, the surviving wives ofsome of the great jazz musicians,and jazz lovers from all over theworld. On the way I have learnedabout mono from stereo fold-downs, condenser microphones, thefiner points of matrix codes, and stillcarry scars from encounters withrecord trophy hunters to whommoney is unimportant andpossession is everything. I am stillwaiting for a blue plaque to go upon the wall above my favouriteLondon record store:“Londonjazzcollector shops here”.Perhaps one day.

The adventure is about music, nothi-fi or records, though both are anecessary means to an end. It is anadventure which has no end point,no destination, just a journey to beenjoyed along the way.

You can read more about“Adventures in collecting modernjazz, the classical music ofAmerica, on original vinyl, fromEngland, and writing about it” atwww.londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com

“Among new friends and followers, I haveencountered musicians, DJs, studioengineers, erudite lifetime collectors”


■

Revisiting Torlyte®

Why should you care what yoursystem sits on? The reason is that‘acoustic feedback’ fromloudspeakers can seriouslydegrade the sound quality –regardless of how good orexpensive your system is. The usualchoice of high mass (usually metaland glass but even solid timber)stands, racks and cabinets makethe problem worse, not better.

If you’re in the camp that thinksequipment supports can’t possiblymake a difference to the soundquality, try this: slip a cushionbetween your CD player and thesurface it stands on. Play a fewseconds of music. Then take thecushion away and play the samemusic again.

You should hear a big differencebetween the ‘cushion in’ and

‘cushion out’. Don’t worry aboutwhich is ‘better’ or ‘worse’, we’re justproving that there is a difference.

About acoustic feedback

A Hi-Fi system is not a simple chainwith a source component at thestart (CD player, turntable) and apair of loudspeakers at the end. Thetwo ends are connected togetheracoustically by the sound from theloudspeakers passing through theair, the floor, and through thesystem support stands.

As the acoustic feedback enterseach piece of equipment itbecomes ‘electrical feedback’.

How? Well, the electroniccomponents inside your Hi-Fiequipment (eg capacitors, diodesand resistors) are ‘microphonic’.That means that they produce

A

2013 marks the thirtiethanniversary of the originaldevelopment of ourequipment support system– Torlyte. Although theappearance has changed a littleover the years, the basicconcept – an ultra-light, rigidsupport for Hi-Fi and HomeCinema equipment – remainsthe same.

On the following pages, Russgoes into more detail about thedevelopment of the Torlyte andprecisely why you should be‘coupling’ your system with lowmass supports if you want toachieve the most natural,musical sound from yoursystem.


The Acoustic Feedback Cycle

Why bother with yoursystem’s support?

>>


small electrical signals in responseto mechanical vibrations such asthis acoustic feedback. Theseelectrical signals are not inthemselves very large but inrelation to the audio signals beingprocessed they are very significantindeed. They mix with the audiosignal and pollute it audibly.

To makematters worse,the feedbackeffect iscumulative: theenergy contentand frequencybalance of thefeedback signal is added to themusic signal passing through thesystem and modifies it cumulatively.The effect is a classic vicious circlewhere the system sounds worseand worse as you play it louder andlouder.

What does acousticfeedback do to the sound?

The first thing you may notice is theeffect feedback has on the tonalcolour of the music (colouration).However, the worst and most

destructive effectthat feedbackhas on the musicis to cause ‘timesmear’.

The feedbacksignal is like anecho; it is adelayed repeat of

an earlier sound (see diagram left).The confusing effect of this can beheard in its most extreme form in alarge church or cathedral. In thissituation an experienced speakerwill pace his delivery to allow forthe echo and so maintainintelligibility.

In a Hi-Fi system, however, even asmall amount of echo visible in thelower diagram is a very big problem

because it causes ‘time smear’ thatdestroys musicality. Time smear‘bleaches out’ the strength of therhythm and destroys the timingsubtlety of the playing. After takingsteps to reduce timing smear in asystem, it’s quite common to hearcomments such as “I didn’t know hecould play that well” and “I was

bored by that piece ofmusic before, but nowI really get what it’sabout!”

It’s important,therefore, to controltime smear because itdoesn’t just affect the

sound quality – it has a direct effecton our musical enjoyment too.

Dealing with acousticfeedback energy

We can’t stop acoustic feedbackenergy getting into the system, butthe energy itself isn’t really theproblem, it’s the effect that theenergy has – time delays – that arethe real problem. The time delaysoccur because the feedback energyis slowed down and stored as itpasses through the system stands,supports (and even the feet) andinto each part of the system. It isthe weight (mass) of each objectthat dictates how much energy isstored. The higher the mass of anobject, the lower the frequency atwhich it resonates. (Every object hasits own ‘natural resonantfrequency’; the frequency it vibratesat when you knock it.) The lowerthe frequency then the moreenergy is stored and the more theenergy is slowed down. This‘slowing down’ means that theobject will continue to vibrate (orresonate) for longer, thereby addingto time smear.

