July 27, 2012

  • XLO Reference Type 5, Part 8

    20 years ago, my dad and I both worked summer school in the SFUSD.  My mom and brother were already in Honolulu.  So once summer school ended, my dad joined my mom and brother in Honolulu.  Thus, for the first time in my entire life, I had the house all to myself!  No, I didn't host large, rowdy parties.  But my friends did come over. 

    I do not recall which friend said, "You gotta hear this!," as he pulled Dream Theater's Images And Words out of his backpack.  We popped it into my NAD 5000, and began listening.  We did not know what this type of music was called.

    One friend suggested that Dream Theater sounded like Rush.  And that's a very good start.  Nowadays, Images And Words is lumped in as "progressive metal."  Whatever.  In 1992-3, people, tired of being hit over the head with shitty grunge, flocked to the clean, intelligent, well-played Images And Words.  Track 2, "Another Day," features a soprano sax.  One of my female friends (Patricia?) blurted out, "Hey, what's Kenny G doing on a heavy metal album?"  LOL!

    Um, no, playing the soprano sax is Spyro Gyra's Jay Beckenstein.

    Even KJ slept over a few times.  One night, while listening to Images And Words, KJ had ovarian pain.  And I was like, "Uh oh, is she pregnant?" 

    No, but she did suspect that her pills were making her sick.  Nevertheless, we continued to enjoy the CD.  KJ would sit up, and become entranced with the last three tracks, "Under A Glass Moon," "Wait For Sleep," and the epic "Learning To Live."

    In the 92-93 school year, I had Images And Words quite a lot, down in UC Santa Cruz.  Thus, I associate this album with that school year.  In mid-March '93, I brought it to the Stereophile show in San Francisco.  San Francisco Stereo Plus had a room with Adcom electronics, Tara Labs cables, and B&W Matrix speakers.  I played "Pull Me Under."  At the end of the song, and awestruck and exhausted attendee stammered, "What was that?!"

    Through which speaker cable did I think Images And Words sounded cleanest, tightest, grippiest?  The original XLO Reference Type 5.  Don't forget; Ultimate Sound always had a demo Ref Type 5 in use.  Regardless of what electronics that demo Ref Type 5 was used with, it itself was always fast, honest, revealing, and tight.

    Now, for some advice.  Even after you run the Reference Type 5 on the audiodharma Cable Cooker for 4+ days, you need to give it regular playing time.  How much playing time?  Perhaps a day or two.  And what music will give both the Reference Type 5 and your speakers a workout?  Images And Words.  Enjoy!