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LATEST ADDITIONS

LAAS 2017

LAAS: Jason’s First Impressions

Jason Victor Serinus Jun 03, 2017

As the second wave of registrants stood in multiple lines in the lobby of the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles on the morning of Friday, June 2, the Los Angeles Audio Show was already off to a promising start. And what a promise it was. The night before show's open, when I encountered the force behind LAAS, Bob Levi of the Los Angeles & Orange County Audio Society, in a hotel elevator, he told me that pre-registration had already topped 7500 people. That number, it seems, has set new records for attendance at an audio show in Southern California. It also undoubtedly sets a pre-registration record for any first-time high-end audio show in the US that welcomes the general public.

LAAS 2017

The LA Show Does Indeed Hit the Ground Running

Jason Victor Serinus Jun 03, 2017

At the opening ceremony (leftright): Chip Moore (Executive Vice President Programming, LAOCAS), David Robinson (PFO), John Atkinson, and Marine Presson (LAAS).

Attendees were already moving from exhibit to exhibit on the first five floors of the Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Friday morning when the opening ribbon-cutting ceremony began to take form. To John Atkinson went the honor of the opening keynote. Keeping it short, John reflected on his many years as editor-in-chief at audio publications, starting with Hi-Fi News & Record Review in England in 1982. JA's move to take the helm of Stereophile took place in May, 1986, a little over 31 years ago.

Integrated Amp Reviews

Arcam FMJ SR250 stereo A/V receiver

Kalman Rubinson Jun 01, 2017

Stereophile seldom reviews A/V receivers. We made an exception for Arcam's FMJ SR250 ($3600) because it's that unusual two-channel device: one that includes room-correction software, in this case Dirac Live. Many of us who listen in multichannel are comfortable with room correction, but a week doesn't pass without my hearing or reading someone say that they bypass room correction when listening to music in stereo. Spock-like, I find that illogical and, from experience, pointless.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Ortofon M15 Super phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt Jun 01, 2017

The M15 Super is the first high-output pickup to come from Ortofon. Previous ones required either step-up transformers or a booster preamp, and it is only fairly recently that either kind of step-up device was available with high-enough quality to avoid a noticeable degradation of the sound. Early step-up transformers muddied the bass, and previously-available booster preamps added noise or hardness or both to the sound. Now that there are excellent transformers available from Ortofon and other sources, and at least one extraordinarily good booster preamp (the Mark Levinson, at an extraordinarily high price$170), Ortofon's latest and best pickup doesn't require the use of either.

Jana Dagdagan

Steve Guttenberg: I am an Audiophile

Jana Dagdagan May 31, 2017

The Audiophiliac, Steve Guttenberg, is a long time industry heavyweight, a prolific audio journalist, and a wild "As We See It" contributor to Stereophile. In this video, Steve shares his personal background and offers his perspective on a variety of audio related topics.

Art Dudley Listening

Listening #174: Restoring an Altec 604E

Art Dudley May 30, 2017

There was a fight. And when the fight took a turn for the worse and things began being broken and thrown, it was time to leave. Not later. Not soon. Now.

Which meant he had to get as much stuff downstairs and out to the curb in as few trips as possible. Clothes and a few treasured paintings and photos were musts. LPs were left behind and written off. (Too many to haul, too difficult to choose just a few.) Likewise, the amps and turntables were written offsomeday there would be others. And the loudspeakers, in their custom-made one-off cabinets, were over 5' tall: might as well try moving the refrigerator out of the apartment. Twice.

Music and Recording Features

Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Again!)

Robert Baird May 30, 2017

For fans, of course, he's never been gone, not even for a minute. A jazz pianist who played from the heart and spent a tumultuous life fighting his demons while searching, as singer Tony Bennett has often said, "for truth and beauty," Bill Evans is now the subject of four previously unheard, recently released titles, on LPs, CDs, and downloads, of live recordings of his music. There's also, from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a new and superlative One-Step Process vinyl reissue of his classic Sunday at the Village Vanguard. Finally, there's a wonderful new documentary, Bill Evans: Time Remembered, a labor of love by a fan and titled for one of Evans's best-loved tunes. And, unlikely as it sounds, the demand for Evans's music is still strong enough to inspire a controversy over rights and clearances, 37 years after his death, in 1980, at the age of 51.

LAAS 2017 News

The Los Angeles Audio Show Hits the Ground Running Friday

Jason Victor Serinus May 29, 2017

For a first-time audio show, the Los Angeles Audio Show's (LAAS) June 24 stint in the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, adjacent to LAX, could very well move the bar higher for consumer audio show expectations. With 116 active exhibit roomsparticipation was intentionally capped so that show manager Marine Presson could keep a handle on things during this initial run348 brands and manufacturers, and a >8000ft² HeadGear Planet with 35 booths in the "affordable section" and another five in the "Xtreme section," this looks like it is going to be one helluva show.

Robert Baird

Gregg Allman 1947–2017

Robert Baird May 29, 2017

His finest moments came just after the death of brother Duane in 1971 and then-bassist Berry Oakley a year later.

Jason Victor Serinus

Warner Classics' Star-Studded Piazzolla Tribute

Jason Victor Serinus May 28, 2017

Newcomers to the music of Argentinean tango composer Astor Piazzolla (19211992) will undoubtedly join the already converted in hailing the arrival of Warner's two-disc CD compilation, The Sound of Piazzolla. Filled with one fascinating performance after the other, many of which were transcribed for the particular forces at hand when they were recorded between 1996 and 2016, this set will seduce many who are not already under Piazzolla's spell.