Anyone have trouble with Dvorak Stabat on Telarc?


I have now two copies of the Dvorak "Stabat Mater" on Telarc with Robert Shaw and the usual gang. Both copies have heavy distortion at the climaxes. Has anyone out there heard this cd and heard it undistorted?
rpfef

Showing 6 responses by rpfef

The problem is not my system, which plays the Telarc Brahms Requiem and Dvorak Requiem and numerous other big choral pieces without distortion at nice high levels (104+db peaks on my Radio Shack meter). I have not heard any other format for this recording. I have the cd (DSD masters, according to the label).
I find Telarc cd's among the most consistently realistic of all classical labels. This one is an exception only in that it is distorted at the climaxes.
Anyone else familiar with this cd?
Shadorne,
The distortion occurs first at the very first big climax at about 3or 4 minutes into the first section. Ditto the next big blowout a couple of minutes later. If you get through the first movement without distortion, you have a better copy than mine.

My speakers are quite comfortable at 104db. This is a peak averaged reading, of course, and covers all frequencies from roughly 50hz-10khz. I have Shahinian Hawks and one of the many amazing things about them is how loud they can play without distortion or change in character.
Thank you all for your suggestions.

BUT:

I really need to hear from people who have actually heard this cd (Telarc 2CD-80506-- Dvorak: Stabat Mater). I do not have this problem with other Telarcs of equal quality and dynamics. It is the fact that I acquired a second copy and found that it, too, displays the same flaws at the same places that made me think of a defective cd in the first place.
I have listened at low levels and the distortion is still present.
I am using an Audible Illusions Modulus 3a. I am feeding it with a Jolida 1000a player which has a low-normal output and is extremely unlikely to be overloading that preamp. I am driving Shahinian Hawks with a Plinius SA100III.
It is THIS cd, in two different pressings, about which I am curious.

I appreciate all comments, nevertheless.
By the way, Shadorne, 100db in an anechoic chamber is not at all the same thing as 100db in a regular listening environment.
And yes, 104db is a healthy volume. But you will hear greater db levels than that in the first few rows of a concert hall with a large orchestra banging out, say, Mahler's Sixth.
Shadorne,
I think I have erred. Though I had listened to this cd at reduced volume, I never really listened at VERY low levels-- until now. I think what I am hearing IS, after all, clipping. I took the time to listen to a few other choral recordings and found, in every case, that high enough volume caused the very distortion I have been hearing. You'd think (or, at least, I would have thought) that after 50 years of playing with reproduced sound, I would have been smart enough not to jump to a false conclusion that I had a faulty disc.
In any case, this is a fine recording (though the piece is somewhat uneven--like the Requiem) with some exquisite moments of glorious music, solid performance, and superior sound. You will not be disappointed that you got the cd.
Shadorne, Some of the peaks that challenge my amp and can cause severe distortion occur in the first cut on CD1 at 6:30, 7:45, 15:00, and 16:20. The timings are plus/minus.