Surveying the soundscape.

Mono a Mono: It's time to revisit a couple of topics from previous columns: mono music reproduction and CD reissues, particularly of the jazz genre. This is in response to emails received at the office and forwarded along.

On the jazz CD reissue topic, hunter-gatherers can spot many new CD releases of vintage jazz LPs on the website of Jazz Messengers (www.jazzmessengers.com). It's based in Europe and important label that shows up there is Lone Hill Jazz, which comes out of Spain. My recent purchases include a two well-produced CD compilations, one collects drummer Dave Bailey's three Epic label LPs and the other has all the studio recordings by guitarist Sal Salvador's quartet featuring pianist-vibist Eddie Costa.

You can get on the Lone Hill Jazz mailing list and receive print catalogs regularly (yes, all the way from Spain) by putting your mailing address in an email to [e-mail]. That will probably get you on the Jazz Messengers catalog mailing list, too.

I did not buy directly from Lone Hill Jazz or Jazz Messengers and you might not care to either. They quote prices in euros and shipping from across the pond can be slow or costly, or both. There are stateside vendors who regularly handle these releases. You can find their online shops or storefronts through eBay, Amazon.com, or Half.com. Search for a title of interest at one of those sites and you'll spot the dealers who can help.

My impression is that the dealers buy bunches of the titles when they are released and don't always restock in a hurry. So when you see some music that will fill a hole in your collection, place the order without delay. I just did that with Oscar Pettiford: Complete Big Band Studio Recordings. Remember: "Everything is a limited edition."

Now let's get back again to the matter of mono. This was the lead-off item on a reader's emailed list headed "topics of interest." He elaborated further by suggesting a discussion of pros and cons of a mono music system, what equipment might be required for going from stereo to mono and perhaps an example of such a system. He parenthetically described his conception of a mono system as one with one speaker only.

I'm going to amend that and offer an alternative description of mono as one-channel sound. That one channel of sound can be reproduced in a listening room by two or more speakers and it would still be a mono system. In fact, a single channel hi-fi system with more than one speaker system was not unusual in pre-stereo days.

Using more than one speaker system added considerably to the listening experience. Having the single channel of sound fed into the room from two locations helped avoid standing waves and dead spots. The speakers usually would not be placed symmetrically facing a central listening area and often would not be a matching set. The idea was not to create a stable image but rather to fill the room with music.

And that leads to one of the pros of mono reproduction. It totally avoids the idea of a sweet spot for listening. Concerns over stereo imaging or defining a stereo soundstage simply don't exist. In fact, I'd suggest that when you play music as accompaniment to a party or dinner, you would provide the most enjoyable listening for the group by paralleling the channels of your stereo or surround sound system and sending that combined undifferentiated sound to all available speakers.

The biggest disadvantage to single-channel reproduction these days is the source material. What I said above presumes that you have recordings that will still sound okay when the channels are combined. That used to be guaranteed. In the early days of stereo recording, engineers took great pains to ensure that the music would sound right when the two channels were paralleled for mono listening. At that time, there was no stereo radio and a recording that did not play well over single channel AM or FM wasn't going to sell well.

I doubt that any recording engineers these days listen to a mono mix of their stereo recordings, let alone their surround sound productions. The need to cater to a mono market just isn't there any more. So if you do set up a mono system, you'll probably be most happy listening to recordings that were single channel productions and nearly as happy listening to paralleled stereo recordings that date to the late '50s and early '60s. That applies to radio listening, too. You better have an oldies or non-smooth jazz or traditional country station in your town.

In terms of required equipment, single channel power amps are easy to find and it should be possible to find a dealer who would sell you one speaker system. If the salesperson looks at you funny, just say you like a really high quality center channel.

The front end of the system is another matter. You're likely to have to go to the vintage market (yes, we're talking eBay again) for a single-channel preamp. You can use any turntable and any stereo cartridge. Just parallel the signal coming out to get one combined left and right. You can do that at the end of the phono signal cable with a Y-adapter or you can put a bit of wire on the output pins of the cartridge to tie the left and right channels together at the source.

Your tuner will have to be vintage, too, or at least have a switch on the front to throw it into mono reception. You could also use the Y-adapter solution.

I would claim, however, that the only reason someone would crave a mono system would be to play single-channel recordings as an exercise in appropriate technology. And even at that, a thoroughly mono system isn't really much more appropriate than simply paralleling left and right channels when playing a mono record.

