The October 1982 issue of <I>Stereo Review</I> published what must be hailed (or derided) as the first reasoned assessment of high-end audio ever presented in a mass-circulation hi-fi publication. We disagreed with a few of the author's points, but our main gripe about the piece prompted a letter to <I>Stereo Review</I>. This is what we wrote:
Stuck out here in the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/498awsi">desert depths of the Southwest</A>, we look forward to visits from out-of-towners. So when <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/478">David Wilson</A>, one-time audio reviewer but now full-time high-end manufacturer, called to say he was going to be in Santa Fe, there was a flurry of activity. David had agreed to an <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/690wil">interview</A>, so I started going through back issues of <I>The Absolute Sound</I> and <I>Stereophile</I> for background. Vol.6 No.2 of <I>Stereophile</I> from 1983, with its front-cover photograph of David and Sheryl Lee Wilson with their WAMM speaker system, seemed a good place to start—except that nothing inside the magazine corresponded to the cover picture. It was the <I>next</I> issue that had featured Larry Archibald's write-up on the WAMM, and once I opened its pages, I got trapped into reading the entire issue.
Much of the <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/reference/50">descriptive terminology</A> used in subjective reporting describes things we hear in live music, and expect—or, rather, hope—to hear from reproduced music, too. I'm referring to terms like <I>width</I>, <I>depth</I>, <I>perspective</I>, <I>spectral balance</I>, and <I>tonal accuracy</I>. If you read our reports, you know these terms as well as I do, and since they are (for most people) self-explanatory, I will devote no more time to them.
I hate all those automobile reviews that go on and on about a car's design aesthetics. C'mon, I can see what it looks like, even if only in the pictures. Just tell me things I can't appreciate without a run on the Autobahn.
As much as I loved the zen of sourdough maintenance and loved the resulting loaves, I gave up my weekly baking sessions because of the "tyranny of the dough." Honest to God, it was like having another pet—worse, in some ways. Huck and Bagheera are cute enough that we can get cat-sitters when we travel. Ever tried to get anybody to feed your sourdough starter?
Bagheera makes sure I get her good side.
Huckleberry signals for more canned mice.
Daniela Edburg chronicles death by Oreos, M&Ms, and all our little binges.
I suppose it was about five years ago. Erica was explaining that some dude had accidentally erased all of the music on her "iPod." This, apparently, was some sort of tragedy. I tried to sympathize. "I can't believe that jerk! Are you alright?" I consoled.
Fifty things you ought to know by age 50.