62 Australian Hi-Fi http://www.aushifi.com
on test
That said, enlisting the likes of Hugh
McCracken and Al Gorgoni to flesh out the
guitar sound was never going to hurt her
career! The intro to Leftover Wine is a delicate
acoustic guitar accompanied by some tender
drumming that just hovers above a starry
darkness until Melanie’s unique—and it is
unique—voice enters on cue. And it’s all
wonderfully rendered by the Audia Flight
FLS10,whichkeepsthedrumstightanddry,
whilststillleavingtheengineeredreverb
onthevocal,andneverconflatingthetwo.
Onthechoir-ledsongthatisLayDown, the
FLS10wasabletodeliverthemassedvoices
oftheEdwinHawkinssingersathighvolume
withoutlosingtouchwiththeindividual
voices,whiletheabsolutelyexcellentbass
line(byHerbieFlowers,anotherinspired
musicalchoicebySchekeryk)bouncesalong
withajoiedevivrethancounterpointsthe
joyouslyric.Lyrically,Safkawasanenigma.
It’sdifficulttocreditthatthesameperson
whowroteStonegroundWords,UptownDown
andI Don’tWannaHearItcouldalsowrite
suchsillysongsasAnimalCrackers,Alexander
Beetle, andBrandNewKey, whilehercovers
ofCarolinainmyMind,RubyTuesdayandMr
TambourineManarerealmind-stickers.The
soundofheralmost-spokenvoicerendition
ofDylan’sclassicis catharticandthesonic
purityoftheAudiaFlightFLS10keepsit abso-
lutelypristine.I cantellyouthatsonically,it
reallydoesn’tgetanybetterthanthis.
InmyinvestigationoftheAudiaFlight
FLS10’sabilitytodeliverdeepbassatthevery
highestpowerlevels,I enlisteda reviewer
favourite,notsomuchbecauseI’ma great
fanofthemusiconit,butbecauseyoureally
don’tgetacousticinstrumentsplayingany
lowerthanthis...onanyformat—analogue,
RedBook,orhi-res.I referofcoursetothe
16Hzpedalnotesproducedbythe32-foot
pipesoftheGreatOrganofSaintEustache,
inParisasreproducedonDorianDOR-90134.
TurnupthevolumeontheFLS10,using16Hz,andyou’llberattlingyourwalls,win-
dowsandlightingfixturesinnotimeatall...
thelevelsofacousticenergyinmylistening
roomwereabsolutelyawesome,thankstothe
clean,distortion-freepoweravailablefrom
theAudiaFlightFLS10.
AfterlashingsofsoundfromBach,Liszt
andWidor,it wastimeforsomelightrelief,
soI spenta fewpleasanthourslisteningto
someclassicJean-JacquesGoldman,suchas
Je MarcheSeul, whichmovesalonglikeclassic
pop,witha greatbasslineanda melodythat
youkeephummingforlongafterthetrack’s
finished.Thenthere’shisbeautifulC’estta
Chance. Listentoit andyougetthefeeling
thatif he’dbeensinginginEnglishhe’dbe
asfamousasEltonJohn.(Actually,inFrance
Goldmanis morefamousthanElton,soI
guessit dependsonwhichdirectionyouhave
tolooktoseetheChanneltogaugestardom.)
Evenif you’veneverheardofGoldman,you
willhavehearda lotofhiswork,duetohis
collaborationswithCélineDion,particularly
onher‘FallingintoYou’.Thelivesoundof
PeurderienBlueswastransmittedmagically
bytheAudiaFlightFLS10,fromtheaudience
noisetotheacousticsofthevenue,andmost
especiallybytheplaintivescreamofthelead
guitar.Mesmerizing.
Howeveryouneedtoauditionhi-fi
componentswhilelisteningtoacoustic
instrumentstojudgewhetheranamplifier
is passingtonalqualitythroughitscircuitry
transparently,andoneofmyfavouritesfor
judgingthisis anoutstandingSACDhybrid
byARSProduktion(ARS38162)recordedby
theStorioniTrio.It hastwoofmyabsolute
favouritepianotriosonit,andthey’reboth
bywomen:RebeccaClarkeandClaraSchu-
mann.Clarke’sworkis herjustly-famousPi-
anoTriofrom1920,whileSchumann’sis her
PianoTrioinG minor,Op.17.You’llneed
tolistentothisSACDa fewtimestobecome
familiarwiththemusic(moresoforClarkeingamazedbythemusic,youcanthenstart
beingamazedbytherealismofthesoundof
theinstrumentsthathasbeencaptured.The
pianois a piano.Theviolinis a violin.The
cellois a violoncello.Thetonalaccuracyof
thethreeinstrumentsis astoundinglytrue,
andtheAudiaFlightFLS10reproducedit as
well,if notbetter,thananyamplifierI have
everheard.Masterfulperformancesonall
counts.
Solopianois anotherinstrumentthat’s
unforgivingofinferioramplification,soI
playeda newfindofmine,Bach’sWell-Tem-
peredClavier(Book1),asplayedbyKimiko
Ishizaka(onNovonaNV5993).Onpaperan
unlikelypianist(herprizemedalswerefor
Olympicweight-liftingandpower-lifting),
it turnsoutsheonlytookupthosesportsto
improveherpianoplaying,whichshe’dbeen
improvingonsincetheageoffour.‘Inmy
early20s,I hadverythinarms—Icouldn’tget
a beautifulsoundoutof thepiano,’ shesaidin
aninterviewpublishedinGramophone. She
saysthatafterweighttraining,‘I gotstronger:
I founda wayof usingmyshoulders,armsand
backto producethesound.ThesedaysI onlyuse
myfingersforsupport.’
She’salsofounda wayofplayingBach
thatis miraculous.Nopedal,fora start,using
onlyherfingersforsustain,butshe’sfound
a wayofplayingBachthat’scompletely
organicandnatural,yetwithoutanyofthe
personalmannerismsthatmostpianists
superimposeoverthemusic,yetalsowithout
the‘vanilla’soundinevitablydeliveredbypi-
anistswhoplayBachstrictlyaccordingtothe
score.MuchasI hateaddingyetmoreBach
tomymusicallibrary,herplayingis such
thatshehasforcedmetoaddmore—even
againstmywife’svehementprotestations.
‘Whycouldyoupossiblyneedyetanotherversion
of theWell-TemperedClavier?’ sheaskedasshe
lookedovermyshoulderatthecomputer
screenwhileI wasordering.Currently there are four optional plug-in
modules available, two of which can be
plugged in at any given time. The phono
module above pictured is $1,900, the two
line-level modules are $900 each, and the
DAC module is $3,500.The levels of acoustic
energy in my listening
room were absolutely
awesome, thanks to
the clean, distortion-
free power available
from the AF FLS10