The Latin-Continental Sound of the Sixties! Manuel, Mantovani and More!

The Latin-Continental Sound of the Sixties!

Manuel and the Music of the Mountains, Hugo Winterhalter, Mantovani, 101 Strings, Nini Rosso and Caterina Valente

There was something special about the musical and leisurely landscapes of Italy, Spain, Portugal and straight across the South Atlantic to the continent of Latin America. Maybe it was the carefree atmosphere, the zest for life, the colour in the cuisine, oranges, lemons and olives, and especially the colours of the dancers! Love was spelt as ‘amor’ and ‘amore’...just about everything had more than two tones of description!

The music of Manuel and the Music of the Mountains deserves a rediscovery with the release of two fully remastered LPs MANUEL (1962) and MOUNTAIN CARNIVAL (1963) by Jasmine Records of Great Britain. The liner notes by Ossie Dales, composed in July 2013, described Geoff Love’s enormous talent for arranging that came to light during his attachment to the Green Jackets Dance Band during World War Two. After the war, Mr Love provided arrangements and musical backing for a long roster of British popular and film artistes. It was when he conducted the the theme music from the film ‘Honeymoon’ that Norman Newell, a friend and fellow arranger with EMI suggested the name ‘Manuel’.

 

The sound of the mountains – breeze across the Pyrenees to Spain, thence across the blue waters to the Appenines of Italy – with a rich guitar soundtrack to match the wall to wall string arrangements. This music takes you on multiple journeys at once into your romantic memory of happy places and blends it in with sunny Mediterranean airs. The guitars are arranged to evoke the long flowing tresses of flamenco dancers while the strings soar like eagles and swallows high above the snow-capped mountains. Manuel’s music has this quality. Listen to ‘Plaza de Toros’ and you’ll never leave it – you can even smell the aroma of coffees and paella round the corner. Sample the evening cocktails with the serenades of ‘Ay Ay Ay’ and ‘April in Portugal’, but leave the wine alone. Save it for the crossing into Italy with the mushy ‘Anema e Core’. And before you turn down the lights with Manuel’s MOUNTAIN CARNIVAL, savour the sweetness of the rousing ‘Amor Amor’ from the film ‘Broadway Rhythm’ and then say a gentle ‘Adios’ with the poignant strings playing long low chords.

The sound of Manuel on this disc is as perfect as it can be considering that these were the early pressings of vinyl in stereo remastered for the digital era. Jasmine Records has used ‘noise reduction’ with a light touch – thankfully. What you hear is actually Geoff Love’s suave switching back and forth between guitar leads, front violin sections and the violas and bass – this surely is the hallmark of a great arranger who knows how to evoke dreams in music! And oh yes, listen out for the beautiful insertions of the solo wordless female soprano for that neoclassical touch of ‘splendour’.

1. MEXICAN HAT DANCE
2. YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (SOLAMENTE UNA VEZ)
3. PLAZA DE TOROS
4. THE MOUNTAINS ARE CRYING (AY AY AY)
5. SONG OF THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (MY GYPSY HEART)
6. MEXICAN LULLABY
7. THE WEDDING SONG
8. THE THREE CABALLEROS
9. SONG OF THE MOUNTAINS
10. APRIL IN PORTUGAL (COIMBRA)
11. SONG OF MEXICO
12. BOLERO GAUCHO (WITHOUT MY LOVER)
13. LUNA ROSSA (BLUSHING MOON)
14. BE MINE (LA PALOMA)
15. CACHITA
16. YOURS
17. BLUE TANGO
18. THE BANDIT
19. PRIMERA
20. JEALOUSY
21. MOUNTAIN CARNIVAL
22. ANEMA E CORE
23. THE BREEZE AND I
24. CARNAVALITO (FESTIVAL OF THE FLOWERS)
25. AMOR AMOR
26. NIGHTS IN RIO
27. ADIOS

There is a lot more to the instrumental music celebrating the 1960s chic of continental Europe – such as the long forgotten LPs by Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra – finally on Vocalion.