For an example, I'll tell you what works for me. I have a Garrard RC-80 changer with a GE RPX cartridge in one headshell and a paralleled Shure M7D in another. This feeds into a Fisher 90-C preamp which in turn feeds a pair of available line-level inputs in my stereo system, using a Y-adapter to get the single channel signal into both channels.

I mainly use this lash-up for playing 78s, but I'll occasionally throw on a stack of 45s or early LPs. The sound quality can be quite good and I like the feeling of proximity to the artists that get when I listen to recordings that are not far removed in technology from the original performances.

Woot Point: From Woot (www.woot.com): Mental health professionals across the country are reporting an alarming rise in iPod Grief Syndrome, as consumers are thrown into deep depression upon losing their expensive, high-capacity MP3 players.

"We're creating a generation of casualties," writes Stanford University researcher Stephanie Cupertino in her book Greatly Insane: iGS and the Future of America. "One careless moment on a subway or at the gym, and iGS sets in. Not only did iGS sufferers invest large amounts of their barista tips in their now-lost iPods, they also store their most beloved music on the devices' ample hard drives.

Did the "barista tips" tip you off? Was it the purported book title? Or are you already familiar with Woot and the tongue-in-cheek stories it fabricates to support its daily sales? In this case, the item offered was a refurbed SanDisk 512 Mb MP3 player with FM tuner for $22.95 plus $5.00 shipping.

Don't hurry off to the Woot website to place an order. You can't get one from them any more. Woot's motto is "One Day, One Deal." The company offers just one item each day (with the exception of an occasional "Bag of Crap" sale which Woot uses to get rid of leftovers) and closes sales on that thing either at midnight central time or when the supply is depleted. The day for that SanDisk player has long passed.

I've seen daily offers for an RCA Lyra MP3 Video Jukebox, a wide screen HD ready LCD TV, a fancy toaster over, an inflatable twin bed mattress, a set of 90-degree USB adaptors, and a reusable underwater 35mm camera.

The prices are generally much lower than any in-store or online deal you might run into. Shipping is $5 no matter how big or little the item is or how many you order.

And the daily stories are generally amusing.

I can tell you, however, that although "iPod Grief Syndrome" has never really been identified as a psychological state worthy of academic interest, it does have some anecdotal reality.

I got the full story directly from the afflicted person, Dave Hassett. Dave is the son of a friend and the nephew of the William Hassett who founded Improv Records and produced some 10 LPs, including the all but legendary Bill Evans-Tony Bennett sessions.

Dave told me about his iPod and how much he loved to use it. "It has my whole life on it," he said, explaining that it held not only current favorites, but the music he has enjoyed for many years and in many different circumstances. He got a kick out of using the random playback feature and never knowing which part of his listening history might be brought to mind by the next song. You can read similar sentiments by a Newsweek "My Turn" contributor at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7763473/site/newsweek/.

One day, Dave strapped his iPod to his arm and took off on a bike ride. Yes, supposedly earphone listening while biking is a bad idea but that's an issue for another day. On this day, a sudden rainstorm became the issue.

Dave turned the band that held the iPod to his arm in hopes of blocking the torrent with his flesh and bone and protecting the little electronic device from the raging elements. It didn't work. Water got into the iPod and all access to the contents--to the life--was lost. The grief set in.

Of course, as in almost all cases of iPod loss, the music was still safely stored on the hard drive of the computer from which the iPod was loaded. Dave's grief, therefore, was based on a temporary loss of access and the likelihood of a significant financial loss.

Knowing that he was not as strong a negotiator as his wife, Dave pressed her into service and sent her with iPod in hand to the local Apple store. She found that the only person who was allowed to talk to customers about these sorts of issues was the resident Genius employed by and empowered at the store. (I'm not kidding here. This is the actual Apple term for this person.) Unfortunately, the Genius was taking dinner and wouldn't be back for a half hour. Since the Apple store was in a major mall, she said she'd be back and went off to do some shopping.

When she returned a half-hour later, the Genius hadn't yet showed up. She insisted upon addressing the manager who, in the face of a significant force, caved in and accepted the iPod in the name of his company and promised to place it before the Genius for proper investigation and consideration.

When the Genius ultimately investigated and considered, he deigned to exchange the damaged and failed iPod for a working one. Dave accepted, of course, reloaded and had his listening life restored.

