BPO conductor Benjamin Zander selects PMC speakers for an ultra-precision 5.1-channel surround reference monitoring system
“I recommend PMC speakers to anyone for whom listening to music is a sacred act.”
For close to 30 years, Benjamin Zander has served as conductor of the world-famous Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, which was founded especially for him; he is considered by many to be the greatest conductor of Mahler’s works. When the time came for Zander to update a sound system for his playback studio with high-resolution reference monitors, he considered only one choice: PMC - The Professional Monitor Company. “I have found it at last: The Perfect Sound!” the maestro offers. “I recommend PMC speakers to anyone for whom listening to music is a sacred act.” In their seasons together Zander and BPO have traversed a wide repertory, with an emphasis on late Romantic and early 20th Century works, especially the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, which put enormous demands on the orchestra’s sonic range and therefore on the system through which he replays his recordings.
The reference surround-sound system was designed by Joe Less from JL AV Design, PMC USA’s Boston dealer, who worked closely with the famed conductor to ensure the highest playback quality. JL AV Design also supplied and installed the system components. Zander was supplied with a pair of PMC MB2-XBD-Active loudspeakers for the left and right channels, plus an MB2-Active Center, all of which are powered by PMC-Bryston Active amplifiers and crossovers. All three cabinets are finished in an attractive cherry veneer. For surround channels, Less chose a pair of PMC Wafer 2™ On-wall flat-panel loudspeakers finished in white and powered by a Bryston SP2 surround amplifier/processor.
Reflecting on the realism and transparency achieved with his new PMC ultra-precision monitoring system, Zander is almost poetic. “Warmth, precision, power, depth and, above all, truth. Ah, there's the rub! If the performance or the recording has the slightest flaw there is nothing to hide it.
“I close my eyes, and think I am in the ideal seat in the greatest concert hall in the world. Every detail, from the gentle swish of a cymbal to the complex texture of a Mahlerian orchestra, is realized with perfect clarity. I thought I had heard everything that audio could do, but this takes us to another level.”
The MB2 XBD is a development of PMC’s successful MB2S, with increased dynamics and LF
performance. Addition of the XBD cabinet containing a second 12-inch Radial™ driver increases the LF headroom by 3 dB below 380 Hz, which allows a larger room to be driven to greater effect. The cabinet features ATL™ (Advanced Transmission Line) with three sections in both the main and XBD cabinets that can be stacked vertically or side-by-side. The matching XB2 subwoofer provides independent 0.1-channel monitoring.
With his own orchestra and as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world, Benjamin Zander has become known as a musical maverick. His recordings with London's Philharmonia are some of the best regarded CDs of the modern era, winning prizes and selling in the hundreds of thousands. Of his Telarc recording of Mahler’s Third, Home Theater said: “This is one of the most revelatory moments in the history of surround orchestral recordings.” Of the Mahler 6th, High Fidelity wrote: “This recording is quite simply the finest Mahler Sixth. It raises the bar for the whole classical recording industry.”
Zander is nearing the completion of his recording of the complete cycle of the Mahler Symphonies for Telarc. The Mahler Sixth was named the “Best Classical Recording” of 2002 by High Fidelity. The Mahler Ninth was nominated for a Grammy® Award and was named “The performance of a millennium” by Fanfare Magazine. Both have been elected to the Fanfare classical music Hall of Fame.
The conductor has also released five highly successful CDs with the Boston Philharmonic, all of which are listed in the Penguin Guide - The Best Recordings of the past Twenty Years. Their recording of “The Rite of Spring” was voted by the New York Times as one of the Ten Most Important Musical Events of 1992 and even Zander’s phenomenal high-school aged Youth Philharmonic at the New England Conservatory where he has taught for over 40 years, has made five commercial recordings and several PBS specials on their 15 international tours.
Benjamin Zander is an internationally-known speaker on leadership and has appeared as a keynote speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He can be seen in an impassioned speech on the universal appeal of classical music on TED.com The best-selling book, The Art of Possibility, co-authored with leading psychotherapist Rosamund Zander, has been translated into 16 languages.
More information from
www.benjaminzander.com