Hugo Winterhalter
Hugo Winterhalter Goes ... Continental & I Only Have Eyes for You

Hugo Winterhalter Goes ... Continental
The original LP LSP 2482 (1962) STEREO
Anna El Negro Zumbon (Vatro; Giordano; Engvick)
Melody of Spain (Winterhalter)
Swedish Rhapsody (Alfvén)
Fascination (Marchetti; de Féraudy; Manning)
Wonderland by Night (Neumann; Chase)
Funiculi-Funicula (Denza; Turco)
The Continental (Conrad; Magidson)
Greensleeves (Trad adapt Winterhalter)
Oh! My Papa O mein Papa (Burkhard; Turner; Parsons)
Never on Sunday (Hadjidakis; Towne)
Mademoiselle de Paree (Durand; Contet; Parish)
Volare (Modugno; Migliacci; Parish)

I Only Have Eyes for You
The original LP LSP 2645 (1964) STEREO
I Only Have Eyes for You (Warren; Dubin)
September in the Rain (Warren; Dubin)
I'll String Along with You (Warren; Dubin)
There Will Never Be Another You (Warren; Gordon)
Serenade in Blue (Warren; Gordon)
Cheerful Little Earful (Warren; I Gershwin; Rose)
You'll Never Know (Warren; Gordon)
Shadow Waltz (Warren; Dubin)
You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby (Warren; Mercer)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Warren; Dubin)
At Last (Warren; Gordon)
The More I See You (Warren; Gordon)

In this review, I shall focus primarily on Winterhalter’s trip to The Continent. Unlike perhaps a Mantovani or Manuel, Winterhalter gives prominence to the electric guitar to keep the beat, and the mood contemporary and faithful to the Sixties. This is reminiscent of the way Franck Pourcel sticks the guitar front and centre in his rendition of the fast paced ‘Chariot’ of similar vintage. Winterhalter manages in slightly under an hour to lead you through all the beautiful stereotypes of Europe. ‘Anna el Negro Zumbon’ starts off with a jaunty rhythm initiated by the musical triangle (look it up on GOOGLE or BING for a fresh discovery), seconded by strings, and a tantalizing tempo timed by short-paced a-go-go guitar work. Gentle and rhythmic – your European holiday gets under way – with stops in Spain, Sweden, France, Italy and Britain…Winterhalter evokes this effect by imitating tram motions (shuffle drumwork), bus and train horns (high pitched trumpets and harpsichord) and dramatic percussion to match the speed of the string work to evoke the majesty and swirl of celebrations. ‘Wonderland by Night’ is spectacular without sounding too much like Bert Kaempfert – more like taking in the sights of Copenhagen, Rome or Paris by night on bus or rivercruise with the gentle sounds of bells and whistles in the background. ‘Funiculi-Funicula’ epitomises Rome or Milan unlike any other track simply because Winterhalter positions his instruments in very strategic places after he creates the right mood. And the ladies should get their hats in order for the wonderful swirls of the tempos of ‘Mademoiselle de Paree’ and ‘Never on Sunday’…ending the tour on a sunny beach on the Italian Amalfi coast perhaps, with ‘Volare’! And oh don’t forget the Munich-like beer hall nostalgia in ‘O Mein Papa’ with its unforgettable trumpet solos guaranteed to bring out the sonic equivalent of sepia-toned photographs.

I might have gotten the images in the wrong order…but Hugo Winterhalter’s genius is a treasure you must savour if you are into Easy Listening Continental! There are simply so many more albums that celebrate European popular and folk tunes of the 1960s and earlier for a primarily instrumental audience. While I scour the DECCA and CAPITOL catalogues for more albums to review, I’d like to highlight one unique compilation from JVC Japan: POPS ITALIAN MOOD.

1.CHE VOULE QUESTA MUSIKA STASERA / NINI ROSSO

2.VOLARE / NINI ROSSO
3. IL FERROVIERE / RAYMOND LEFEVRE ET SON GRAND ORCHESTRE
4. L'ORAGE / RAYMOUND LEFEVRE
5. GELSOMINA / NINI ROSSO
6. CIAO CIAO BAMBINA / NINI ROSSO
7. MORE /MANTOVANI
8. COME PRIMA / MANTOVANI
9. QUI SAURA / RAYMOND LEFEVRE ET SON GRAND ORCHESTRE
10. SANTA LUCIA / 101 STRINGS ORCHESTRA
11. TORNA A SURRIENTO / 101 STRINGS ORCHESTRA
12. SINNO'ME MORE UN KALEDETTO IMBROGLIO / RAYMOND LEFEVRE ET SON GRAND ORCHESTRE
13. AL DI LA / NINI ROSSO
14. IL SILENZIO / NINI ROSSO
15. CATARI(COR'NGRATO) / MANTOVANI
16. IO CHE NON VIVO / RICHARD CLAYDERMAN
17. SUMMERTIME IN VENICE / RAYMOND LEFEVRE ET SON GRAND ORCHESTRE
18. ARRIVEDERCI ROMA / MANTOVANI

