LATEST ADDITIONS

Shayne Tenace is a cigar smoker, like me. So once we meet up at shows, we know smoke is in the works! But first, business.

Peter Qvortrup and Adrian Ford-Crush brought a smashing Audio Note UK system to New Jersey, including the US premiere of the brand's TT Three Reference turntable ($63,000). It fed an AN-1S Sogon tonearm ($16,730), fitted with an IO I moving coil cartridge ($5586), then into an AN-S8 step-up transformer ($18,130).

The first thing to know about T.H.E. New York International Audio Show is that it’s not in New York. The three-day event, Oct 24–Oct 26, 2025, was held at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights, a New York bedroom community available by train, rental car, or personal vehicle if coming from Manhattan. Your ability to get to the venue was anyone’s guess, as no directions were shown on T.H.E. Show’s website.

Efficient and focused like the brand he represents, Technics business and development manager Bill Voss arrived in Hasbrouck Heights with a full array of Technics offerings including the direct-drive Technics SL-1210GME Master Edition turntable in a world debut ($TBA) and the recently released SL-50C compact turntable ($899).

The System Audio Legend 40.2 Silverback DS ($6414.84/pair including the WiSA Stereo Hub HT) is a floorstanding loudspeaker system of modest size, significant weight, and impressive solidity. Its sides are gently bowed . . . The appearance is cool and calm, with or without the grille.

Walking through any big art museum, even at a brisk pace, it's impossible not to notice how boldly each object wears the unique stamp of its time and place of manufacture. It doesn't matter whether the artist worked in Paris or Polynesia, in the 15th or 20th century. The force of the creator's persona, united with the constraints of the cultural system that supported the making of that type of art, determines the vibe the object emits. That vibe is what I'm hoping to grasp.

On my way to the Revox room in Warsaw's Sobieski Hotel, my mind wandered/wondered: If a voracious reader is a bookworm, is a tape enthusiast a tapeworm?