Art Dudley

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BIS: simple and good
SSI 2013
Art Dudley  |  Mar 21, 2013  |  1 comments
When Bernard Brien started his company BIS a number of years ago, the refurbishing of vintage electronics comprised the bulk of his business—but over time, he says, he was struck by the sonic weaknesses of older wiring, and the potential for improvement by swapping it for new. A peripheral involvement in aeronautics led Brien to discover the suitability of that industry’s cabling for audio purposes: “It has low mass, low resistance, high bandwidth, and, especially, low mass,” he says, “and it isn’t very expensive.” Brien also touted the simplicity of his products with a phrase, the alliteration of which is lost in translation: “C’est un fil, pas un filtre.” Bien sur!
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Plug and play
SSI 2013
Art Dudley  |  Mar 21, 2013  |  6 comments
Meredith Gabor shows off a Qv2 “harmonizer,” manufactured in Massachusetts by QRT and distributed by Nordost. The Qv2, which contains both passive and active components, is meant to be plugged into an available AC socket in the user’s listening room, as (electrically) close as possible to the system itself, and is claimed to effectively “clean up” the soundstage and improve detail and resolution. Qv2s, the effects of which are said to be cumulative, sell for $350 each.
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Listening #123
Music and Recording FeaturesArt Dudley Listening
Art Dudley  |  Mar 07, 2013  |  9 comments
Let's say you're lucky enough, or just plain old enough, to have bought a copy of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood on January 12, 1966. Let's say you're lucky enough or just plain smart enough to have held on to it and kept it in perfect shape for the past 47 years. And let's say it was one of the first 500 copies, which the author signed. If so, congratulations: For once in your life, even the smuggest collector can't claim that his copy of a book is "better" or more valuable than yours.
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Peachtree Audio decco65 D/A integrated amplifier
Budget Component ReviewsIntegrated Amp ReviewsDigital Processor Reviews
Art Dudley  |  Feb 28, 2013  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2013  |  6 comments
Whether one was surprised, in 2010, by the success of Peachtree Audio's iDecco may have more to do with age than anything else. My peers and I wondered, at first, who would want their high-end integrated amps to come bundled not only with digital-to-analog converters but with iPod docks, of all things; at the same time, younger hobbyists wondered who in the world still wanted their integrated amps to contain phono preamplifiers. (Respect for the elderly, myself especially, prevents me from adding "and mono switches.") Color me chastened.
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Listening #122
Art Dudley ListeningTonearm Reviews
Art Dudley  |  Feb 06, 2013  |  2 comments
Sad though they may be, Flat Earthers endure in getting two things right: In any music-playback system, the source is of primary importance; and in a music system in which LPs are the preferred medium, the pickup arm is of less importance than the motor unit—but of greater importance than just about everything else.
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AVM Evolution C9 CD receiver
CD Player/Transport ReviewsIntegrated Amp Reviews
Art Dudley  |  Feb 06, 2013  |  1 comments
In a perfect world, all a serious record lover would need to enjoy music at home would be a single source component, one or two loudspeakers, and one good integrated amplifier. Speaker wire would be given by the dealer, free of charge, to any shopper who spent x number of dollars on new gear. Cable risers would come in cereal boxes.
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Spendor Classic SP100R2 loudspeaker
Stand Loudspeaker Reviews
Art Dudley  |  Jan 04, 2013  |  5 comments
In late 1996, as Listener magazine entered its third year of existence, the Spendor SP100 became my reference loudspeaker, and would remain so for a considerable time. My decision to try the SP100 was influenced by John Atkinson's review of its antecedent, the nearly identical Spendor S100, in the December 1991 issue of Stereophile. But my purchase decision came down to two things: The SP100 did virtually everything one could ask a modern loudspeaker to do, requiring in the process far less amplifier power than usual. Just as important at the time, it sold for only $3300/pair—which explains how I could afford them on the spotty salary of a teacher turned fledgling publisher.
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Listening #121
Art Dudley Listening
Art Dudley  |  Jan 04, 2013  |  3 comments
By the end of last month's column I'd invested a total of $290 in acquiring and refurbishing a 55-year-old Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr. turntable. In the weeks that followed I spent just a few dollars more on some small parts—one of which sprang from a technology that I don't believe existed in the 1950s—that made small but welcome improvements in the performance of this outwardly simple player. I'll come back to those improvements in a moment, but for now let's get started on putting Junior back together again.
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Listening #120
Art Dudley Listening
Art Dudley  |  Dec 12, 2012  |  8 comments
For the qualities I most value in a music system—impact, substance, texture, color, and, above all, the ability to play lines of notes with a realistic sense of momentum and flow—the venerable Garrard 301 and similar well-made turntables with powerful motors and idler-wheel drive are the sources to beat. Unfortunately, good-condition samples of the Garrard 301 and 401, the Thorens TD 124, and any number of exotic EMTs have become scarce and ever more expensive.
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DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Art Dudley  |  Dec 03, 2012  |  72 comments
Loudspeakers have been commercially available for nearly a century, yet those whose drive-units are mounted to baffles of intentionally limited width didn't appear in significant numbers until the 1980s. That seems a bit strange, given that the technology to transform large boards into smaller boards has existed since the Neolithic era.
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