by EDWARD TATNALL CANBY
NEEDLE TALK
Installment VI-new title: "My Lifetime in Audio & Music." On second thought, maybe the original title was better: "How I Fell into Audio." Either way, you'll find Chapter V in the May 1983 issue.
I left off on a curious note--the wooden phono stylus. Yes, it existed, and for many years. This was the stylus or needle that, in the mid '30s, was required by my university's music department for all who borrowed our 78 rpm records. They came in two types.
One was naturally grown (and naturally variable), a sharp cactus thorn. The other was a triangular cut shaft of, I think, bamboo, sliced neatly off at the diagonal by a special hand tool. The apex of the resulting triangle at the end was a sharp point--for a few minutes, until it wore down. Then you sliced it off anew and again had a sharp point for several minutes. Excellent, we thought.
Some fancier phonographs had a triangular shank expressly designed for these wooden styli, though the ordinary round needles would also fit.
I should explain for the young and unknowing that all styli were then called needles and were invariably removable. The norm was the old steel needle, out of acoustic days, also used in electric (electronic) phonographs. In the earlier acoustic machines, they came in a number of thicknesses ("loud needles" and "soft needles") for varying volume levels. These were fastened into the shank with a set screw on one side; you were supposed to use a new steel needle for each and every play (maximum four-plus minutes) but nobody ever did.
Instead, as I can testify from abundant personal observation (not to say action), we retrieved used needles from cracks and crannies on our machines if we could pry them out; or failing that, we took them from those handy little round metal boxes with the hole on top that were built into many phonographs to take used needles.
Just lift off the cap and there they were, waiting for further service. Stylus discipline, as you can see, was lax. One could call it almost fatalistic. The only time anybody I ever knew put a brand new needle to work was when it was absolutely impossible to find an older one. Since steel needles had been marketed for a long time, this seldom happened. Throw away a dangerous point like that! Better to keep it where it belonged, out of harm's way, and so we did.
The sound of a used needle? Well, fuzzy. Going on to worse. Especially at the beginning of a side and again at the vulnerable inner grooves. It was a sound not unlike the recent squalling of the "transistor" when pushed beyond capacity--the little ones, I mean.
Unpleasant, but you got used to it. In time, that distortion was transferred to the record itself and so made semi-permanent, but by then you couldn't distinguish between the bad needle and the bad record, so why bother? More fatalism, or should I call it laziness? It was indeed a distorted sonic world much of the time. But never forget it was functional and useful. We could hear the music, even if it was too much trouble to change needles.
Yes, we were lazy, if imaginative. Aren't we still? Did I hear somebody mumbling about video remote-control units at $$$? Now it's video laziness.
For many sophisticated souls in the 1930s, the muffled sound of a wooden stylus point was preferable :o the metallic screech of the normal steel point, and they were probably right. The gourmets of the phonograph used them assiduously and boasted about it. As for us at my university, the wooden stylus meant first of all safety--no-scratch, no-gouge. That's why we, and other early record-lending libraries, required their use.
Should I make a further aside to explain the needle point? Guess I'd better. There are many ways to cope with human failings, and the phono people had long since worked out an ingenious means to insure an optimum (relatively) needle point under these circumstances. Just provide a reasonably sharp end to your needle-no special radius configuration and all that jazz--and grind it down to size in the actual playing. Brilliant idea! All shellac discs, therefore, included an abrasive in the basic formulation which allowed the groove to shape the stylus unto itself, more or less. Do not be surprised, then, if your ancient shellac collectibles seem terribly worn for the first half-inch or so of play. That was the mechanical adjustment area, where groove and stylus came to mutual terms. Often, it was a battle.
