A GUIDE TO PLAYBACK featuring Melanie Chartoff

A GUIDE TO PLAYBACK featuring Melanie Chartoff

STEREO '82

When you're a star of sight and sound like Melanie Chartoff, you know there's nothing more relaxing than making your own music sound good. So when Melanie isn't working on the airwaves on Fridays or other TV hot spots, she knows how to cool off with her favorite sounds. She also knows that it's the hardware that makes the software sound so good. So when CREEM asked, Melanie was delighted to add her luster to the latest in at-home enjoyment...

No matter how late is gets, Melanie doesn't mind sticking around to hear just one more tune on this Vector Research SYSV1349 System. And neither will you, because for $1349 you paid for the best and you got it. The system gets its powerful attraction from the Vector Research VR50000 AM/FM Stereo Receiver and Vector Research VCX300 Stereo Cassette Deck. Both units are pefectly matched with the best of the system: a Dual CS 1257 Automatic Multiple Play Turntable with Empire cartridge, JBL 702VX speakers, housed in an O'Sullivan AR166 Audio Cabinet. And from the expression on Melanie's face, there's little doubt that she knows you know your hi-fi.

A special thanks to The Federated Group for their valuable assistance.

Tonight's the night to get a glow on your gauges with a little help from Melanie and Marantz. The expression on your face should make it fram ear to ear when you catch the sound from the Marantz 1030 three-way speakers with their big 10-inch woofers that Melanie has legged up on And you better guess again if you don't think Mels not impresssed with the sneer sophistication with which you plunked down $1695 for the Marantz SYSM500 System that features a Marantz cabinet with cassette deck, direct drive turntable, tuner, and integrated amp all topped off with a dust cover to protect your records. And if you smile right, Melanie might just slide down off the speakers and join you on the couch to hear what it sounds like from across the room. And, yes, Mel may sigh a little in admiration as you move the speaker cabinets apart to achieve a brilliant stereo image.

Melanie's all ears as she gets behind JVC's SYSGlOl System that combines a remarkably inexpensive price tag ($749 plus speaker stands) with all the controls you need to make anybody's heart flutter to the beat. Melanie's hands are touching the veneer of the JVC SK101 three-way speakers with their big bass from 10-inch speakers as she stands over the JVC components that comprise this JVC remarkable assemblage including JVCs TX1 stereo tuner, AX1 integrated amplifier, LA55 fully automatic direct drive turntable with ADC cartridge, all housed for a neat fit in JVC's LK445 Audio Cabinet.

Once you've plugged in this Fisher stereo system you can be just as casual as Melanie about what a snap it is to bombard the frequencies with rock nuances. After all, who needs furniture in their playroom when $1199 will get them two Fisher DS175 speakers and a Fisher RA216 Walnut Cabinet racked with Fisher's famous FM660 AM/FM Quartz PLL Tuner, integrated amp, semi-automatic turntable, and metal cassette deck with Dolby noise reduction. And maybe, if you play your cassettes right, you may a smile or two out of Mel as you demonstrate the difference between sound and noise by using metal tape and the Dolby circuitry to make even the hardest sounds quiet.

Melanie wants you on your feet as she cranks up the bass on this day dancing machine from Fisher. No matter what hour of the day, or day of the week, Melanie knows you can set the sound to match the mood using the Fisher EQ2322 Equalizer that's part of this SYS85 System which includes Fisher's RS270 AM/FM Stereo Receiver, DD280 Stereo Cassette Deck, MT6360 Remote Control Turntable, ST4S6 12-inch three-way speakers on speaker stands, and RA9000 Cabinet. All in hi-tech black faceplates. And if a slow dance is called for, there's a remote control for the turntable so you won't get out of step. The whole system will have you and Melanie dancing up a storm minutes after you plug it in and turn it on, for only $1600.

There's no need to be conventional about your choice in hi-fi systems, and though some odd looking components may get a smile even from Melanie, nobody will chuckle when they hear the systems in action. Take these speakers for Design Acoustics for instance. The unconventionally shaped cube in the foreground may look like something that fell off a Comsat, but it is in fact the Design Acoustics D-12A and while it ain't cheap ($675 each, $850 in rosewood) the sound it produces will fill every corner of the room like nothing you've ever heard before.