If high mass increases time delay,then lighter, lower mass itemsdecrease time delay. Lower massitems store less energy, they ring

Diagram 1: Longdelay, as in churchacoustics

Diagram 2: Shortdelay as in yourHi-Fi system

“I didn’t know he couldplay that well... I was bored

by that piece of musicbefore, but now I really get

what it’s about!”

"Having set up my new

Torlyte rack, I couldn't

understand why the music

was so quiet and I had to

turn up the volume.

It took a while but the

penny eventually dropped

- it was no longer shouting

at me! I had all the detail

and none of the glare. As a

result I was able to listen to

my music over extended

periods for the first time.

The biggest improvement I

could possibly have hoped

for. Vive le Torlyte!"

D Johnson, W. Sussex

Issue 25 Summer 2013CONNECTED MAGAZINE

17

Torlyte Feature

less and they delay feedback energyless. If we could make the systemsupport materials very light, wewould have a system that stores littleenergy as acoustic feedback passesthrough it and delays it for less time.

Proponents of the conventional highmass support system make theproblems even worse by saying thatequipment should be’ isolated’ fromthe shelves with soft ‘squidgy’ rubberfeet. This has the unfortunate effectof trapping the feedback energy inthe piece of equipment, therebyincreasing the storage and delay!

We know wecan’t stop theenergymoving, but ifwe ensurethat it movesas fast aspossiblethrough thesupport system, and that all parts ofthe system vibrate together and veryfast, then the vibrating ceases tomatter. To do this, we must couple allthe light-weight parts of the systemtogether – in such a way that weallow the energy to pass freely fromone to another, without couplingtheir masses together to create onebig high (slow) mass.

We do this by coupling the systemrack and the speakers together viathe one thing that they are bothconnected to –the floor.

The importance of materials

There is, however, another problemcaused by the feedbackenergy. The tonal character ofthe music (frequency response)is changed by the materials thefeedback travels through. In otherwords you can ‘hear’ the supportmaterials in the feedback signal andit changes the sound of the music.You can hear the metallic rings ofmetal stands, the ‘dong’ and ring ofglass shelves, the thick heavy thumpof MDF and solid timber stands andso on.

A further and equallymusic-destroyingeffect of all thisweight and storedenergy is to reducethe dynamic range ofthe music. Itconcentrates all theenergy in a narrower

band, delivering a sound that islouder, punchier and more up-front.Mid-bass is forward and dominant,and the treble grabs you by thethroat! Unfortunately this is thesound most people associate with aHi-Fi system these days and that is atragedy for enthusiast and for theindustry. It’s unnatural and fatiguing:your system should deliver a clean,clear, relaxed and musical sound withnatural and believable dynamics.

If high mass increases timedelay, then lighter, lower massitems decrease time delay.Lower mass items store lessenergy, they ring less and thedelay feedback energy less.

Did you know?‘Coupling the masses’ is atechnique used bycinematographers filmingmicroscopic single cell marineorganisms. The camera has amotor that vibrates it so muchthat the organisms in the watertank would be invisible. Thesolution?... They clamp the watertank to the camera so that it allvibrates together and so thevibration itself doesn’t matter.

>>

So if high-mass metal and glassstands and rubber feet aren’t theanswer to equipment cabinets andsupports – what is?

The real solutionNow we know what won’t work,what approach will succeed? Weknow we can’t absorb the energywithout penalty and that we want itto get back without storage anddelay. That is, we want to couple thesystem and the speakers to floorrather than de-couple it. Weobviously need some kind of rigidlow mass device to support the CDplayer and amplifier because rigidityand low mass together means thatlittle energy is stored and thesystem sounds more musical.

What about materials? Metal is out;although it can form a rigidstructure its mass is too high and sois its ‘Q’. Its ‘Q’ is its willingness toresonate cleanly at one frequency,and metal is good at it, that’s whybells are made of it. It’s no good tous, however, because it concentratesthe feedback energy into a narrowband at its resonance that thendistorts the frequency response ofthe entire system. This compressesthe dynamic range as well aspushing one narrow band of musicforward. Steel also has nasty highfrequency harmonics that furtherdistort the feedback signal.

Marble, slate and concrete slabshave their own unacceptableproblems: huge mass and thereforehuge energy storage plus ringingresonances. Thesematerials are out!

The most obviousmaterial to make Hi-Fifurniture out of iswood. But not just anyold wood! Certainwoods have low mass,low ‘Q’ and an attractive

acoustic signature. Used correctly,they can be made into a rigidstructure. So if we choose a woodwith the right combination oflightness and strength and then useit to make a honeycomb structurewhich has more fresh air in it thanwood, what have we got? TORLYTE.

