Alright, I’m coming clean. Believe it or not sometimes I just like my audio & video simple. I mean “one box” simple. I don’t want to pull another interconnect, power on three or four components in sequence. I just want to press a button on a remote control, hit play and start listening. Or, watching! Shocking but true. But (here it comes) it had better be high end. I’m definitely not going couch potato only to have my ears assaulted.
For the past couple months I’ve been enjoying the Primare DVDI-10 DVD-receiver and will be writing about this sturdy, understated Swede in greater depth in an upcoming TAS. Meanwhile this little multi-tasker and I have been having a bang up time together. It plays CDs and DVDs natch, but it also has line level inputs for three additional sources, all of which can be routed via the built in A to D to either of the digital outputs for recording or processing via a surround decoder. There’s also an LFE output to drive a subwoofer. It’s got a back panel iPod port where all meta data is displayed on the front panel and controllable via remote control. While it has a component, composite and S-Vid input (soon to become dinosaurs) I’m using the HDMI output which features an Analog Devices video DAC and 1080p upscaling from the Genesis FL12300 video processor. Power output is 75Wpc thanks to the cool-running and space saving Class D amplifier technology.
Performance is in a word, excellent. Sonics are smooth and relaxed. Speaker matching is important but reasonably efficient speakers like PSBs and Paradigms perform beautifully. Obviously this is not a Blu-ray player but resolution on my Samsung 1080p LCD through the HDMI output was crisp and artifact-free with standard def DVD. So far my only gripes concern the somewhat cryptic on-screen display, a muting circuit only available on the front panel and a general sluggishness in operation. Now if only this Swede could fix me up a plate of meatballs.
Tags: PRIMARE
By Neil Gader
My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.
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