This is an album that winds from Naples (Napoli) – via ‘Santa Lucia’ played by the 101 strings complete with accordion, mandolins and chorus – up to Torino, down to Milan, Florence, Venezia, and back down to Rome. There are numerous pastoral stops that offer panoramic musical equivalents of vistas of verdant valleys from mountain tops, photo memories of afternoon coffees by the bays, and people watching in the fountain piazzas where pigeons are fed and ice cream vendors ply their carts. The choices of Mantovani and Raymond Lefevre to feature alongside the 101 Strings are natural. One cannot pay homage to mood music Italia any other way – lush strings with accordion, trumpet and gentle piano are standard characteristics.[Enjoy the 101 Strings performing ‘Santa Lucia’ on YouTube here, complete with lavishly illustrated Italian holiday scenery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll8ndJL88iw – swell!] Nini Rosso is however a surprise on this collection! I found his vocal interjections jarring at times on ‘Volare’, and ‘Ciao Ciao Bambina’, but upon repeated listening, there is a sense of artistic ‘amore’ in this technique alongside some very sharp trumpet playing. So it grows on you! Then listen to his version of ‘Al Di La’ which is one of the best on trumpet ever – and guaranteed to get you swooning…There is no better way to end the collection than with Mantovani’s poignant cascading strings on ‘Arrivederci Roma’…You can almost hear the train blowing its horns…

One final ‘gem’ I discovered while checking out the Vocalion catalogue recently was the remastering of ‘Caterina Valente in Italia’ and ‘Caterina Valente Canta Luiz Bonfa’. These are vocal offerings – of course – but they are like the water and cream that accompany a good coffee – or the sweetness of a well done Gelato on a summer afternoon.  Caterina’s mellifluous voice conveys such immense passion and opulence all at once [like the Da Vinci Emmespeakers in my last post J] and brings back ‘the good life’ even if it lasts in your imagination for three to four minutes…Listen to her balladic take on ‘Non Dimenticar’ and ‘Polvere di Stelle’ and you will be in a great mood for several hours after that.

When Caterina goes the Bossa Nova route, be prepared to expand your horizons on what the ‘new wave’ of the 60s Brazillian wave meant. Caterina is sexy, playful and carnivalesque in the way she improvises beyond what Jobim and Bonfa would have done and takes you to the seaside fiesta in so many different sonic ways…This is my first collection of Caterina’s and I’m certainly richer for it…and what can I say, my Italian themed collection of easy listening can only set to grow!

[I should add that the sequel to this post ought to include something by Pepe Jaramillo, Frank Chacksfield, Werner Muller, the Clebanoff Strings, Edmundo Ros and more Manuel perhaps…so watch this space in 2016!]

December 2015

ALAN

Soundboxes V: Matching New and Evergreen Classics in Sound Design: EmmeSpeakers Da Vinci partner the SANSUI AU-555A control/ integrated amplifier

Matching New and Evergreen Classics in Sound Design: EmmeSpeakers Da Vinci partner the SANSUI AU-555A control/ integrated amplifier

Leonardo da Vinci holds a place in history for being a scientist and engineer. His designs responded to his scientific requirements while also demonstrating his flair for building attractive looking objects. Emmespeakers – an Italian company based in Milan – has taken this philosophy to heart in the design of the soon to be iconic Da Vinci speakers. The ‘gold leaf’ design patented by them for their speaker range torches your imagination at first sight. One forgets that it is a pair of hi fi speakers. It is something from an art gallery, a museum, maybe even an artefact from the future. Look more closely, it looks even like a collectable from the Art Deco era complete with dazzle, glitter like sensation and opulence. It is so enticing to the eye even before you think of hearing it. Welcome to the visual art of sound!