Torlyte® is ultra light, very rigid andit has good acoustic properties. Itsappearance hides a complex‘sandwich’ containing thehoneycomb-inspired internalstructure. Torlyte® is all handmade –an expensive process these days –and can be used to create stiff, low

mass structures like equipmentracks and speaker stands. A Torlyte®Platform is available which allowsyou to gain some of the benefits ofTorlyte® if you are unable to replacean existing metal or wood standwith a full Torlyte® Rack system.

Because of its construction, Torlyte®has a low ‘Q’ broadband response,which is exactly suited to ourrequirements. When made into anequipment stand we have a devicethat correctly couples the feedbackenergy back to the CD player andamplifier, and introduces little of its

own character in the process.

But we now have another problemin that the equipment casework isacting as a reservoir for thefeedback energy – together withany vibration from equipmenttransformers, the CD drive spinninga disc, a turntable motor and so on –and we need to ‘channel’ this out ofharm’s way, into the floor.

Luckily, energy – like water – alwaystakes the path of least resistance,and in this case least resistanceequals low mass, high rigidity andlow storage; already provided byTorlyte®.

Torlyte® has a distinctive, originaland functional beauty all of its own.Torlyte’s unique design enables it tominimise degrading acousticfeedback and thus bring substantialsound improvements. It offers clean,extended, tuneful bass; a morerealistic midrange especially onvoices; less ‘splash’ and moreinformation in the treble; andimprovements in the three-dimensional stereo image. Thefront-to-back depth snaps intofocus, the recording acousticbecomes much easier to discernand those subtle, mysterious soundsmade by musicians can beidentified with ease.


Torlyte Feature

"Right away I knew this Torlyte rack really lived up to itsreputation for getting to the heart of the music,everything seems so right. This product is so neat and wellmade I am really delighted with it." Mr G Greenham, Somerset

3

3 Internal construction ofTorlyte®


Torlyte Feature

There’s one more aspect toequipment support that is neededto correctly ‘couple’ the system andspeakers together via the floor: theequipment and support system’sfeet. Each piece of equipment needsfeet and those feet play animportant part in the energy‘coupling’ process. Fitted with theusual rubber feet (felt and cork artealso used) the equipment acts as areservoir, storing the feedbackenergy – and stored energy is justwhat we don’t want! We need to‘channel’ the energy out of theequipment and into the floor.

A hard material with a highishresonant frequency will performbetter at ‘coupling’ equipment, sothat energy flows quickly and easilyfrom one thing into another andfinds its way to the floor as fast aspossible. The natural material tomake equipment feet out of is, onceagain, wood. I have tested manyother materials – the obvious onesare aluminium, titanium, stainlesssteel and brass – but found thathardwood distorted the sound theleast and its sonic character was themost natural.

From myresearch Ihave foundthat thecone shape isthe most effective for dumpingenergy out of equipment, and thatthe larger the diameter of the conethe better it works. We have chosento make our equipment feet fromoak, a suitably hard wood and onewhich is commonly grown locally.

Use three feet!We are often asked why werecommend using three feet. Theanswer is simple: stability is vitaland whilst four feet may look moresolid, they allow micro-rocking. Evenif the rocking action is very small, inthis situation – channelling energy– it is very significant.Three points of contact give onestable, balanced triangulation ofvector forces. No rocking will occur,even if one point is higher or lowerthan the others. This is why cameratripods have three legs – stability isas crucial for taking a photo as for

reproducing music!

TORLYTE® SHELF Code: 4023

from £250.00

CONE FEET IN SETS OF THREE

MINI Code: 4210 £16.65SMALL Code: 4215 £18.70BIG Code: 4220 £25.00JUMBO Code: 4225 £31.15

Torlyte® at a glance3 Torlyte is a unique Hi-Fi support

system designed to improve your system’s sound quality

3 Its approach differs from other supports as it is based around the concepts of low mass and high rigidity

3 It works by reducing the sound-degrading effects of acoustic feedback

3 Torlyte allows your system to sound more musical, enhancing its qualities of rhythm and timing

Don’t forget the feet!

TORLYTE LOUDSPEAKER STANDS Code: 4077

PER PAIR £695.00

TORLYTE® BASE Code: 4024

from £460.00

TORLYTE PLATFORM Code: 4056

£184.00


Dalton‘s Deliberations

Forgive me, but I’m going to goall philosophical on you. I’mintrigued by the meaning ofthe question “What am Ilistening for?”, for within it lies anambiguity which strikes at the veryheart of what we do when we sitdown and listen to our Hi-Fi.

The question can have at least twomeanings:1. The first can be restated as “What am I listening out for?”

2. The second can be restated as “Why am I listening?”

The distinction is an important one.Let’s tease this out a bit more.

