Listening #131
Whenever I'm moved by an artist whose work I've never before heard or seen, my first impulse is to wonder: What else has this person done while I slumbered in ignorance?
Continue Reading »
LATEST ADDITIONS
Introducing Audio Element of Pasadena
The long-anticipated opening of Brian Berdan’s high-performance audio store, Audio Element, took place on November 1 and 2 in Pasadena, CA. The store’s prime location in the heart of Pasadena’s retail- and restaurant-rich Oldtown helped sweeten the unveiling of America’s newest high-end emporium.
Continue Reading »
TAVES 2013 Report Part 3
The design and manufacturing of loudspeakers can be described as falling on a continuum. At one end, we have speakers that use off-the-shelf drivers purchased from driver manufacturers, combined with crossovers based on information in standard loudspeaker design cookbooks and/or loudspeaker design software (perhaps with "voicing" that conforms to the designer's preference). In the hands of a skilled designer, this approach can produce good resultsbut they can't claim any originality.
Continue Reading »
At the other end of the continuum are speakers that are designed and built from the ground up,, using design principles that, while perhaps not entirely original, represent substantially new application of these principles. This approach is much more rareand much more costly to implement.
The Muraudio Domain Omni ESL ($48,000/pair), which made its debut at TAVES, is squarely in the latter category...
TAVES 2013 Report Part 2
Turntables were much in evidence at TAVES, perhaps the most impressive being the TechDAS Air Force One, which had two versions of the famed Graham Phantom Elite arm mounted. Bob Graham himself was on hand, and can be seen in the photo. Bob demonstrated the vacuum hold-down of the turntable, the audible resonance of the LP when tapped being silenced when the vacuum was turned on. Impressive. The worldwide standard price of the Air Force One is $100,000, and the Phantom Elite arm is $15,000, but Bob said that since he's also the distributor of the AirForce One, he can offer a "deal" on the package price.
Continue Reading »
TAVES 2013 Report Part 1
No, you're not accidentally visiting www.motorcyclistonline.com. With some out-of-the-box thinking, Suave Kajko, President of the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show (TAVES), and Simon Au, Vice-President Sales of TAVES, approached Harley Davidson Canada about exhibiting at TAVES 2013 this past weekend, and the HD people agreed to participate.
Continue Reading »
What does this have to do with audio or video? Well, the top-of-the-line Ultra Limited Harley ($30,000) includes an "infotainment system," with all kinds of audio/video goodies, including surround sound. Here it is, with Suave looking suitably...suave (Sorry!).
Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 loudspeaker
Sonus Faber is an iconic Italian high-end company whose loudspeakers have always evinced innovative technical design, superb construction, spectacular appearance, and great sound. I was intrigued with the design and performance of their stand-mounted Extrema (reviewed by Martin Colloms in the June 1992 Stereophile, Vol.15 No.6), which combined a proprietary soft-dome tweeter and a mineral-loaded polypropylene-cone woofer with an electrodynamically damped but passive KEF B139 driver that occupied the entire rear panel.
Continue Reading »
Solo Piano: Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp
I would never have placed Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp in the same category of jazz pianists, but their superb new solo discsCary’s For the Love of Abbey (Motema) and Shipp’s Piano Sutras (Thirsty Ear)find them converging toward close points from different angles.
Continue Reading »
I Love These Headphones...The NAD VISO HP50
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com
Continue Reading »
Okay, I know you're not supposed to give away the story in the headline...but I just can't help it. The NAD VISO HP50 is an awesome headphone!
Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones from Needle Doctor Sweepstakes
Register to win a Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones (MSRP $298) from Needle Doctor we are giving away.
Continue Reading »
According to Needle Doctor:
Whether you are a budding audiophile or a serious enthusiast in need of a mobile solution, the following package is for you. The Audioquest Dragonfly and Grado SR80s are not only Needle Doctor staff favorites individually, but they work great as a pair.
[This Sweepstakes is now closed.]
GoldenEar Technology Aon 2 loudspeaker
I was introduced to audiophilia by my friend Gary Gustavsen. Although I'd known Gary since I was 13, I didn't discover his passion for music until that day in high school physics lab when I blurted out an obscure line from the Doors' "The Soft Parade," and Gary bounced back immediately with the next line. It turns out I shared my friend's passions for the Doors and Frank Zappa, but not for Mahler. Before long, Gary was dragging me to every audio store in our area to listen to potential speakers for his first high-end audio system. At the beginning of each trip he'd say, "Right now I'm partial to the Rectilinear 3s." Although I heard him say that many times, I never actually got to hear a pair of Rectilinear 3s.
Continue Reading »