Soothe The Savage Barrence
It's hard to fully illustrate using just sound, the scene of a now 60-year-old man jumping, growling and working the stage like a mad man.
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LATEST ADDITIONS
2015 Recommended Components Fall Edition
Components listed here have been formally reviewed in Stereophile and have been found to be among the best available in each of four or five quality classes. Whether a component is listed in Class A or Class E, we highly recommend its purchase.
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Each listing-in alphabetical order within classes-is followed by a brief description of the product's sonic characteristics and a code indicating the Stereophile Volume and Issue in which that product's report appeared. Thus the May 2015 issue is indicated as "Vol.38 No.5."
The Missing Specification
In the 1952 edition of the Radiotron Designer's Handbook, long recognized as the "bible" of the industry, the permissible level of IM distortion for a high-fidelity amplifier was given as 3%, with the alternate figure of 2% being cited as a "rather extreme" specification. We wonder what the author of that statement would think of today's solid-state amplifiers with their measured IM of 0.01% and less. And we wonder what he would think about the fact that these super-amplifiers still have audible distortion.
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Acoustic Research MGC-1 loudspeaker
There's virtue in being in the right place at the right time. The right place in this story was the headquarters of Acoustic Research in Boston, MA, and the right time was just a couple of weeks or so before the subject of this piece was to be shown (but not heard) at a press conference in New York. Even within that short two weeks, the rot started to set in. What I saw (and heard) in Boston on that occasion was a loudspeaker that stakes a reasonable claim on being revolutionary. A rare event that. The project name was The Magic Box and I was hoping that is what it might have been called when it went on sale. The Magic Box does, after all, conjure up an image of something a little special, and it's also easy to remember.
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Infinity HCA power amplifier
Imagine if you can a power amplifier with the bass richness, midrange liquidity, and high-end accuracy of the best tube amplifiers, and the inner detail, transient attack, and bass solidity and range of the best solid-state amplifiers. If you can imagine that, you can visualize what this amplifier sounds like.
Allnic Speednic Sweepstakes
Register to win an Allnic Speednic universal turntable speed verification system (MSRP $399) we are giving away.
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According to the company:
"Its price of $399 reflects its luxurious fit and finish. You'd lust to own one for it's handsome looks but Speednic's record player speed verification at any frequency during play with it's highly visible indicator makes this tool's ownership a must."
[This sweepstakes is now closed.]
HiFi Buys' Grand Opening In Atlanta, Thursday-Saturday
ThursdaySaturday, September 1719: HiFi Buys (3157 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta) will celebrate the Grand Opening of their new Buckhead store. To kick things off, Thursday, September 17, 79pm: Michael Fremer of AnalogPlanet.com and Stereophile will be on hand to discuss all things analog...
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October's Out Now!
Often copied, never equaled, Stereophile's 40-page "Recommended Components" listing is featured in our October issue, which will hit newsstands, mailboxes, iPads, and Android tablets this coming week...
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Duke Meets Plank
A great, if not the greatest Krautrock engineer recording Duke Ellington in 1970 at Rhenus Studios in Cologne Germany?
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Music in the Round #74
It has been a disrupted spring. Late last year, my wife and I committed ourselves to a long-needed renovation of our main living space: an apartment in Manhattan. Articles, books, and TV shows have illuminated the trials and triumphs of home renovation, but as far as I know, none has included a redo of the listening room of an obsessive audiophile, let alone one who is also an audio writer facing copy deadlines.
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