If we sit down to compare a new cableupgrade or piece of hardware, we mayoften ask ourselves the question“What am I listening for?”, butdepending on whether we ask it in theform of meaning 1 or meaning 2 theresults can be tellingly different. If wesit and listen according to the firstmeaning – “What am I listening outfor?” – we can easily become trappedin the details of other questions suchas “Is the bass tighter on that one?”, “Isthe treble sweeter?”, etc, etc. In fact, it isso easy to become over-focussed onthe details that we miss what we arereally looking for, and that’s theanswer to the question “Which soundsbest?” How do we answer this then?

If we follow the meaning of thesecond question – “Why am Ilistening?” – we come closer to asolution. “I am listening to hear whichcomponent, cable, etc, sounds best”.And how do we judge this? The onlyway we can; by listening to the musicand noticing, almost subconsciously,which engages us the most, which is

the most musical. It all comes back tomusicality.

I was reminded of all this when Irecently listened to Russ’s system. Theinitial intention was to compare threedifferent versions of ‘Kind of Blue’ byMiles Davis. I had just purchasedanother copy as part of a box set andwe wondered how the differentversions compared. So I sat there,ready and prepared to listen for anyclues or subtle changes in thepresentation that would differentiatethe recordings. And I listened. And Iwas completely engrossed. Soengrossed, in fact, that I forgot that Iwas there to make comparisons.

The irony was that in ‘forgetting tolisten’ I had discovered what I shouldreally have been listening for all along:musicality. The very fact that I hadbeen so engrossed in the performancetold me all I needed to know.

There was another lesson I learnedfrom this experience too. If you askedme to judge how accurately a systemreproduces the music, I would havesaid that the answer lies in how closeit gets to the original performance -you have to judge whether it makesthe music sound more, or less, like thereal thing.

In a recent edition of Stereophilemagazine, John Atkinson argues thatthis theory doesn’t “hold together withtwo-channel reproduction, in whichthe ambient sound at the original

event is folded into the front channels”.This argument, he suggests, “is basedon a fallacious assumption: that anaccurate representation of the originalrecorded event is encoded in thegrooves, pits or bits”. And, of course,he’s right. You cannot achieve aperfect recording of the original pieceany more than a photograph of a VanGough can be an exact simulacra ofthe original painting. But thisshouldn’t necessarily be cause forconcern.

Sat there, listening to Miles Davis, itstruck me. I wasn’t taken away by thisperformance because I could imaginethat he was there in the room. No. Iwas transported by the music, by thisrecording. The beauty lay in theperformance itself. Russ’s systemconveys the recording in such a waythat all comparisons to otherperformances of the piece – whetherin the studio or the concert hall –seem irrelevant. Thiswas theperformance. And it was wonderful.

Perhaps I can clarify this by going backto the analogy with painting. It’s likethe difference between a reproductionprint of a painting and an etching. Weneed to think of the music we listen toon our Hi-Fi like the latter. An etchingis the work or art. It’s not acompromised reproduction of anoriginal. The etching was intendedright from the start to be the work ofart. In the same way, a musicalrecording is produced specifically tobe enjoyed in the home. Takingenjoyment from the experience itselfrather than being distracted bycomparisons with an unachievableideal of ‘the band in the room’ helps tofocus the listener on the inherentmusicality – or not – of the recordedpiece. And that is no compromise.

True Blue?

The irony was that in‘forgetting to listen’ I haddiscovered what I should

really have been listening forall along: musicality.

■

[email protected]

Reviews

Issue 25 Summer 2013CONNECTED MAGAZINE 21

ReviewsKeep up to date with new reviews in our news section at www.russandrews.com/news

KIMBER 8TC speaker cableVerdict:

Price: 2.5m terminated pr £373Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Kimber 8TC speaker cable

The April 2013 edition of Hi-Fi World carriedreviews of a number of our cables, including8TC speaker cable.

After a detailed description, the reviewcontinues by stating that “the 8TC presenteda well-structured sound stage witheverything in its place”. Instrument placementwas coherent and “there was never a sense ofmuddle or insecurity in terms of the stereoimage”. The strong bass presence was alsoseen to provide a firm foundation for “vocalsand the rhythmic support”.

In conclusion, the reviewer states that thecable is “strong in the lower frequency areas”whilst “the upper frequencies are sharpened,with added emphasis to detail, spotlightinghidden areas of the mix”.

Second on the list of reviewed cables from Hi-FiWorld is 4PR, the start of the Kimber range. Thecable was tested in a high end system using anAvid Acutus turntable as the source, yet this budgetcable still managed to perform well.

Listening to a couple of Jazz albums first, “theoften-intrusive vocal reverb was handled wellwhile backing instruments, including JohnDankworth’s sax accompaniment, was integratedwithin the soundstage”.

Distortion too was appreciably low and, movingonto a Prog Rock album, he notes how “themeticulous production on this album encouragedthe Kimber to new heights”.