Each time you put a used needle back in service that job had to be done again, with a vengeance, for it was impossible to align the usual needle in its socket; it just went in any old which way, including sidewise like a miniature bulldozer. Moreover, the grinding process worked well only so long as the cross-section of the needle tip was no wider than the groove itself. By the time a used needle had been in and out of service, on a number of occasions its point had widened with wear and there was shouldering; the needle leaned on the groove walls to each side and began to add addled echoes of preceding and approaching music to the general mishmash. Dreadful thought but only the sober truth.
I do not frankly think we do any better today, if in other areas. Have you listened lately to your neighbor's well-worn hi-fi system, bargain-style from some department store outlet? Does he even notice the hideous (to you) sound? Do not feel superior when I recount these misdeeds of the past! When I left the Great University and its record collection and moved to New York, I took up my second music appreciation job, not at a university for males but the very opposite, an exfinishing school for young ladies that had nominally become a two-year college. They wanted a music course suitably tempered to the "frivolous" female mind, upper-crust type. A touch of Culture but, please, nothing abstruse or too difficult. These ladies had more important things to think about, like clothes, money, marriage to the Right Boy.... Now I can smile indulgently, but in those days I was all set for battle and, by golly, it was going to be all-out.
Via audio, too.
This was where by some miracle I ran straight into my second Carnegie Collection, with another of those monster state-of-the-art record players. It was like a gift of planes and tanks to a struggling third-world country-me. I was armed to the teeth with music. I fought the good fight there for four whole years and, I hate to have to say, I made more progress among those lovely young socialites, percentage wise, than I have in 30 years of battling for music in the much larger world of audio buffs. (Dare you to print that, Editor!)
Which is to say, in different words, that I enjoyed it, every bit, both the music and the students, frivolous or no.
One of them, for instance, was the president's sister, a wonderfully charming Irish colleen type, even if the musical portion of her brain was the size of the proverbial pea. We despaired of ever getting her through with a passing grade, but the other girls pitched in and helped and so she made it. She had to play the monster, the big Carnegie Phonograph! All of them did, records, needles and all.
Which gets me back to those needles. At the University, earlier, we had no students playing our equipment. I ran the Carnegie machine, I was its boss, and I did change the needle, every single play, like a dedicated monk. I also lowered the heavy pickup carefully. It never squawked or scraped. Indeed I was just too perfect for words. But in New York the girls had direct access to everything and, indeed, played all their musical homework on the Carnegie machine, lacking for the most part any portables in their bedrooms. It was housed in the school library and therefore could never be played loud--the librarian saw to that.
But that was all she did. She signed out the records and they did the rest.
Mayhem! No use trying to enforce a wooden needle rule. Those girls didn't know a cactus needle from a diamond brooch, and, they would use either one if it made any noise at all. In case of need there were always safety pins, etc.
When I saw what was happening -- those sweet, innocent girls, the agents of sheer destruction!--I knew something had to be done fast. But what? We started in with steel needles and fed them directly to the girls, for free, handfuls of them. No avail! How could they tell the new ones from the old? They didn't bother. In no time at all we had piles of scimitar-like steel shards in active use on our records-sometimes there were actually broken-off points, visibly so, though how they managed that I never could tell. Like everybody, they blamed the machine.
Or the record. "Mr. Canby, that Hayden record you told us to play (i.e., Franz Josef Haydn) doesn't make any noise when I play it. And the needle sort of slides around. Do we have to know that one for the test?" Then I had a bright idea, state-of-the-art. At that time, with war still holding off here, though it was at its worst in Europe, some bright-souled innovators were selling permanent needles. You guessed it: They had sapphire points and were ground to fit correctly, for an astronomical number of plays. Wow--was that for me, for us! Just put one of those in the machine and our problems would be solved. E pluribus unum! Out of the many, one. So I bought one. It cost a fortune, the school's money, equivalent perhaps to $50 or so today, maybe more. I installed it, tightening the set screw so that it could not be released short of a pair of pliers or a wrench, and gave my instructions to the librarian. No more steel needles! The girls are not to touch the needle assembly; just play the records. And tell them to be careful-that's a sapphire point they are using. It'll play forever. No need ever to change... . And so I went away, breathing sighs of relief. That problem solved, and so simply. True, true! Haven't we all converted to millions and millions of jewel points today, and long since? It was a brilliant forerunner, that experiment of mine, forecasting much that was to come, etc., etc., etc... . When I returned a few days later, one of the girls said, "Mr. Canby, the phonograph is making a funny sort of noise--though I did play all the records you assigned for the test." (Just in case I thought she hadn't.) I went for a quick look. Yes indeed, a funny noise. For days, the girls had been playing all their records with a jagged shank of metal that once held a sapphire. The jewel had lasted maybe a side or two before being knocked out.
