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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 00:00 |
Thanks in part to her two recent EMI recital discs of the music of Handel and Rossini, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, 41, has been acknowledged as one of today’s pre-eminent mezzo coloraturas. Blessed with an ideally flexible, beautiful voice and a stellar technique that includes a perfect trill, she is in demand throughout the world for a wide variety of lyric mezzo and mezzo coloratura roles.
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Written by Secrets CES Team
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Thursday, 07 January 2010 11:31 |
SECRETS Coverage of CES is full of pictures from the main CES venues.....the Convention Center and Venetian, along with some private showings! Check out Reports from Piero, Ross, Stephen and Cynthia in the CAVE!! Tried out some video this year.......just posted in the CAVE!
Tags: CES Show Reports |
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Written by The Secrets Editorial Team
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Tuesday, 08 December 2009 00:00 |
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The Secrets Best of 2009 Product Awards, featuring the following categories: Accessories, Small Accessories, Headphones, Shaker Packages, Blu-ray Players, Budget CD Players, Budget DACs, High End DACs, Flat Panel HDTVs, Home Theater in a Box, Small Audio Systems with iPod Dock, Value in Power Amplifiers, Stereo Power Amplifiers, Power Conditioners, Budget Stereo Preamplifiers, Stereo Preamplifiers, Surround Sound Processors, Budget Projectors, High End Projectors, Mid-Level A/V Receivers, Budget Receivers, High End A/V Receivers, Floor Standing Speakers, 5.1 Speaker Packages, In-wall Speakers, Bookshelf Speakers, In-Floor/In-Ceiling Subwoofers, Large Subwoofers, Mid-Size Subwoofers, Small Subwoofers, Media Processor System-on-Chip, High Definition Video Cameras, Emotiva Cables, High End SACD Players.
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Monday, 07 December 2009 00:00 |
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 Thank you to all of the CAVE Members.......we have awarded the Lexicon, as announced in the CAVE.......The winner of the Blu-ray discs will be announced on Friday!! The next CAVE award will be "Officially" announced in next week's Newsletter.....(HINT: something special from our friends Downunder!!) So if you haven't signed up for the Newsletter, please do so now.....
Sign up as a member in the Secrets CAVE and you will have a chance to win our reference Lexicon MC-12B SSP (we are changing it out for a different product because we need HDMI audio inputs). This SSP is a superb product that can be used as a two-channel preamp if you wish.
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:00 |
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 English baritone Benjamin Luxon remains prized for the intelligence of his portrayals, and his unfettered directness of expression. Now 72, and devoting much of his time to theater, Luxon came to fame as a member of Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group. After creating the title role in Britten’s Owen Wingrave, he proceeded to perform a wide variety of roles in many of the world’s leading houses.
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Written by Rick Schmidt
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Monday, 02 November 2009 00:00 |
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 In my recent review of the Primaluna Dialogue Two I complained that tubes require maintenance. I didn’t complain much as Primaluna does a great job of minimizing those requirements. I should have held my complaint for my solid state gear. That’s right, even power supplies require maintenance. That’s the message that Naim is sending out with their Recap Tour. That’s ‘Recap’ as in ‘Replace the Capacitors’.
Tags: DACs | Power Supply |
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Written by Rick Schmidt
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Wednesday, 14 October 2009 00:00 |
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 The year before last was the last year that longtime Telluride Film Festival founders Bill and Stella Pence were part of the festival organizing team. The rumor last year was that the crop of movies at last year’s festival was diminished somewhat due to their absence, the idea being that they had pull in Hollywood to bring the block buster films to Telluride.
Tags: Film Festivals | Movie Reviews |
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Written by Jason Crawford
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Monday, 12 October 2009 09:22 |
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 Warren Hellman is a man with deep pockets and a deep appreciation of traditional bluegrass music. The fact that he lives in San Francisco is just a matter of good luck for its citizens. This year marked the ninth consecutive year that he's gifted Shaky Town with his Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, and it's an event that locals are loathe to miss and travelers are eager to see.
Tags: concert reviews |
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Written by Ed Becker
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Wednesday, 07 October 2009 00:00 |
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 By many accounts this year's show was busier than last. Some exhibitors saw their visitors increase three-fold. Curiously, in my opinion the entry level of value components moved up a notch despite the economy. There were still plenty of sub $3K components to be had, but for the most part, components weren't bundled by price, with a few exceptions. There were plenty of $3K electronic components paired with $10K speakers, and vice versa. The rooms displaying $100K amps were getting plenty of action. Secrets' Coverage from Ed Becker...Ed will be adding pics and comment throughout this week....
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009 Show Report
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Written by John E. Johnson, Jr.
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Friday, 02 October 2009 00:00 |
 When attending CES and Rocky Mountain Audio Fest over the past couple of years, I noticed that turntables are starting to be the majority of sources for exhibit rooms. We all have heard about the vinyl renaissance, but I just did not realize how strong it is. I mean, LPs are being played everywhere at hi-fi shows. So, we decided to compare Vinyl LPs to CDs in terms of the recording process, manufacturing, and the sound. Here are Parts 6: In the Groove; Part 7: THD-plus-N Test Results, Part 8: Phono Preamplifiers, and Part 9: A Few Bits About DACs.
Tags: CD | LPs | Vinyl |
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Written by Jason Crawford
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Wednesday, 30 September 2009 00:00 |
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 World-renowned studio mastering engineer Steve Hoffman is currently working on the re-mastering and re-release of many legendary rock and pop titles including classic Nat King Cole albums on SACD and 45 RPM vinyl for Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions and 24 Karat Gold CDs (The Doors, Linda Ronstadt, The Pretenders, Alice Cooper, etc.) for Audio Fidelity (among others).