The review concludes with the overall observationthat “the Kimber 4PR offered a warmingpresentation that removed a large swathe ofdistortion to reveal new detail”. Not bad for abudget cable on a high-end system!

Kimber 4PR speaker cable

KIMBER 4PR speaker cableVerdict:

Price: 2.5m cut & stripped pr £67Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Reviews

Reference PowerKord™

Verdict:

Price: 1m from £196Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

22 CONNECTED MAGAZINEIssue 25 Summer 2013

Kimber USB cable

Connected to the reviewer’s reference CD player, aDensen B-475, the Reference certainly impresses: “the PowerKord™ showed a remarkable ability to grab hold of potentially wayward frequencies and bring them, largely, into line”.

An impressive start. And the plaudits continue as thereviewer plays a CD of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Only the Lonely’.“The vocal delivery was intimate and rich in tone” hewrites, and “the PowerKord™ was able to focus onSinatra’s ability to expose his emotions, interpretingthe lyric with almost heart-rending clarity”.

We say of our PowerKords™ that they have ‘MusicalityBuilt In’ and this is certainly recognised here, when, inconclusion, he says that the Reference PowerKord“plugs into the soul of the performance, presenting itto you on a silver platter”.

Another introductory product, this time in the mains cable category, the PowerMax Plus™impresses even on the author’s high-end kit: “playing the Ennio Morricone track, ‘La Bambola’...the PowerMax Plus was successful in diving into thetrack to drag out the finer elements of the mix”.When moving on to the Sinatra track ‘Only the Lonely’,he observes that the PowerMax Plus™ “shone a lighton the texture of the vocal that emphasised themaestro’s deep, grain-filled and many layereddelivery that was a lesson in interpretation”.As for the overall verdict, Paul Rigby was happy toconclude that the cable “provides an ideal pick-me-up” and “makes a real effort to carefully examinethe mix in all its facets”.

Next up on the review list was Kimber’s copper USBcable. The first test track used was a pared back vocaland piano piece, ideal for testing the clarity and accuracy of the cable. In comparison to a standard USB connection, “the Kimber offered an immediate injection of clarity into thepiano introduction that was quickly followed by alowering of distortion around the vocal performance”.Moving onto the more complex ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’by ‘Yarborough & People’, he noticed that, “whereas thebasic USB filled the space with extraneous noise, theKimber provided far more focus and attention todetail”. In addition to the lowering of the noise floor,which brought more clarity to the proceedings, thereviewer also noted that “additional filigree elementsnow moved into view” and “bass was also tighterand more musical”.In summing up, his overall assessment is quiteemphatic: “A no brainer of an upgrade from yourbasic USB, the Kimber USB adds focus and clarity”.

PowerMax Plus™

Verdict:

Price: 1m £51.95Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Reference PowerKord™

PowerMax Plus™

Kimber USB cableVerdict:

Price: 0.5m £43Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Reviews

23Issue 25 Summer 2013

CONNECTED MAGAZINE

Mobile Fidelity Geo DiscVerdict: Recommended

Price: £44.95Magazine: Hi-Fi ChoiceIssue: April 2013April’13

The Mobile Fidelity Sound-Lab Geo-Disccartridge alignment tool is a reasonably recentaddition to our range. Being of a plasticmoulded construction makes it easy to locateand position the tonearm accurately by theuse of raised markings. Achieving a highlycreditable 4.5 stars, the reviewer says of theGeo-Disc that it is “accurate and extremelyeasy to use”, and continues; “This is areasonably priced gauge that does a greatjob with the minimum of fuss”.

The final review for this issue comes from Hi-Fi World again and is for one of our longest established products. The first surprise for the reviewer – though not for us – was theextent to which the platform improved the bass: “The Torlyte unit surprised me with a considerably more substantial bass sound than I had expected from aplatform that, according to my kitchen scales, weighs in at a mere 750g”.

For the first round of testing the platform was placed on a wall shelf and the effectwas immediate and impressive; “it had a very beneficial effect upon the sound”, hesaid, continuing by noticing that he “had a greater awareness of details in the midand higher bandwidths, almost as though a little sparkle had been added”.

Next, it was placed under the reviewer’s CD player on his equipment rack where he found that the effect was to create a “smoother” and “more comprehensive” presentation of the music, leadinghim to say that it is an effective way of “wringing moredetail and shape from the sound”.

Overall, an impressive experience rounded off by theemphatic statement: “I can thoroughly recommend this very effective product”.

The last of the reviews from the Hi-Fi World feature covers the second Kimber USB cable, the USB-Ag. Using the same two tracks as for the review of the standard Kimber USB cable, the most significant improvements show themselves in the form of improved musicality. Speaking of the first track by Gerald Finzi, he writes: “The melancholy aspect of this classical pieceinfused my ear to a great degree. The piano sounded portentous while a lament to loss was heard to cascade around the vocal, acting as asupportive series of sensations. Despite the piano accompaniment, the vocal sounded singular, delicate and expressive”.