Nobody even noticed.
Well, this story ends gracefully. A new Swiss-made needle appeared, low in cost, called the Recoton. It used steel, not sapphire. Such ingenuity! This needle had a very hard, very thin steel point, rather, a thin steel wire shaped at the end, which was imbedded in a fatter upper metal shaft that went into the usual phono pickup.
Sounds unlikely, but these needles played well and for much longer than the usual steel sort. With wear, they were thin enough to avoid most of the shouldering problem--no fat cone.
You could play dozens of sides with them. If you were careful.
But their real virtue you will not imagine. Very hard steel is brittle! Under stress, these needles broke right off, cleanly, at their wasp waist. So neatly, so deliberately calculated, that what was left, the thick upper part, would not play at all but just skittered harmlessly over the surface. You had to put in a new needle. Moreover, if you dropped your heavy pickup, the point also broke, leaving just a small nick instead of a deep gouge, and the same for sidewise scrapes. Devilishly clever, obviously intentional.
So we converted to Recotons, and our problem was really solved. We used zillions but no damaged points ever got back into service-they broke first. Purposely delicate. I loved the idea and blessed Recoton once a minute for four whole years thereafter.
(adapted from Audio magazine, Jan. 1984; EDWARD TATNALL CANBY)
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Vintage magazine ADs:
TANDBERG'S FINEST CASSETTE DECK... EVER!
The TCD 3014 is the most sophisticated cassette deck ever made ... although it presents a deceptively simplified exterior and is "user friendly." Yet, there are numerous unique features, such as an 8-bit microprocessor with a 32K EPROM memory accessed via the conventional transport buttons. An interesting design approach: offering more useful functions than any of the "bells, whistles & flashing lights" decks, yet operationally superior & aesthetically pleasing.
Even the electronics are unique for a cassette deck: very high spec discrete parts are used in all audio stages, rather than ICs, because Tandberg won't compromise accuracy in music reproduction for the sake of mass production. Combined with Tandberg's patented Dyneq & Actilinear II circuits, it insures that the TCD 3014 can handle today's ... and tomorrow's most demanding digital program material.
These and other design concepts are only a few of the many reasons why Tandberg engineers consider the TCD 3014 their f nest cassette recorder ... ever! Only an audition at your local Tandberg dealer can do justice to the TCD 3014. For h s name & literature, contact: Tandberg of America, Labriola Court, Armonk, NY 10504. (914) 273-9150
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UDAR The Perfectionist's Auto-Reverse!
Why sacrifice performance for convenience! If you've always wanted an auto-reverse deck but were too much a perfectionist to settle for questionable response, Nakamichi has the answer-UDAR-Unidirectional Auto Reverse-a revolutionary development in the true sense of the word! Ordinary auto-reverse decks change direction at the end of the side causing tape to track along a different path and produce "bidirectional azimuth error." Since azimuth differs on the two sides, frequency response differs too.
Compare this with UDAR. At the end of the side, UDAR disengages the cassette, flips it, reloads, and resumes operation in under 2 seconds! Tape plays in the same direction on Side A and on Side B so there's no "bidirectional azimuth error." UDAR automates the steps you perform on a conventional deck to give you auto-reverse convenience and unidirectional performance.