Neatness counts and while some audio fans achieve neatness by racking their components in an audio cabinet, others try to keep the amount of gear they use to a minimum. For those neat ones this Yamaha A-550 integrated stereo amplifier does just as good a job as separate amp and pre-amp components. The A-550 has a low suggested retail price of $250 and for that you get 40 watts per channel with a very low harmonic distortion and all the controls you need to tailor the sound on the record to the sound you want to hear coming out of the speakers.

Melanie knows that the better the speaker, the better the sound. And that doesn't mean it has to be loud to sound good. This Yamaha NS890 will produce the kind of beautiful sound that only comes from stunning design and a three element system featuring dome tweeter, mid-high driver, mid-bass cone driver and 12-inch cone woofer. You may not care about Yamaha's patented vapor deposition process for clean treble, but you will like what you hear. Retail $530 each.

Big on bottom, not so big on top? Achieve, perfect balance by equalizing the signal between the record and the speakers. Audio Control's D-10 octave equalizer at $169 lets you adjust the bass, treble, and midrange octave by octave through the audible frequency range. So if Melanie tells you there's not enough bottom, you can do something about it.

Take a step into the future with JVC's DD-7 Stereo Cassette Deck. With metal, chrome or normal tape cassettes this deck is a silent steady worker, playing back or recording the sound you want with a quartz-lock pulse servo motor and and Sen-Alloy head combination that means you only hear the music not the cassette.

MELANIE TERMS YOU ON

Stereo System: The latest way to take your sound wall to wall, a full set of components selected by top hi-fi manufacturers to give you the electronics without the headaches.

Integrated Amplifier: Preamplifier and amplifier in one component, needing only a program source (tuner, turntable, tape deck) and speakers to make a complete sound system.

Stereo Tuner: AAA and FM Stereo in a component that is interconnected with your integrated amplifier to let you tune in on radio broadcasts.

Stereo Receiver: An AM/FM Stereo Tuner and Integrated amplifier combined in one package, all you need are the speakers.

Turntable: Automatic, semi-automatic, or manual, the turntable plays the records. Cassette Deck: A tape recorder/playback

component for audio cassettes. A deck must be connected to an integrated amplifier or receiver to function.

Equalizer: An elqborate tone control that lets you adjust the sound frequencies until they sound just right to you. Connected between the preamplifier and amplifier stages of your receiver or integrated amplifier.

Remote Control: A handy device that lets you tell your system what to do from across the room.

Audio Cabinet: An attractive home unit much like the audio racks found in recording studios. The cabinet has shelves for all your high fidelity components and often allows space for storage of your favorite records. A neat way to keep it all together and supplied as part of most stereo system.

Speakers: The place where all the electronic pulses turn back into the music you want to hear. Each speaker box is composed of a number of speaker elements specifically designed to accurately reproduce the various frequencies of the sound as a uniform whole.

This is only a test...but an important one. Those of you who've abandoned scratchable records in favor of audio cassettes should spend a few bucks on Magnetic Information Systems' alignment tape cassettes. Available in Ultra Quality (aluminum cassette case for $24.95 or High Quality for $18.95),,these cassettes let the serious recordist adjust his or her cassette deck of optimum sound reproduction.

Turntables sound better when theyve got direct drive motors under their hoods, as many of the turntables Melanie's posing with are equipped with. One such direct drive is the Sansui FR-D35 which retails for less than $200. With a direct drive like this Sansui you'll be assured of impeccable accuracy and a minimum of unwanted wow and flutter, which means your records will sound like they're meant to sound.

The Zero 6 speaker system from JVC goes to work not only on the highs and lows but also makes the mid-range sound into part of a smooth whole using the latest in speaker technology. Costing $440 each, the Zero 6 speaker can handle up to 200 watts of peak power, enough to make this modest looking speaker into a giant sound reproducer.