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Reviewer's Bio
Wayne Donnelly
"Seeking balance between
the right and left brains."
Having been raised in what I'd call an "anti-musical" environment (my mother's idea of good stuff is Lawrence Welk, and my stepfather considers any music intolerable noise), I've been merrily overcompensating ever since. Starting with rock-'n-roll, I plunged into jazz and classical in college, got into blues during graduate school in Chicago, and I've been an unrepentant music junkie ever since. I use that term because there's nothing more vital to me than daily doses of music. My favorite instrument is the female voice in all its infinite variety.
I plead guilty to being an audiophile, but it's the music that drives my passion for audio. While I admire elegant design and engineering, my principal demand of any system, component or recording is that it opens the door to emotional connection. I'd characterize myself as primarily a right-brain listener, seeking beauty and pleasure--although reviewing equipment also demands attention to left-brain quantitative and analytical matters, and I try to give those factors due weight.
As an equipment reviewer my interests diverge in different directions. On one hand, I'm fascinated by cost-be-damned attempts to create audio art of transcendent performance. But as someone who's always had to work for his money, I delight in equipment that combines value with musicality. I also dig tweaky ways to make things sound more musical. I look for opportunities to write about all those areas for Enjoy the Music.com™.
My favorite reviewer's hat is that of Classical Music Editor. We have assembled a great crew of passionate and articulate writers who cover every genre and musical period with lively, entertaining and informative commentary. After all, we all know that what matters most is that you….
A few facts: I live in Mountain View, California, in the middle of Silicon Valley. Now largely retired, I was for 15 years a communications consultant and writer for high-tech companies including Apple, Sun, Oracle, Cisco and many more. I enjoy urban and wilderness hiking, moves, exploring (often to excess, I fear) the San Francisco area's great food and wine, and -- in addition to logging countless hours in front of my speakers -- attending about 40 live concerts a year. Previous music/audio review gigs were with The Absolute Sound, FI Magazine, Ultimate Audio and Listener.
Main System
Room: The listening room per se is 14 feet wide by 14 feet deep; the pitched ceiling rises from 8 feet at the listening seat to 18 feet above the speakers. Despite the compact primary floor space, the system loads into a considerably greater volume. The room has no rear corners, as a dining room opens to the outside and rear of the left speaker, and there is a hallway to the rear and an open stairwell to the outside of the right speaker.
Loudspeakers: Meadowlark Blue Heron2
Analog source: Basis 2800 vacuum turntable, Graham 2.2 arm, Transfiguration Temper cartridge
Digital sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD player/CD transport with "Absolute Truth" and additional custom Bybee upgrades by ModWright; Dodson DA-218 24-bit/768kHz upsampling DAC
Core electronics: VTL 750 Reference monoblock amplifiers; VTL TL 7.5 line preamplifier; Thor TA-3000 Mk. II phono stage
Speaker Cables: Bybee custom-modified Eichmann
Interconnects: Bybee Slipstream & Golden Goddess
Phono cable: Graham
Power cables: Bybee (various), TG Audio Slvr, Transparent Reference, Vans Evers Pandora
Accessories: All electronic components are internally modified using various types of Bybee Quantum Purifiers. In addition, Bybee RCA Magic Bullets, Bybee/Curl Pro power conditioner. Shakti Hallograph Soundfield Optimizers, Shakti Stones & On-lines. Arcici Suspense Rack, Townshend 3-D Seismic Sink; Arcici Air Head + Polycrystal amplifier stands. Vibrapods. Goldmund, Polycrystal & Black Diamond Racing isolation cones. VPI DB-5 damping bricks. VPI HW-16 record-cleaning machine, Audio Desk CD Lathe, REVEAL & Auric Illuminator CD cleaner/polishers, Nordost ECO3 anti-static fluid.
Secondary System
Digital source: custom-upgraded Pioneer DV-434 CD/DVD player
Other digital: TASCAM CD-RW5000 and Harman/Kardon CDR-20 CD recorders
Amplifier: Jolida JD 202A integrated, with modifications and Bybee Quantum Purifiers installed by Bill Baker of Response Audio
Loudspeakers: Meadowlark Swift; PSB SubSonic 5i subwoofer
Cables: Bybee custom & DH Labs Q-10 speaker cables; Bybee interconnects
Accessories: Sanus A/V equipment stand, 6-outlet Noisetrapper rebuilt by Andy Bartha as Bybee power distributor; others as listed above.
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