You'll find UDAR in the Nakamichi RX-202-a perfectionist's auto-reverse recorder with some surprising features at an even more surprising price! See it now at your Nakamichi dealer.
For more information, write Nakamichi U S A Corporation, 1101 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
Nakamichi
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Revox B261
The Swiss Watch of FM Tuners
Precise. Accurate. Functionally designed. Meticulously crafted.
We present for your examination the new B261 Microprocessor Controlled Digital Synthesizer FM Tuner, designed and built in Switzerland. The B261's performance surpasses even that of its esteemed predecessor, the highly acclaimed Revox B760. Distortion and noise specs are so low that the B261 challenges the limits of some test instruments. And the B261's extreme accuracy (tuning in 12.5 kHz Increments) assures perfect reception, even from imperfect cable systems.
The B261 also offers an abundance of new features, including: 20 station pre-sets Tri-mode LCD display for station call letters, frequency, and pre-set number Programmable reception modes (mono/stereo, high blend, muting) for each pre-set Dual programmable antenna inputs (option) Infrared remote control (transmitter optional). Yes, there are good tuners that cost less. Just as some good watches cost less than Swiss watches .We ask only that you compare carefully. Consider relative performance today...and value ten years from now.
The B261 reference standard tuner may be heard today at your Revox dealer.
1425 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville, TN 37210. (615) 254-5651
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Most of your present record library will never reappear as digital discs.
With the Signet TK10ML you probably won't care!
Until you hear the Signet TK10ML, you may not fully appreciate how superb today's analog recordings can be. And how little may be gained by going all-digital.
The single most significant advance in the Signet TK10ML is its unique new MicroLine stylus ... with the longest, narrowest "foot` print" ever achieved! Its scanning radius is a mere 2.5 microns, half that of the best ellipticals, while its vertical contact footprint is three times longer than the elliptical. The Signet MicroLine stylus tracks very high frequencies better-at lower groove pressure-than any other design.
Even with repeated playings, the MicroLine stylus maintains its shape, without "spreading" like all other tips.
So grooves sound new, long after other styli are threatening irreparable damage to your record collection.
Each Signet TK10ML MicroLine stylus is created from a whole, natural octahedral diamond, oriented for longest life, and with a square shank to precisely fit the laser cut hole in our unique, ultra-rigid low-mass VI boron cantilever. You get perfect alignment. Period.
But the proof of quality is in the playing. With the new Signet TK1OML, older records literally come back to life. New records transcend the limits of ordinary technology. Your entire system gets a new lease on life.
Visit your Signet dealer. Peek into his microscope to see this fantastic stylus.
Then get the real proof. Listen.
SIGNET, 4701 HUDSON DRIVE, STOW, Ohio, 44224. USA.
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Why Your First Compact Disc Player Should Be A Second Generation Mitsubishi.
No wow. No flutter. Dynamic range over 90dB. Plus complete freedom from dust, dirt, surface noise, rumble and speaker feedback. The truth is, the basic technology of the digital audio disc is so vastly superior to analog sound, that deciding on a player becomes very tricky indeed. That is, until you check the record.
YOU DON'T BECOME A DIGITAL AUDIO EXPERT OVERNIGHT.
Most companies now introducing digital audio players were just recently introduced to digital audio themselves.
Mitsubishi has been at the leading edge of digital audio research since the beginning.
Moreover, much of the second generation technology found in the Mitsubishi DP-103 compact disc player you see here is a direct result of that experience.
For example, the DP-103 employs a three beam optical pickup in place of the conventional single beam. These two insurance beams constantly correct for imperfections in the disc, ensuring stable, error-free tracking.
The retaining springs for the laser optics pickup, which are susceptible to vibration, have been replaced by Mitsubishi's exclusive linear-sliding cylinder-in effect eliminating a problem before you've had one.
These second-generation refinements also allow simplified servo circuitry which results in fewer parts, less to go wrong.