Moving on to the Yarborough & Company track, the results were equally asimpressive. The first “track was introduced by a searing synth introductionthat, via the USB-Ag, was almost textural in its presentation, such was theextra detail that was produced”.

In conclusion, he emphasises the highly competent natureof the cable across all genres of music: “Tackling classical and up-tempo recordings equally well, theKimber USB-Ag provides high performance results over all frequencies”.

Kimber USB-Ag cable

Mobile Fidelity Geo-Disc

Torlyte® Platform

Kimber USB-Ag cableVerdict:

Price: 0.5m £86Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Torlyte® PlatformPrice: £184Magazine: Hi-Fi WorldIssue: April 2013

Want to share your experiences with our readers? Or simply wantadvice? Write to us! We’ll publish the best, funniest and mostinteresting in each issue of Connected. The writer of this issue’s Star Letter receives a Silencer, worth £52.00

Get in touch at: [email protected] or write to us at: Connected, Russ Andrews Accessories 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business ParkKendal, Cumbria, LA9 6NS, UK.

Silencer mains filter,worth £52.00

Your Letters

Ripping CDs – a journey

I thought I wouldshare with you my recentjourney in converting from aCD based to FLAC based musiccollection. It has taken me threeyears in total and others might beinterested in the pitfalls I foundalong the way.

My first big decision was how todigitise my music. Previously I hadcopied most of my CDs onto iTunesbut at a relatively low bitrate. Thissaved space and meant I could fit alot on my iPod but did leave mefeeling there was somethingmissing in the music. So I decidedto abandon that approach and startfrom scratch. I did not want to betied into any one brand so thesolution had to be as generic aspossible. There seems to be a widevariety of solutions available but Idecided to remove the PC from theequation entirely and go with astreamer and separate NAS on myhome network. Having sourced theYamaha NP-S2000 and a WesternDigital 2Tb hard drive (with fullRAID backup) I linked it up via Cat6cable and was ready to go! I havealso assembled a mobile music setup including your excellent Minilinkcable between my players andportable amplifiers.

The next decision was how to ripthe CDs. I determined on FLAC inthe end because various advice

suggested that there was nodifference in sound quality andthat metadata capture was easierwith FLAC. With over 1,200 CDs torip I did not want to spend all thetime writing in thedetails and cannot havethousands of blanktracks to sort through. Ialso decided to cleanthe CD before rippingand so bought theUltrasonic CD cleanerfrom you and a numberof ReVeel boxes. This, Ifigured, would presentthe CDs in the best possible lightbefore taking the information offand onto the hard drive. Idownloaded dBpoweramp to dothe ripping itself.

I started ripping the CDsabout two years agonow and have justfinished the last one! Iquickly found thatcleaning and ripping inbatches of 10 CDs wasthe best and mostmanageable approach. I also quickly found that an externalCD reader was a better option thanthe internal one in the laptop I use.The internal reader would oftenprocess a CD unbearably slowly andI never found the cause of this butthe external drive was far morereliable. I would clean the CD usingReVeel, wash in the Ultrasoniccleaner, dry using microfibre clothsand then immediately rip.

My music tastes vary and Iconcentrated on the more populartypes of music first as I found theonline databases did not alwaysrecognise the more obscure music

in my collection. This meant Ihad to add the metadatamyself and this is a timeconsuming task. By addingthe popular music I wasmost familiar with first I wasable to determine whetherthe rips seemed accurateto my ears. The Yamahastreamer has a different

sonic signature to my Marantz CDplayer which I needed to becomeaccustomed to but it did not takelong for me to be content that theprocess was giving me at least as

good a copy of the musicon the hard drive as it wason the CD player. As I say ithas taken nearly two yearsof ripping on and off tocomplete the 1,300 CDsmy collection has grownto over the period. Inaddition to storing thefiles on my NAS I have

also copied the files to MicroSDcards and hard drive portableplayers so I now have my completecollection at my fingertips on thetrain, in work or wherever else I findmyself. Something I could only havedreamed about in the past.

To anyone about to embark on asimilar journey I would recommendthe following to be decided on up


ReVeel® CD enhancer wipes.£14.50 for box of 20.

Ultrasonic Cleaner £57


front:1. How are you going to access thefiles in future? What upgrade pathdo you want to leave yourself? Areyou prepared to be tied to onebrand or do you want to be able topick and mix in future?

2. Will you be using the music just athome or on the move? This mayhelp determine the way youdigitise.

3. How important is it to havecomplete metadata? Do you need afull set of information or are moregeneric track names sufficient? Ifyou have some more obscure musicyou will want to set aside sometime to input this yourself as theonline databases may not havethem. Album art may also bemissing and be prepared to searchonline for images should you needto. There is nothing easier to searchby than album art as it is what weare all used to with CD and vinylcollections.