 EmmeSpeakers Da Vinci Technical data:

Layout: 3 ways with 3 drivers in sealed box
Treble Unit: 1,2-30mm Accuton Cell Ceramic Driver
Mid-Bass Unit: 5”-124mm Accuton Cell Ceramic Driver
Bass Unit: 10”-290 mm SB Acoustic Aluminum Driver
Power handling: 200 watts
Nominal Impedance: 6 Ohm
Sensitivity: 84 db
Frequency response: 30-40k Hz
Dimensions (hwd): 420x307,5x 300mm
Net weight each: 18.6 kg

If gold could morph into hi fi, this fantasy is captured in the technical prowess of the Da Vinci. I wanted to hear its fullest potential so I decided to save up and invest in a pair of Crystal Cable Reference Diamond speaker cables at 1.5 metres in length. At the shop, Norman Audio (Adelphi Shopping Centre, Singapore), it was tested on an Ayre AX-7e integrated amplifier with matching CX-7e CD player. It was not even run in yet, but initial listening to assorted Latin vocals ranging from ‘Besame Mucho’ by Trio Los Panchos to ‘Perfidia’ by Edmundo Ros to ‘Tiempo’ by Manuel Franjo made my hairs stand – in a very good way! It was a very musical sound, and the timbre of voices stood out for its emotional realism. One can add that it was transparent, ‘live-like’, ‘studio-like’ and so forth. These speakers commanded all the attention of your aural senses.

According to the EmmeSpeakers website, the rotund design was intended to radiate sound waves across the room instead of projecting them mostly through the front firing drivers. As a non-engineer, I thought it was rather clever of the designers in Milan to position the bass driver – the biggest one of all facing rearwards! Tweeter and midrange forward. Visually the ‘facial curves’ of the rear reminded one of typical late sixties and early seventies lounge décor: black and white, or red-orange-yellow concentric rounded designs that evoke the atmosphere of so-called space age pop!

 

Checkout this picture blog dedicated to 70s lounge culture while it is still available: http://blog.hippiecouture.com/2009/05/that-70s-style-part-one.html. The front tweeter and midrange were covered in limited black netting set against a full gold leaf surface. The contrast in colours was intriguing and engages intellectual contemplation even before you hear the sounds that the design generates.

As a student of mass media theory, I can only sum up this effect in a time honoured quote from Marshall McLuhan: the medium is the message! The message of the Da Vinci is style, good taste and high culture.

I don’t have Ayre equipment in my home – or at least not yet – but I was very eager to test out the Da Vinci on my own eccentric Hi Fi choices. Let’s start with an unlikely partner – the SANSUI AU-555A. I should add that for good measure, I paired the SANSUI with my earlier reviewed Bel Canto CD2 player and the Pathos Digit player, hooked up respectively with Straightwire Serenade and Crystal Cable Piccolo interconnects to the SANSUI. The Pathos Digit was supplied with power by the Crystalpower Diamond Standard cord while the Bel Canto was supplied by a US$67.00 custom made power cord from Gear City, an online ‘mid budget’ electronics retailer based in Hong Kong. The AU-555A was supplied by a pair of Crystalpower Reference Diamond cord. This is not a ‘perfect’ test set up but it should give you a decently good idea of the possibilities should you have the spare cash for upgrading. It is needless to say that Crystal Cable falls within the ‘ultra performance category’ of Hi Fi cables. Therefore, each upgrade has to be made carefully in respect to one’s wallet.

 

The Stunning Vintage Charm of the SANSUI

Test selection number one: the Reader’s Digest (UK) compilation from 1990 titled ‘Easy Listening Magic’ Disc One: Timeless Favourites and Hit Melodies from the 1950s. Richard Clayderman’s interpretation of ‘Night and Day’ for piano and small string quartet and percussion swung and swirled very naturally in its swiftly flowing notes. Ray Conniff’s big band and chorus evoked the centrality of a trumpet-led slow foxtrot on ‘Moonlight Serenade’ abetted by a very pleasant tinkling piano evoking the shimmering passage of moonlight across the gentle waves. Manuel and the Music of the Mountains on ‘La Bamba’ was grand, broad in soundstage and extremely expressive. The overall impression from this almost 100% analogue set was open, transparent and wide in terms of reproducing soundstage.      