The play, fast forward, fast reverse, skip, and repeat functions are yours all at the touch of a button. With track number and elapsed time visually displayed. And when you've experienced the music that emerges in its full power and range, every nuance etched in magnificent relief, you'll know you've heard the future.
Like stereo componentry that preceded it, the compact disc player of the future will offer improved technology at a lower price.
Just like the Mitsubishi DP-103 does. Today.
MITSUBISHI. Even If You Can’t Have The Best Of Everything, You Can Have The Best Of Something.
MITSUBISHI, Rancho Dominguez, CA 90221.
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To eliminate the major flaws of cone-shaped speakers we created speakers without a cone.
Technics Honeycomb Disc Speakers.
One of the unfortunate aspects of the conventional audio speaker is the speaker design itself: a cone-shaped diaphragm that performs with .in desirable dips and peaks in frequency response. The result is reproduction that can be less than accurate, Technics has eliminated this problem by eliminating the cone. Instead Technics uses an ingenious, flat speaker called the Honeycomb Disc. This flat Honeycomb Disc is extremely rigid and lightweight.
So it responds quickly and wits superb accuracy to the most delicate or the most dynamic musical signal. And can handle a wider range of frequencies than conventional speakers without creating distortion.
Another problem of conventional speakers is that each speaker cone is mounted at a slightly different distance from your ears. So you hear each musical frequency at a slightly different time.
But the revolutionary design of the Technics flat Honeycomb Disc ensures precise speaker alignment. You hear the musical frequencies the way you're supposed to: all at the same time.
In fact, Technics Honeycomb Disc Speakers are so well engineered, they achieve Waveform Fidelity: the speaker output signal is virtually a minor-image of the input signal.
And because of this Honeycomb Disc technology, these speakers are capable of reproducing the exceptional sound of digital recordings.
But perhaps best of Al, the price of all this technology is remarkably modest.
Hear how eliminating the sneaker cone can add to your music. Experience the startling fidelity of Honeycomb Disc Speakers from Technics.
Technics
The science of sound
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KYOCERA
WHY PUT TWO FILTERS INTO ONE GREAT COMPACT DISC PLAYER?
Kyocera goes to double lengths to make sure there's no distortion in its DA-01 Compact Disc Player. It's got both digital and analog filters so nobody hears distortion.
The advantage of digital and analog filtering systems.
Modern technology has made analog filters pretty effective. But there can be a problem--analog filters by themselves render limited performance. By combining an analog filter with a digital filter, and precisely applying both types in Just the right way, the limitations found with analog filters are not there anymore. Thanks to the unique use of these filters, and an impressive array of very advanced circuitry, the Kyocera CD Player provides accurate, crystal-clear, lifelike sound.
The awesome specs that only digital can provide.
Needless to say, the Kyocera DA-01 comes through with some specs that are mind-boggling: A full 90 dB dynamic range...flat frequency response from 20-20,000 Hz... quiet 90 dB S/N ratio...and total isolation 90 dB channel separation.
And, just in case you didn't realize it, with the fabulous disc player system, as provided in Kyocera's DA-01 Player, there is no contact between disc and playback head. No tics, clicks, pops, scratches or record wear. And the DA-01 plugs right into your present audio system-Kyocera or others -just like a conventional turntable.
Easy to use, but total control of every function.
The DA-01 is easier to use than a modern cassette deck-slide the compact disc into the disc compartment, shut the door and hit the play button. With the DA-01's feather-touch controls, you can play the whole thing (60 minutes a side)...repeat a track...scan... pause...skip... advance...index... and program up to 24 different segments with an electronic memory. A functional LED digital panel tells you program running time and just where the optical scanner is on the disc.
Admittedly, our DA-01's are carried only by selected dealers.
If you have trouble finding one, contact:
Kyocera International, Inc., 7 Powder Horn Drive, Warren, NJ 07060
Ph: (201) 560-0060.
