Like an immense night bird aloft in the gold’n sky.
I should like to sail off towards islands of flow’rs
While list’ning to the perverse sea singing
In its old and bewitching rhythm.
It took some time to figure out why, in the middle of auditioning Rotel’s Michi S5 stereo power amplifier ($7499.99) with the room-shaking opening of Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ravel’s far subtler and perfumed setting of Tristan Klingsor’s lyrics from Shéhérazade came to mind. And then the pathway opened: As mundane a task as reviewing a component may be—listen to this, listen to that, compare to your reference, take copious notes, ponder, and proceed—we music lovers perpetually long for more. We want to be seduced by music and soar aloft on its wonder. We want to transcend routine, rise above the commonplace, and experience the beauty that can rise amidst the ashes. We want to fly.
Is that too much to ask of a dual-mono, class-AB amplifier that, despite its 132lb, 1200W power consumption and continuous power output of 500Wpc into 8 ohms (and 800Wpc into 4), costs considerably less than many of its rivals? Shouldn’t I be setting my sights a bit lower than flying—maybe content with a good walk on a nice spring day?
That’s when I realized what Ravel and Klingsor’s visionary exoticism was telling me. I hadn’t decided to do anything. The Rotel Michi S5 had taken charge, and the music had done the rest. All I had to do was open my inner eye, close my outer eyes, and surrender to the beauty that had engulfed me unexpectedly.
I felt confident that I was hearing what producer/engineer/editor/masterer Marion Schwebel hoped I would hear.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. A year ago, when He loved it. And here I was, having the same experience. I didn’t want to take notes. In fact, what I write down consumed just half the scrap paper I usually require for note-taking. I just wanted to find more and more time to listen.