Since I am not an engineer, I would refer you to the excellent blog stereonomono.blogspot.com for detailed analysis of its specifications:http://stereonomono.blogspot.sg/2014/02/sansui-au-555a.html. And for those who want a balance to my amateur review here’s a popular one on the AU-555a on YouTube, while it lasts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5v3xYqeMeM  

In brief the statistics are:

Specifications  AU-555A

Power Amplifier  Section

Power Output (at rated distortion)

Music Power (IHF): 

80 watts ±1 dB into 4 Ω at 1,000 Hz; 

60 watts ±1 dB into 8 Ω at 1,000 Hz

Continuous  Power (each  Channel):

33/33 watts  ±1 dB into 4 Ω

25/25 watts  ±1 dB into 8 Ω

Total Harmonic Distortion:  less than 0,5% at rated power output

Intermodulation Distortion (60 Hz : 7,000 Hz = 4:1 SMPTE method):  less than 0,8%

Power Bandwidth (IHF):  20 to 40,000 Hz

Load Impedance:  4 Ω to 16 Ω

Frequency Response  (at normal listening level):  20 to 40,000 Hz, ±1 dB

Input Sensitivity:  1V at rated output

Input Impedance:  100 kΩ

Damping Factor:  50 at 8 Ω load

Channel Separation (at rated output 1,000 Hz):  better than 60 dB

Hum and Noise (IHF):  better than 100 dB

Preamplifier Section

Output Voltage [Maximum/Rated]:  5 V / 1 V

Total harmonic Distortion:  less than 0,1% ata rated output voltage

Frequency Response:  20 - 30,000 Hz ±1 dB

Channel Separation (at 1 kHz rated output voltage):

Phono 1 and 2 : better tahn 45 dB

Tuner and Aux : better than 50 dB

Hum and Noise (IHF):

Phono 1 and 2 :  better than 70 dB

Tuner and Aux :  better than 80 dB

Input Sensitivity / Impedance (1,000 Hz for rated output):

Phono 1 and 2 :  2 mV (50 kΩ)

Tape Mon (Pin) :  180 mV (50 kΩ)

Tape Rec (DIN) :  180 mV (50 kΩ)

Aux :  180 mV(50 kΩ)

Recording Output (at 1 kHz rated input voltage): 

Tape Rac (Pin) :  180 mV

Tape Recorder (DIN) :  30 mV

Equalizer:

Phono :  RIAA NF Type

Mic :  flat NF Type

Controls

Bass:  +12 dB -12 dB at 30 Hz

Midrange:  +5 dB -5 dB at 1,500 Hz

Treble:  +10 dB -10 dB at 15,000 Hz

Loudness:  +8 dB at 50 Hz; +3 dB at 10 kHz

Filters

Low:  -8 dB at 50 Hz

High:  -7 dB at 10,000 Hz

General

Switches:

Mode:  Stereo / Mono

Tape Monitor:  Source / Playback

Selector:  Phono-1 / Phono-2 / Tuner / Aux

Speaker Switch 1 and 2:  On / Off

Semiconductors:  23 Transistors; 2 Diodes

Power Requirements:  100, 117, 220, 240 V  50/60 Hz

Power Consumption:  130 watts Max.

Dimensions (H x W x D):  135 x 395 x 278 mm (5⅜ " x 15⅜ x 10⅞") excluding rubber stand and knob

 Weight:   8 kg  (17,6 lbs) net

What is impressive to me is that SANSUI designed the AU-555A to offer separate pre-amplifier and power amplifier sections within one unit. An integrated amplifier rarely makes this distinction nowadays except perhaps for the PATHOS range. The Da Vinci speakers are nominally rated as 6 Ohm speakers so that places the AU-555A as pushing out somewhere between 25W (8 Ohms) and 33W (4 Ohms) of power. A good guess is that at 6 Ohms, the AU-555A would push out 29W! Perhaps, this is why the figures and the Sansui’s compact size (mind you, it fits into a large sports bag of the type you’d carry for an overnight business trip or to a football training session) fool most newcomers to the SANSUI line of high fidelity. It seemed even visually weirder putting the AU-555A in between the left and right barrels of the Da Vinci speakers. This becomes less so if you start associating the gold ornamentation with art objects – especially from East Asia’s rich ancient past – gold vases, decorative circular vessels for adorning palace cabinets, opulent resthouses, restaurants and so on. Just “google” search phrases like ‘Asian art objects gold’ or ‘art objects 1920s’ and the visual and artistic association becomes obvious. There is no reason why the Da Vincis would not sell to Hi Fi fans who are also art collectors! And I might also add, those who enjoy Art Deco fashions from the 1920s and 1930s. Art Deco is the sort of style that tries to infuse vibrancy and glamour into modern scientific objects. Is this not the very essence of Hi Fi as the art of hearing beauty?

