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| Letters -- August 2003 Ouch! revisited August 29, 2003 To Ross Mantle, It is not so much that I disagree with the essence of my vitriolic suggestions and condemnations [below]. However, I am a person who wants to love more than hate, so the tone of my e-mail to you was unacceptable, and you were more than appropriate in pointing out my lack of charm. I kindly apologize for my disposition and ask you to not hold against me the unkind deed I lavished upon you. We hobbyists and professionals should seek understanding and mutual benefit rather than burn bridges. Please keep on keeping on and bringing suggestions and insights to others. Sincerely, Keith Cable upgrade August 8, 2003 To Mike Silverton, I have recently upgraded my system to what I am sure most audiophiles would call entry-level hi-fi: Rotel 951 CD player, Bryston 2B-LP amp, Audio Research SP-7 preamp, and PSB stratus bronze speakers. I am looking to upgrade my interconnects (speaker cables next year), and I am overwhelmed by the variety and similar claims by so many manufacturers. I am looking at the RS Audio Solid Silver interconnects, Music Timbre interconnects, Audio Thrills "Force" active interconnects, and some custom-made cables as well. Your review of the RS Solid Silvers has definitely sparked my interest. Some of the other manufacturers have claimed that silver is too "airy" or "harsh" and that it causes fatigue if listening for long periods of time. I am ready to pull the trigger on new interconnects, but I don't know what to shoot for. Any thoughts you wish to share would be greatly appreciated. Dave Strachan With respect to silver interconnects and speaker cables, I found RS's Silver cables in no way harsh. Quite the contrary. And I cannot imagine the term airy as other than laudatory. Airiness suggests to me superior transparency and resolution -- that which makes a good recording on a good sound system the wonderful thing it is. (It helps, of course, if the music's engaging. What I prefer to listen to sends others from the room. But they do say, en route, "Terrific system, bub.") I've not lived with the other cables you mention and so cannot comment. I did mention in my review that you can return RS cables if they don't satisfy. Remember to give them a sufficient break-in before coming to a conclusion, however. Most cables need to mature in use. There are exceptions. For example, RS's Palladium interconnects (my review is due to appear mid-month) require next to no break-in. These are truly remarkable wires AND expensive. But you don't need to sell a kidney. RS's Silver made my system shine. In the nicest way, I mean....Mike Silverton Song Audio SA-34 SB August 7, 2003 To Ross Mantle, I have just read your review of Song Audio SA-34 SB integrated amplifier. I couldn't agree more with what you wrote. I have owned this amp for one month, and I agree that this is one of the most enjoyable amps I have heard. What I find so remarkable is the lifelike presentation of the music. It all sounds so very real. For speakers I am using the Loth-X Ambience, and they too sound impressive. Mr. Song Kim should be congratulated for putting such a fine product together. Fred Cristofori Ouch! August 6, 2003 Editor, [Regarding this month's editorial, "The Benefits of Break-In"], $1100 for an oscillator? Come on, what kind of crap is this? Maybe if you had offered suggestions on how people with a conscience ("half-assed" as you put it) or limited means might reap the performance of such, then OK. But wearing a smoking jacket, smoking a pipe, and talking about cooking your cables? Grow up, man. Oh yeah, get a life and find a new job because you're causing my hobby to look like a bunch of ass wipes. And how does this contribute to anything? I've looked over your site and found it to be lacking much in content and imagination and not up to the same par as the rest of the SoundStage! Network. "For their preferred customers," is about as lame as I've ever heard. Good Lord, please make the audio snobs go away. They do nothing and think they're great because they buy $40,000-a-pair speakers and monoblock tube amps that sound bad, and people treat them nicely because of the of all the money they spend. Keith The first thing about which you are wrong is that in my picture I am wearing a winter coat, not a smoking jacket. The second is that the Nordost cable cooker is not crap; it is a way to significantly enhance the performance of your system. The third is that I have, in fact, suggested a means by which you can get this enhancement without buying a cooker, which I will be happy to spell out for you: Borrow or rent one from a dealer. Alternatively, you could ask your dealer, on whom I'm sure you have already begun to work your considerable charm, to cook your cables for you. Finally, in the all-too-likely event that you find it necessary for your future letter-writing efforts, I should also tell you that "asswipe" is one word. Good luck....Ross Mantle KR and autoformer follow-up August 4, 2003 To Ross Mantle, Thanks for the info on your KR amp. I am impressed by your dedication, and I certainly understand your affection for KR sound. I've heard nothing to indicate that reliability is a general problem with KR amps. It may be due to the small sample of people I've heard from. But I've spoken to the East Coast repair facility (Vincent Reh in Vermont) and he's yet to see one in his shop. I also wanted to toss in my two bits on another topic you've addressed -- autoformer vs. transformer passive attenuation. I own a DIY autoformer passive, with autoformers built by Dave Slagle and assembled by Larry Moore, two champs of the DIY audio underground. (Slagle has made the autoformer a personal quest -- what I own is something like his 30th iteration of the design.) Prior to buying the Slagle/Moore unit, I auditioned (about a year ago) a model known as the Big Dog, by Carlos Lozano and Norman Riley. I don't know if they're still in business. The unit was designed around a custom S&B or Sowter trannie. It was excellent, but ultimately I preferred the autoformer. Generally it had a cleaner, more open and extended sound. I am not very well versed technically, so I can't really address the points you made favoring the transformer approach. From conversations with Larry Moore, I recall that he feels the transformer can bandwidth-limit the signal. Also, if there are noise and hum problems being cleaned up by the transformer, this might be viewed as a "band aid" solution to things that are better addressed at the source. I also recall (apologies to Dave and Larry if I am mis-stating) that if there is no capacitor at the output to prevent passage of DC from the source, then you need a transformer. Regarding your point about the amp drawing current from the source with an autoformer, my ignorant hunch is that this is greatly mitigated by proper component matching, the all-purpose mantra of the high end, especially with passive preamps. The Kronzilla, for example, has an input impedance of 100k ohms and the input sensitivity is about 1V. With typical line-level (solid-state) sources of < 50-ohm output impedance and 2-4V output, the match should work wonderfully. And, to my ears, it does. David Zigas
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