Tags: Interviews |
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Written by Cynthia Johnson
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Friday, 11 September 2009 09:55 |
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 The SECRETS CEDIA 2009 Team is reporting in the CAVE.....do join us for all the latest news and pictures from the floor....We have a large team covering CEDIA 2009....Joining me are John, Editor in Chief, and Piero Gabucci, Adrian Wittenberg, Chris Eberle, Chris Heinonen, Jim Clements and Jim Milton.......This is our first photo upon arriving at CEDIA 2009.....and it does seem that there are fewer attendees this year than in previous years.
Jim Clements reports.....I really enjoyed the scale and spectacle of my first day at the 2009 CEDIA Expo. The Georgia World Congress Center is an excellent venue for this type of event. My mission is to track down and report on gear that might be assembled into affordable systems. This includes source components, receivers, satellite speakers, subwoofers and accesories.
Join us in the CAVE
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Wednesday, 02 September 2009 00:00 |
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 For over 50 years, pianist Menahem Pressler’s name has been indelibly associated with the Beaux Arts Trio. As the founder of the trio, it is Pressler’s pianism that is the constant in the trio’s over 50 benchmark recordings of Schubert, Brahms, Beethoven, and other great composers.
Tags: Interviews |
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Thursday, 09 July 2009 00:00 |
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 On June 12, 2009, the English early music choral ensemble Stile Antico made its much-anticipated U.S. debut at the Boston Early Music Festival. The entire concert debut was recorded by NPR, and can be heard online.
After Stile Antico won the 2005 Early Music Network International Young Artists’ Competition, the young ensemble’s debut disc for Harmonia Mundi, Music for Compline, won the Diapason d’Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique, and a Grammy Award nomination. Their second disc, Heavenly Harmonies, received the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and another Diapason d’Or. Attention from NPR, and a tour with Sting in Europe and the Far East in support of his Dowland lute song project, Songs from the Labyrinth, elevated them into company rare for an early music ensemble, and helped project their most recent CD, Song of Songs, into the Top 15 of the Billboard Classical Chart.
In anticipation of Stile Antico’s U.S. debut, I spoke by phone with one of the group’s founding members, towering bass Olly Hunt. Chief among my queries was the genesis of the group’s marvelously fresh, oft-sensual sound.
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Wednesday, 27 May 2009 00:00 |
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 Classical guitarist David Russell was born in Glasgow in 1953, and raised in the town of Minorca. Upon studying the guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, he twice won the Julian Bream Guitar Prize. Wins at the Andrés Segovia Competition, the José Ramírez Competition, and Spain's Francisco Tárrega Competition helped to further propel him to an international career, which continues strong.
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Written by Rick Schmidt
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Tuesday, 17 March 2009 08:59 |
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 The Sundance festival is very much an industry festival compared to most others that I’ve attended. Films are selected with the expectation that there will be some interest from film distributer and it seems like most of the attendees are somehow in ‘the business’.
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Written by Jason Victor Serinus
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Wednesday, 04 March 2009 00:00 |
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 On February 8, 2009, the Pacifica Quartet snared a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for their Naxos recording of Elliot Carter’s first and fifth string quartets. Three days later, I was on the phone, interviewing the quartet second violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson for a series of articles.
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Written by Piero Gabucci
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Thursday, 12 February 2009 16:00 |
 Those of you that follow our show coverage, like CEDIA or CES will know the name Cinepro and its’ President and Vice President Michael J. Panicci and Gus Cossifos respectively. Cinepro’s dynamic demonstrations are very much talked about during the show. Although many of demonstrations are loud, what sets Cinepro apart is their commitment to playing back at "Dolby Digital Reference Levels", which cannot be done accurately without tons of power. So with their ever increasing “how about another 10dB?” volume adjustments, if Gus & Michael were chefs, they’d be saying BAM as they added more spice!
Tags: Home Theater | Home Theater Reviews |
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Written by Secrets Team
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Monday, 12 January 2009 01:13 |
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Builder's Showcase Home featuring Paradigm and other vendors just added......
More from Piero Gabucci.......
Another CES has come and gone. Although attendance was down, some would say that the people who did come really had business to conduct and that the quality of meetings being conducted was of a higher caliber for all manufacturers.
The primary buzz at the show centered on HDTV and the advent of 240 Hz refresh rates from all the majors, Sony, LG, Toshiba and Samsung in their new LCD and plasma sets. The 240 Hz refresh rate is demonstrable in the ability to produce a picture that is clearer and more defined when fast motion objects and very detailed still frames such as a test pattern are panned across the screen. Samsung had an excellent display of three monitors comparing 60, 120 and 240 Hz refresh rates and it is clear this technology works.
Tags: CES Show Reports |
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Written by Cynthia Johnson
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Thursday, 08 January 2009 08:40 |
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 So I guess I jumped the gun when I said CES was packed. (For my personal taste, more then 5 people in a room is enough) It was only packed according to who had the latest model of whatever was on display. CES 2009 will definitely show lower numbers of attendees than in the past. But one thing is for sure. Home Theater and the latest electronics have a niche in the economy.
We are taking a different approach on our CES 2009 Show Report. We have asked our team to spend their time on overall impressions of the developments in hometheater and audio technology, take pictures along the way, and identify the best products for our review team over the next few months.
Tags: CES Show Reports |
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