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SHURE
The performance is priceless... Shure's new ML140HE.
There's a standard of excellence for a great album: Gold Sound reproduction also has its standard: Shure's new, high efficiency ML140HE. The finest performance value of any cartridge today.
No other component can improve the sound of your stereo system for so little cost.
The ML140HE assures low distortion reproduction with its MASAR-polished hyperelliptical tip and Beryllium MICROWALL/Bet" Stylus Shank. Plus, other patented Shure exclusives like a Dynamic Stabilizer to minimize warp related problems, and a de-staticizer to discharge static electricity.
Hear the superior clarity of the new ML140HE at your authorized Shure dealer today.
You'll hear more from us.
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DENON REFERENCE COMPACT DISCS. MAKE THESE YOUR FIRST CD
As more and more people discover the Compact Disc, they also learn that Denon was the first Company to apply digital technology to audio recording. They find out that over the past 11 years Denon has assembled the largest Digital library and is currently using fifth generation Denon-developed digital studio recorders.
It is no wonder that Denon has become one of, if not the largest CD manufacturer in the world and is quickly earning the reputation for producing the "best sounding" Compact Discs.
When you combine the finest performances of world-renowned masterpieces with unparalleled sound quality, you have the Denon Reference CD's.
The first Compact Discs anyone serious about music will want to own. From the Company that was the first to take Digital Recording seriously.
DENON IMAGINE WHAT WE'LL DO NEXT.
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READ THIS AD AND YOU'LL BUY A HARMAN KARDON CASSETTE DECK
That's a bold statement, but Harman Kardon has been making bold audio statements for over thirty yeas, introducing the world's first high fidelity receiver, the first stereo receiver and ultrawideband frequency response. Harman Kardon was also the first company to use Dolby' in a cassette deck.
Today, Harman Kardon products continue to be so technologically advanced that "state-of-the-art" falls short of describing them. They have become "state of-the-mind; the highest level at which the mind can create.
The CD491 is Harman Kardon's most sophisticated state-of-the-mind cassette deck and one of the few in the world that can equal the full range of human hearing.
The CD491 has a remarkable 20Hz to 24kHz frequency response using any tape formulation, not just expensive metal tape. An audiophile would settle for nothing less.
Even more remarkable is that in a national challenge; Harman Kardon measured frequency response and beat 98% of the competition, including units costing twice as much.
The CD491 incorporates a dual capstan transport with twin flywheels to insure perfect movement of the tape across its 3 high performance heads. The dual capstan serves to isolate the tape from the cassette shell while the dynamically balanced flywheels help generate a consistently accurate tape speed. Together they enable the CD491 to reduce wow-and-flutter to an inaudible .025%. The only "wow" you'll ever hear is the reaction of people listening to your Harman Kardon cassette deck.
The CD491 incorporates Dolby HX Pro' for extended frequency response, plus Dolby B and C for maximum noise reduction. Three precision heads offer improved performance and the convenience of monitoring while recording. Included is a Sendust head to withstand high record levels without overload and a ferrite playback head for extended high frequency response The combined benefits of tie CD491's performance features allow for the accurate recording of more dynamic audio signals than previously possible. In fact, the large signal response (frequency response at 0 Vu) of the CD491 is a virtually unrivaled 20Hz-20kHz ± 3dB. This is especially significant as more demanding forms of software, such as digital audio, become available.
So, while other manufacturers continue to pile on unnecessary features any gimmicks, Harman Kardon continues to develop only fundament--all, advanced audio equipment.
(1) Dolby is the registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories Inc.
(2) In 1982. Harman Kardon challenged individuals to bring in their cassette decks to a local HK dealer. All units were cleaned and demagnetized in order to insure fairest results.
The Harman Kardon unit was factory packed.
harman/kardon
Our state-of-the-mind is tomorrow's state-of-the-art.