4. Once you have decided on thelevel of metadata then use a set ofstandard naming conventions forcertain fields. This will help you findyour music again once it is stored.For example some CDs will come upwith the full band name (OrchestralManoeuvres in the Dark as anexample) whilst others may showan abbreviation (OMD or O.M.D.). Inorder to store all the music togetheryou may want to standardise onone approach so that you are notforever swapping between two ormore folders to find a particularalbum. This sounds obvious but youonly have to rename a couple ofCDs to realise it is time consumingto fix after the event.

5. Apply this standardisation totracks as well. Albums that aremulti-CD will automatically rip asTrack 1 on both CDs so if you store

in one folder you will have twoTrack 1s which your player may playin number order. You may want tostart the second and later CDs asconsecutive track numbers so thatthe album plays in order.6. Make sure you update files inorder on the CD if you want topreserve the playing order. Someportable players will list tracks indate and time order and this can beannoying when you expect onetrack to play and another starts.There are free softwareprogrammes online that can helpyou order tracks should theybecome confused. Each disk willalso have a Disk 1 or Disk 2 after thename and you may want to holdthe tracks together in one place soneed to remove this suffix.

7. Various albums are a nightmare! Iuse Twonky as my file manager andit does not order Artists intocompilations. The track Artist islisted (fine for playing one offtracks) but despite using aconvention of “Various” for theAlbum Artist field in the metadata Icannot get the listings to recogniseit. Therefore artists on thecompilation albums appear all overthe place in the file folders. Thisdoes my OCD no good at all and Ican only hope there is a solution tothis in future versionsof the software.

8. Remember thatripping SACDs seemsto be impossible atthe moment. You canrip the CD layer of aHybrid disk but I havenot found a way ofripping the SACDlayer. Perhaps I will beable to replicatethese files with highres downloads intime.

9. Finally, don’t underestimate thetime taken to rip a collection andthe benefits of having goodhousekeeping up front. A largemusic collection can be difficult tonavigate online, and is certainly notas enjoyable as flicking through ahard copy CD or vinyl collection. Abit of thought in advance can savehours of rework!

I am now reverting to maintenancemode and will rip as I collect. I canrecommend the use of ReVeelheartily and the Ultrasonic cleaneris perfect for the task. As a result ofboth I am entirely happy with mydigitised collection and lookforward to putting more and moreof my CDs away in the loftpermanently.P Counter, Kent

Thank you for the feedback of yourexperiences in ripping your musiccollection. It’s extremely worthwhilecleaning your CDs before you ripthem – we find the rip is faster thecleaner the disc is.

Of course the whole process is fasterwith our CD ripping service – the priceis 60p per disc ripped (the subsequentfiles are supplied with metadata andartwork) and saves an awful lot oftime and trouble! JA

Letters

Our CD ripping service


Experiencing the MainsZapperatorI have taken delivery of a MainsZapperator and Jumbo Feet. Bothhave been added to my system andauditioned with well-loved andwell-known CDs with marvellousresults. I fully agree with your NewZealand client whose letter praisingthe Mains Zapperator you quote inyour catalogues. Like him, I haveonly to unplug the MainsZapperator to hear what I wasmissing without it. The Arcam CD37player has a wide and deepsoundstage anyway, but now it’sdeeper and wider plus there’s morepresence and clarity. Next on theshopping list will be another MainsZapperator.

I attach here details of my belovedsystem, and you will see that RussAndrews is well represented.Good wishes to you all - you are agreat crowd of enthusiasts, and youdeserve all the plaudits. Hopefullythere are never brickbats!

System:Thorens TD520 Professional recorddeck & Shure VST 5 moving magnetcartridgeArcam FMJ CD37 SACD/CD playerQuad 99 pre amplifierQuad 909 amplifierProAc Response 2.5 speakers

Russ Andrews products in use:-16db inline attenuatorsFour Classic PowerKordsFour-way Silencer BlockJumbo, large and mini cone feetClarity Mains filter Mini PurifierMains Zapperator

F Moran, Co. Wicklow, Eire

Grasping Musicality?I emailed you in response to yourarticle about Musicality in issue 23of Connected, when I thought Ipartly understood what you meantby the term. But after reading yourfollow-up article in Connected 24 I’mincreasingly doubtful.

Like distortion and the other hi fiterms you mentioned, “visceral” isalso a term which is nowfashionable in hi fi and musiccircles, but what it conveys to me isimages of crudity and instinct ratherthan anything to do with artistryand refinement. It’s true that“emotion” is one aspect of theenjoyment of music, but othersinclude the skills and artistry of thecomposer and of the performers.