 

Surgery and Upgrades

Some of you might ask – leave the art aside, is the SANSUI powerful? Yes indeed! Not only is it ‘powerful’ beyond volume setting number two, it stretches the soundstage as wide as the room it is housed within. My only gripe – and a slight one in contrast to its many virtues – is that its sharpness of sonic definition fades at the edges of the soundstage at the distant ‘rear’ of the recording venue judged from where you are sitting, or at the extremes of the left and right. That said, since I am a 100% Compact Disc fan, the sound that comes out from the AU-555A via the Da Vincis are sublimely analogue. The sound of LPs played through the AU-555A can be sampled on a half dozen clips available on YouTube – and they are highly positive, exactly according to SANSUI legend!

 

As you can see from the picture below, the AU-555A has been upgraded selectively. The speaker terminals have been changed from the clip system to the screw-in/plug-in receptacles found on most amplifiers from the late 1980s onwards. The power socket has also been changed to accommodate the increasingly standard ‘US Power plug’ and its corresponding ‘IEC plug’. This is done in order to run the SANSUI on the more advanced shielded power cords available on the market. I was also advised by the engineer that certain circuit board sections had to be recapped since the pre-restoration sound lacked the proper balance of a two channel stereo at position zero on the balance dial. I was assured that 50% of the original circuit boards could be and were retained. The Speaker B facility was also disconnected upon his advice since it was likely to drain power from Speaker A channels. In any case, this made sense since one could only operate one set of speakers at a time. The walnut brown wooden cover was also given a new coat of varnish so it now looked almost brand new, notwithstanding some signs of wear on the edges. Contact cleaner (or DEOXIT in the US) was used on all the contacts and switches. With the exception of the ‘High’ filter, all other toggled switches and knobs worked without hiss or crackle even though this was a vintage 1971-2 piece of kit.

 

Magic of the Midrange

One of the most distinctive advantages of this amplifier is the ability of the listener to tinker with the midrange. This is that part of the sound spectrum that produces the most ‘body’, transparency and warmth. Of the next three recordings that I have sampled for this review, the two most digitally recorded – Shirley Horn’s I LOVE YOU PARIS and Laura Fygi’s THE LADY WANTS TO KNOW – required setting treble and bass to zero, and then pushing the midrange to position 4, just short of the maximum at 5. The female vocals attained a remarkable level of presence I had never heard before. The instrumental backing receded to their proper places in the sound stage without obscuring the singer. Subsequently, I tried the same with the digital ‘DDD’ type recordings of light classical and crossover operatic pieces such as Peter Aronsky’s choral version of Mozart’s piano concerto no.21, The Celtic Tenors’ ‘Love of my Life’ and Katherine Jenkins’ Italian version of ‘I Will Always Love You’ (L’amore Sei Tu), the voices came out livelier and emotionally engaged. The goose bump effect was there. I tried turning on the classical music radio channel playing Renee Fleming’s rendition of ‘Casta Diva’ – it was equally breath-taking. [Note: Tuner not shown in picture since I moved it out into the living room the day I took the pictures.] In short, with the AU-555A, digital recordings are treated with analogue tenderness. When it comes to the Reader’s Digest analogue to CD remasters, it was exactly how you would have heard it in the studios of the original recordings. Disc Three of SENTIMENTAL SONGS THAT WILL LIVE FOREVER featured Rosemary Squires, Sandy Stewart, Margaret Whiting and Beverly Kenny amongst others.

 

These torch singers of the sentimental song of the 1940s and 1950s demonstrated their vocal prowess with ease and tremendous authenticity. Their diction was a thrill in itself. Every singer seemed to be virtually on stage in your listening room. If you’ve never liked these classic songs  - ‘I Only Have Eyes for You’, ‘I Had the Craziest Dream’, ‘Bali H’ai’, ‘People’, ‘As Time Goes By’ – the AU-555A in tandem with the Da Vincis will convert you in no time.

In closing this review, I can only say that listening to the AU-555A in tandem with the Da Vinci Emmespeakers is a trip to musical heaven every time. The performer is virtually present by virtue of the extended dimensions of the sound. The rotund shape of the speakers sending the musical waves out radially is probably instrumental in perfecting the 3D-like sound! The sheer involvement in the music is nearly inexpressible. This is an effect which, thus far, I thought the PATHOS Frontiers Prime were best at. Additionally, this partnership also attests to the ‘legend’ of the SANSUI AU-555A. Two classics, matched in one heavenly production.

ALAN

21 August 2015