So Woot's apparent invention of an iPod Grief Syndrome may well have more reality than as a selling point for inexpensive and easily replaceable MP3 players. It's another example of life imitating (commercial) art.

So if you're an iPod user, please be careful out there.

Shhhhhhhhh: The Bose folks have a new noise-canceling headphone product, the QuietComfort 3. This one doesn't replace the QuietComfort 2 but rather gives potential customers a choice between around the ear (QC2) and on the ear (QC3) configurations. The price of the QC3 is $349. The price of the QC2 remains at $299.

I got to wear and hear the QuietComfort 3 phones for a short time at the Bose presentation for the press. They sounded quite good and were, for me, quite comfortable. Bose says the QC3 offers "the same audio performance" as the well-received QuietComfort 2 model. I've never heard the QC2, but I can assure you that the QC3 acquits itself much better than the original QuietComfort headphones. The originals lacked both depth and breadth in their musical reproduction. I used them only when the noise cancellation feature was important enough to warrant putting up with less than stellar audio performance.

I believe now that the diminished listening value of the original QuietComfort set was at least partially explained by the low-level electronic interference that the phones themselves imposed on the audio. At the QC3 introduction, Bose engineers confidently stated that inherent noise of both the QC2 and QC3 has been reduced to inaudibility. From my audition of the QC3, I'd agree with that characterization for the QC3 model at least.

I'm still partial to passive noise blocking phones however. That's the in the ear type offered by Shure, Etymotic Research, and Ultimate Ears. They work like earplugs to block noise and have miniature drivers that feed sound through the plugs. I appreciate the very effective noise blocking, the extreme portability, and the pleasing musical response of the passive blocking phones that I've heard. Not having to change or charge batteries is a nice thing, too.

So if you're shopping for a headset that will attenuate outside noise, you should check out not only the active models from Bose, Sony, Koss, Sennheiser and others, but also the passive ones like those listed in the paragraph above. Prices tend to be similar across types and brands.

Getting Dizzy: That Bose QuietComfort 3 presentation took me to New York City for a couple of days. As is my habit on such occasions, I spent one of them strolling around with very little plan, putting my trust in the serendipity of the city. And as often happens, I was well rewarded.

Heading east on 57th St, I saw the beneficent visage of John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie filling most of a very large sign enveloping the upper level of the Tourneau watch store at the corner of Madison Ave. The text announced a Dizzy Gillespie Exhibition in the Tourneau Gallery in the store's lower level.

I made my way to the crosswalk and then over toward the entry. As I approached, a gent held out a card with another photo of Dizzy on it said, "We're presenting a jazz concert right now in the atrium. Jon Faddis." And directed me around to the right.

There indeed was Mr. Faddis performing on trumpet with his working quartet. The group included pianist extraordinaire David Hazeltine and the excellent rhythm duo of Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Dion Parson on drums. For the presentation "Teranga," the title tune from Faddis's latest CD, two young percussionists playing African instruments--sabor, djembe, and talking drums--joined the quartet.

The Tourneau Time Machine Atrium is a very large space and it was filled to capacity. I found some standing room near the WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM table. WBGO, in partnership with Oris and Tourneau, presented the free concert. Just to my right across the aisle I spotted flautist Frank Wess and learned from the program that he played alto flute on the recorded performance of "Teranga."

Since the concert took place in the shadow of Dizzy Gillespie, Faddis called "A Night In Tunisia" as the closer and invited two of his students to sit in with the group. One played trumpet and held his own beside Faddis. The other took Hazeltine's place for various youthful and inventive keyboard choruses.

After the concert, I continued into the Tourneau store and down to the exhibition hall to see the Gillespie collection. It was quite a marvel. There were vintage records and album covers, rare photos, posters, programs, musical items and scores, and personal effects. A large projection screen was showing "Dizzy Gillespie In Cuba: A Night In Havana," an unusually deep and intimate portrait of Gillespie from 1988.

Why, you may ask, does a watch company put on an exhibition like this? Since 1997, Oris has created a series of watches dedicated to and highlighting the careers of renowned jazz artists. A Dizzy Gillespie Timepiece is the latest. Previous models were named for and designed with thoughts of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, and others.

You can see them by visiting www.oriswatch.com. You won't see the Gillespie model there yet. I imagine it will show up on the Oris site soon.