I think you’re wrong in what you sayabout the example of the King’sspeech from Henry V. An unskilledreading compared with one by agreat actor is like an amateur musicperformer compared with a greatprofessional. If your ideas about“musicality” are correct we shouldperceive a positive difference whenlistening to Branagh of Olivier on asystem with “musicality” comparedwith one without.

It was a good idea to list somerecordings which help to show“musicality” but I don’t possess anyof them as they are not the kind ofmusic I listen to. This leads me tothink that “musicality” is a conceptonly applicable to pop and othermusic whose characteristics areprincipally “emotional” and in whichcompositional and interpretativeskills don’t count for much.

I have no doubt that many of theproducts you sell have improved my enjoyment of my hi fi system in the ways I described in my previous message, but I shallprobably conclude that if the term “musicality” is difficult to grasp that’s because it doesn’tmean much.

T Williams, Hants

See Russ’s response on page 4.

Letters

Mr Moran’s system


Editor: John [email protected]

Design: Sarah [email protected]

Advertising: Simon Dalton 01539 [email protected]

Sales: Peter [email protected]

Connected

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Terms and Conditions1. The closing day for entries is 29th July 2013; 2. The rules of entry are given in the text of the competition; 3. No purchasenecessary to enter; 4. The winner will picked by us and will be notified by email and/or post by 15th August 2013; 5. There is oneprize of one 0.5m pair of Kimber Timbre interconnects; 6. The prize is not transferable, cannot be exchanged for cash nor will acash alternative be offered; 7. Our decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into; 8. We reserve the right to featurephotographs and the names and counties of all entrants in future publications and publicity; 9. This promotion is not open to employees of Russ Andrews Accessories or their families, or anyone connected with the promotion; 10. The promoter is Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal, LA9 6NS, UK.

Competition WINThis is the 25th edition of Connectedand over the past seven years ofpublication we have developed anenthusiastic and loyal following. Itpleases us no end to get feedbackfrom readers telling us how muchthey enjoy the magazine but we arealso interested to hear criticism too.Connected is for you, our customers,and we’d like to hear what youthink.

So if you’ve any ideas for newregular features or an article, we’dlike to hear from you. Likewise, ifthere’s something you think wecould improve on or that the magazine is missing; let us know.All entries will be gratefully received and we will pick our favourite from allthe entries. The winner will receive a free 0.5m pair of Kimber Timbreanalogue interconnects worth over £100.

Send your entries to...

‘Views’ competitionRuss Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland CourtWestmorland Business Park, Shap Rd, Kendal, LA9 6NS.

Or email your entry to: [email protected] with the title ‘Views’

The last date for entries is Monday 29th July 2013.

The Timbre™ is the second inthe range of Kimber’sanalogue interconnects but itsoutstanding performancebelies the price. Hi-Fi Choicesaid of the Kimber Timbre™“this is one of the bestinterconnects we know of”and that it was “excellent inevery way”. High praise indeedand well justified we think!

The Timbre™ interconnect hasthree Hyper-pure copperconductors, Teflon™ insulationand custom Ultraplate™phono plugs which combineto produce a sound which weheard as being far morenatural and spacious withextra rhythm and musicality.

A 0.5m pair of KimberTimbre interconnectsworth £103

Our last competition asked you to tell us which specific type ofinterference the Mains Zapperator is designed to combat. Out of over 500entries, the winner, picked out at random from the correct entries, wasSusan Mackenzie of Edinburgh, who correctly answered ‘Wi-fi networks’.

Mail Order Direct • 60 Day Cable Home Trial • Cable Upgrade Scheme • Free Delivery (orders over £100 within UK Mainland)

Buy online at www.russandrews.comCall UK Orderline 01539 797300 Int Tel +44 (0)1539 797300

Exclusive UK distributor

Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd, 2b Moreland Court,

Westmorland Business Park, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.

Features

• VariStrand power conductors

• Solid core signal conductors

• Braided geometry

• Dual layer frequency optimised shielding

Kimber KS2400 series

The new Kimber KS-2400 range of USB cables isdesigned and built with one aim in mind: to extract thevery best from your high-end USB DAC. To this endthey have broken the mould for mass-producedmachine built cables – every cable is individuallyhandcrafted by Kimber’s own engineers using only thebest materials. The result of these efforts is a range ofcables which sets new standards for digital audioreproduction, giving an analogue-like insight into themusic that you would not have thought possible froma digital source.

KS-2416-Cu Code: 2416

0.5m £371.000.75m £398.001.0m £425.001.5m £479.002.0m £533.003.0m £641.00

KS-2426-HB Code: 2426

0.5m £499.000.75m £590.001.0m £681.00

KS-2436-AgCode: 2436

0.5m £686.000.75m £847.001.0m £1008.00

Return address: R

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2b Moreland Court, Westmorland Business Park,

Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NS, UK.

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