240 Crossways Park West, Woodbury NY 11797
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HAVE YOU CHECKED THE PRICE OF A GOOD SUB-WOOFER LATELY?
They certainly are not inexpensive.
To use sub-woofers optimally, a pair of them are necessary. Most loudspeakers on the market require sub-woofers for extended bass response.
This is not the case with IMF Electronics Studio Monitor loudspeakers. Their one-eighth wavelength tapered and heavily damped transmission line bass loading of the 8" polymer cone woofer provides low frequency response down to 23 Hz! With the inherently low distortion of transmission line bass, coupled with ultra-rigid construction, bass sounds are reproduced with exceptional clarity and control, free of overhang and resonant colorations.
The vital mid-range of the Studio Monitor is reproduced by our 4" engineered polymer cone driver, ferro-fluid damped to provide higher power-handling and lower distortion. This driver is mounted in its own tapered and damped line whose non-parallel walls ensure freedom from standing waves. Our 1" chemical cone tweeter is also ferro fluid damped, and affords extremely linear response from 3 kHz to 40 kHz. The design of the mid-range and tweeter drivers permits "in-line" close mounting for improved acoustical coupling. Exceptionally smooth, high definition sound, with precise stereo imaging and the stunning power and clarity of transmission-line bass characterizes the Studio Monitor loudspeakers.
Even the most severe critics of the CD digital discs concede that their bass response is phenomenally clean and extended.
The Studio Monitor has the "built-in" sub-woofer capability to effortlessly reproduce these low frequency sounds. The Studio Monitor loudspeakers are the least expensive and smallest embodiment of IMF Electronics transmission-line design.
For a dramatic and revealing experience, audition the Studio Monitor at selected dealers.
IMF ELECTRONICS, INC. 5226 Slate Street Saginaw, Michigan 48603, USA
Tel (517) 790-2121 Telex 227461 IMF ELECTRONICS, LTD. Richardson Street. High Wycombe Buckinghamshire, England HP11 2SB, Tel (0494) 35576, Telex 83545 .
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Kenwood Electronics
A feast for the power hungry.
If you're hungry for a sound system with enough power to register on the Richter scale, here's some food for thought.
Kenwood introduces the new BASIC series. Components so technologically advanced, they can be appreciated by serious audio enthusiasts, yet afforded by anyone.
Consider. The BASIC M2 stereo power amplifier. At 220 watts per channel min RMS, both channels driven at 8 ohms from 20Hz to 20kHz with no more than 0.004% THD, it has power to spare. However, with Kenwood's unique Dynamic Linear Drive circuitry, you have the option to not use its vast power reserves, without interfering with tonal quality at low volume.
This unit is so sophisticated, it even corrects for problems that originate in the speakers. With Kenwood's Sigma Drive, the M2 compensates for distortion caused by electrical current generated by speaker cone movement.
Granted, this distortion is infinitesimal. But, we figure that audiophiles will appreciate absolute precision control of speaker cone excursion.
As a stereo buff, it's important to have your amplifier combined with units that are not only compatible, but equally demanding of sound perfection. Take a look at the BASIC C1, a preamp engineered to match the high standards of the M2 exactly.
With tremendous sensitivity to highs and lows, it delivers even the most dynamic source material clearly and smoothly.
Complete your BASIC system with the T1 tuner. At all times, in all conditions, its precision automatic electronic tuning brings in crystal clear reception.
Individually, the BASIC components offer performance, refinements and engineering exceptional to the field of stereo electronics.
Together, they offer a sound experience that conventional systems haven't begun to approach.
If you're truly serious about your hunger for power, check into the new Kenwood BASIC series.
It will more than satisfy your appetite.
KENWOOD. Kenwood Electronics. 1375 E. Watsoncenter Rd., Carson, CA 90745. Kenwood's BASIC T1 stereo tuner and C1 preamp are also perfectly compatible with the M1 power amp pictured here.
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