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Phono Preamp Reviews
Plinius M14 phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 10, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1997  |  3 comments
You think Watergate was a momentous break-in? You should hear what a good electronic Rolfing does to the sound of this meticulously built, full-sized, full-featured, and full-priced ($3495) phono section imported from New Zealand by Fanfare International. Out of the box, the Plinius M14 sounds like what it looks like: all silvery, hard, and steely. Just leaving it powered up doesn't do the trick, nor does playing music through it—unless you're prepared for endless hours of truly bad sound before the sonic clouds begin to break.
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Analog CornerPhono Cartridge ReviewsTonearm Reviews
Analog Corner #285: Top Wing Suzaku, HiFiction Thales, Analysis Plus
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 09, 2021  |  First Published: May 01, 2019  |  37 comments
For a phono cartridge to generate current and voltage, something must move: a coil of wire (as in a moving-coil cartridge), or a magnet (as in a moving-magnet type), or a tiny piece of iron (a moving-iron type). In those rare cartridges that depart from the electricity-generating principle of the ones described above, it can be a displacement-measuring device in which a moving shutter modulates a light source to vary a supplied voltage (as in an optical cartridge), or one in which voltage is modulated when a tiny chip of silicon crystal is squeezed by a moving element, which varies the chip's electrical resistance (as in a strain-gauge cartridge). But regardless of what it is that moves in a cartridge, something has to.
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Altec A-7 & Electro-Voice Patrician 800 loudspeakers
J. Gordon Holt  |  Mar 08, 2021  |  First Published: May 01, 1966  |  10 comments
In the introduction to "Recommended Components" in the final issue in Volume One of what was then called The Stereophile, published in May 1966, founder J. Gordon Holt briefly described his Top-Rated Loudspeaker Systems.

Altec A-7
A highly efficient horn-loaded system for use in large to very large listening rooms (at least 15' from the listening area), or for very high-volume "Row-A" listening. Excellent woofer-tweeter blending, moderately deep (useful 45Hz limit in most rooms) and very taut, well-defined low end. Highs smooth and slightly soft, yielding most natural high-end quality at high listening levels. Middles smooth, rather forward, placing closely miked instruments somewhat in front of the system itself.

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Revinylization
Revinylization #15: More premium jazz vinyl from Craft Recordings and Blue Note
Jim Austin  |  Mar 05, 2021  |  10 comments
I shall always recall fondly the hours I spent shopping for used vinyl at my "local," my favorite Portland, Maine, used record store. If you wanted great-sounding records of great music in very good condition, for just a few bucks, this was the place. My local did not carry much collectible vinyl, but that was okay: I was never really interested in the high-dollar stuff. It wasn't until I moved to New York City that I started to wonder where it had all gone. The proprietor, I knew, traveled the country buying up collections. It was the '00s; he would have encountered many valuable records—so where did they go? He was a total luddite—not the type to sell on eBay, I knew.
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Re-Tales
Re-Tales #6: Online sales get personal
Julie Mullins  |  Mar 04, 2021  |  7 comments
It's 2021, and the audio business marches ever onward. Accelerated by the pandemic, economic transformation continues apace; online sales are burgeoning across all industries. This includes hi-fi, which is under pressure to facilitate more online sales, and—maybe, for some—move away from the traditional dealer-based sales model.
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Turntable Reviews
Schiit Audio Sol turntable
Ken Micallef  |  Mar 03, 2021  |  11 comments
Many established audio manufacturers owe their success, at least partly, to their components' signature sound. Consider the laidback "pipe and slippers" mien of my 1978 Spendor BC-1 loudspeakers, the rich tonal palette of my Shindo Laboratory amplifiers, or the celebrated drive and timing of late-'50s era Thorens TD-124 and Garrard 301 turntables.
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My Back Pages
Remembering live music in Europe
Thomas Conrad  |  Mar 02, 2021  |  13 comments
I wrote an article for the March 2017 issue of Stereophile called "The Permanent Jazz Festival: The Rise of Europe and the Future of Jazz." It presented two theses: that much of the energy in jazz now comes out of Europe, and that the best place to feel that energy is in the crowd at a European jazz festival. There are hundreds of them throughout the year.
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Analog CornerPhono Cartridge Reviews
Analog Corner #307: HiFiction X-Quisite ST, AC Power, PS Audio
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 01, 2021  |  57 comments
I'm an audiophile and live in North America—seems like a perfect fit for the Facebook group Audiophiles - North America, right? Wrong!

On my first visit, I noticed that a group member had asked for speaker cable suggestions. Another member posted a picture of a 100' spool of 16-gauge lamp cord costing $14, accompanied by the suggestion "This is all you need." The implication: That's all anyone needs, because cables are "snake oil.

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Sponsored Webinar
Sonus faber Presents a Discussion of Their Lumina Family of Passive Loudspeakers, Palladio Architectural Series, and Gravis Subwoofers!
Stereophile Staff  |  Feb 26, 2021  |  0 comments

LIVE: Friday, March 5, 2021 - 12:00PM ET

Join us when Sonus faber will present a brief journey through the history, philosophy, and technology of their company and how these apply to their latest products. Featuring the new Lumina family of passive loudspeakers, Palladio architectural series, and Gravis Subwoofers.

UPDATE: This webinar is now available for replay!

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Stand Loudspeaker Reviews
Sony SA-Z1 nearfield active speaker system
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Feb 26, 2021  |  19 comments
On top of a desk, an audio system must be able to deliver satisfying sound in a nonoptimal environment: a flat, reflective plane (the desktop) cluttered with keyboard (or maybe a laptop computer); a mouse; assorted papers, books, and trash; and, perpendicular to that, another flat, reflective plane (the computer display), which, if it's not a tiny laptop screen, will block some of the soundwaves emanating from the speakers. Such sonically inhospitable spaces can consign 3D stereo imaging (and other desirable sonic traits) to the realm of the imagination.
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