I first spotted Audia Flight's exquisite-looking two-box phono preamplifier ($6100) at last year's Hi-End show in Munich, and now that Musical Sounds is importing Audia Flight gear, a review of the Phono seemed a good idea. I know nothing about Audia Flight or the designer, or what Italian audiophiles think of them, but the more time I spent with the versatile, exquisitely built Phono, the more I liked <I>everything</I> about it.
"Hello, it is I, C. Victor Campos."
Sometimes products are too cheap for their own good, and people don't take them seriously: the Superphon Revelation Basic Dual Mono preamp, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/184rega">Rega RB300</A> arm, AR ES-1 turntable, Shure V15-V MR cartridge, and the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/solidpoweramps/675">B&K ST-140</A> power amp. They can't be any good because they cost so little, right?
In my last post (and the story of why it was so long ago is an epic which I won't go into now), I observed that the listener I am today is a completely different critter than the one I was years ago. It's inevitable that time, experience, and liff its ownself change us—and change the way we perceive art.
Unfortunately, another esteemed audiophile company has bitten the dust (see <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/hovland_calls_it_quits/">Hovland story</A>). Of all of the audio companies that have gone out of business over the years, which one do you miss most?
Many audiophiles who have only recently subscribed to <I>Stereophile</I> will be surprised to find that those clunky, heat-producing, short-lived tubes that reigned up through the mid-'60s are still Executive Monarchs in the mid-'80s. Why, for Heaven's sake? Because, despite everything, people <I>like</I> them.
The <A HREF="http://www.hovlandcompany.com">Hovland Company</A> is no more. Less than 10 full years after its incorporation, the manufacturer of highly coveted Hovland Musicap propylene-film and aluminum-foil capacitors and visually striking electronic components has dismissed its staff and closed the doors of its manufacturing facility and headquarters in Los Angeles.
The sky over Madison Avenue is a sliver of summer blue. Steam sighs and whirls up and out from the old street like a thin white curtain in the wind. A few things, quickly, then:
<I>I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems scary and weird. It'll happen to you.</I>—Abraham Simpson
When I was a kid, I saw the Marlon Brando remake of <I>Mutiny on the Bounty</I>. I'm sure you know the story—lots of bad-guy/good-guy tension between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. There's also an overlay of class conflict, but with a twist: The up-and-comer is the sadist, while it's the aristocrat who is nature's nobleman.