Fun, Not Fidelity
In the Stereophile forum, "ncdrawl" asked:
LATEST ADDITIONS
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Surrealistic Sound
Toward the end of the 1992 Summer CES in Chicago, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/66">J. Gordon Holt</A> ambled into Audio Influx's demonstration room. He was curious about which <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/592rotm">PDQ Bach CD</A> we were playing, as a fitting end to the show. We chatted about PDQ Bach live concerts and the grand-spoof entrances made by Professor Peter Schickele. Suddenly he said, "You know, these speakers sound real," going on to mention that he hadn't heard many real-sounding systems. I told JGH that most of what I heard at shows and in dealer showrooms nowadays was <I>sur</I>realistic sound.
If you had to spend eternity listening to only one song or one piece of music, what would it be?
John Marks ponders the deeper depths of audiophile hell with the following question: If you had to spend eternity listening to only one song or one piece of music, what would it be?
MBL 6010 D preamplifier
Don't be confused by the MBL 6010 D's oddly baroque, even retro looks. Behind all the glitzthe oversize, perfectly finished, black-lacquered faáade; the two big, solid brass knobs plated with 24-karat gold; the ornate lettering; and the incongruous digital volume displayresides a thoroughly modern, remote-controlled, unusually versatile, and well-thought-out solid-state preamplifier. Not that the 6010 is a new design. It's been around for a long time, and the current "D" iteration is at least five years old.
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Harbeth M40.1 loudspeaker
The best, most enduring audio products have in their favor more than great sound: They have some sense of history as well. Particularly good examples abound from the British companies Spendor, Rogers, and Harbeth, some of whose products were actually commissioned into being by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Better that, I suppose, than existing to fill a price point.
MIT CVT Terminator 2 interconnect & speaker cable
These are the first interconnects and speaker cables I have reviewed for <I>Stereophile</I>. Each of us has his little niche, and editor John Atkinson likes us to play in the sandboxes we most enjoy. For me, that has usually meant inexpensive speakers and expensive tube electronics. But there's another reason I've tended to shy away from cables.
Listening #70
<I>Stereo Review</I>, the world's most popular audio magazine during most of its time on Earth, was a common target of derision from the hobby's so-called <I>high-end</I> press, not least of all from me. We criticized its nerdy, boring prose, its uniformly positive reviews, and, most of all, its shameless pimping of the notions that measurements reveal all there is to know about a component, and that all competently engineered components sound equally fine.
Fun, Fun, Fun
I live by the axiom, “So many records to listen to, so little time.” That’s not an excuse; just reality. And it has nothing to do with being a music writer. If you’re a voracious music fan, there’s no way, no matter how many records per day you slug through, that you can hear it all. If today, I started listening to just my Beethoven Symphony cycles, it would literally be months before I could come up for air.
Music, After All
Audio shows are tough. As a member of the press and, more specifically, as a representative of <i>Stereophile</i> magazine, I feel an extreme amount of pressure to do as thorough a job as physically and mentally possible. (I should emphasize that I put this pressure on myself.) It would be outstanding if a single person could cover an entire show, spending quality time with manufacturers, dealers, and readers, while also actually having the opportunity to <i>listen</i> to the gear being presented. But no audio show is ideal—not even this year's <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2008/">Rocky Mountain Audio Fest</a>, which was, by all accounts gleaned so far, a great, great success.
RMAF'S Present Success and Future Plans
As John Atkinson (right) and I were saying our goodbyes until the 2009 CES in Las Vegas, RMAF co-directors Al Stiefel and Marjorie Baumert were compiling attendance stats for this year's show. Although the fact that there were far more rooms this year, with exhibits spread over two hotels, left some exhibitors thinking that attendance was down, attendance was actually up just over 7%. Almost 3500 people attended this year's RMAF. The Sunday walk-ins were 407—almost 150 over last year.