The Golden Ear

Newsletter of the Chicago Audio Society September 2000

Sunday, August 20th - 11:00am to 4:00pm

Held at our regular meeting location, this will be our third such event, expanded to include vintage audio gear, as well as a full range of records, CDs, equipment, tubes, etc. We suggest arriving early for best selection. At present we have several tables rented and several more reserved. See the attached sheet for more information.

Standing room only! Ron Welborne of and Gordon Maughan visited from Colorado to put on a fine demonstration of their gear. The system consisted of:

Welborne Labs electronics:

Reveille Line Stage Preamp

Custom Crossover in Reveille Chassis for the Oris Horns @ 180Hz, second order

Moondog Amplifiers (2A3) running the Oris Horns

Laurel II Amplifiers running the prototype Bass Section

Power Filtering: Gatekeeper II and III with Soft Start Circuitry

Speakers:

Oris Horns, with Lowther PM4A drivers for Midrange + Treble (106dB @ 1W/1m sensitivity)

Prototype bass cabinet, with a pair of Cabasse 8" drivers (97dB sensitivity)

Interconnects: Custom built by Gordon Maughan

Speaker Cables: Kimber 8TC

Power Cables: Cardas Cross

Our Linn LP-12, Ittok arm and Asak MC cartridge

Vendetta Research Phono Stage

Stan Warren tweaked Aiwa CD Changer and MSB Link DAC.

Photo of the group taken after the crowd thinned out around break time. Groovin' to some vinyl! This and other photos are posted on our website. (photo credits: Alan Hendler)

October 15th - TBA.

To the dismay of audiophiles, the assets of Wadia Digital are scheduled to be auctioned off soon, according to the August 19 Minneapolis Star-Tribune . Whether that spells the end of the company, we don't know. We understand Hales (the speaker manufacturer) has an investment in Wadia, and there may be other possibilities for financial survival.

I'd like to talk about two recordings, one of which is a release from early 1999, the other a brand new release. The older recording is the Mahler Symphony No. 2, Andrew Litton conducting the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano and Petra Lang, mezzo-soprano.

(Delos DE 3237) If you are interested in exploring the larger than life works of Mahler this disk is the perfect place to begin. This symphony is often referred to as the 'Resurrection' and deals with the rising of the dead on the day of the Last Judgment. Never one to back off from a difficult subject, Mahler needed five movements covering nearly 80 odd minutes with an augmented orchestra, chorus and soloist in order to explore the meaning of life and death. This is a late romantic symphony and it is given an appropriate performance (i.e. large) with great sound to boot. Meyerson Symphony Center is proving to be a very good recording venue that allows this recording to sound natural, but don't read that to mean dull.

When required (which in this case is often ) the sound is huge and will test any system that tries to play this disk at realistic volume levels. Add to this that the disk is priced as two for one with an excellent performance and this becomes an easy recommendation. As a side note, rumors have that Delos may be in financial trouble so any support would help keep a small independent American label afloat.

The other new release is on Naxos (8.559034) and is part of the American Classics Series and contains the first three Symphonies of Paul Creston performed by The National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine.

Each of the symphonies average about 23 minutes in length and contain beautiful melodies and strong percussive writings that makes one wonder why this music has been so neglected. As in other recent releases from Naxos, the sound is excellent. This disk is one of the best in the American Classic Series.

President Vice President Treasurer Secretary

Brian Walsh Rich Sacks Dennis Anderson Bill Sweet

(847) 382-8433 (847) 843-2554 (630) 830-9142 (847) 593-7790