Vivid Audio Introduces Giya Cu Loudspeakers

KEF Debuts New Finishes for Blade One Meta and Blade Two Meta

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

Sponsored: Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.2 | Technology Introduction

PSB BP7 Subwoofer Unveiled

Apple AirPods Pro 3: First Impressions

LATEST ADDITIONS

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

PMC fact.8 signature loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson Apr 22, 2020

Back in the Dark Ages, loudspeaker design was commonly based on semi-enlightened experimentation, with new enclosure configurations appearing almost monthly in professional and consumer journals. One of those, published in Wireless World in October of 1965, was A.R. Bailey's transmission line, a long, selectively resistive, folded-and-sometimes-tapered tube that loaded the back of the (woofer) driver for low-bass reinforcement.

Art Dudley Listening Tube Preamp Reviews

Listening #209: Luxman CL-1000 preamplifier

Art Dudley Apr 21, 2020

It may come as no surprise that the two Recommended Components issues we publish every year, in April and October, are Stereophile's most popular. Both go hand-in-hand with increases in single-copy sales and subscription requests, and it's worth noting that equipment and record suppliers line up to get their ads into those issues.

As We See It

. . . and I feel fine

Jim Austin Apr 20, 2020

The High End 2020 show, scheduled to take place in Munich in mid-May, was canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus. The California Audio Show, which usually takes place in late July, is also off, although the reason for its cancelation isn't clear. And as we've just learned, AXPONA, the biggest show in the Western Hemisphere, has been postponed from its original dates (around the time this issue hits mailboxes and newsstands) to the second weekend of August.

The reason, of course, is concern about the spread of COVID-19.

Recording of the Month

Recording of May 2020: The Hot Rats Sessions

John Swenson Apr 20, 2020

Frank Zappa: The Hot Rats Sessions
Zappa Records/UMe ZR20032 (6 CDs). 19692019. Frank Zappa, prod.; Joe Travers, Craig Parker Adams, Jack Hunt, others, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****

Frank Zappa's first real solo album (he conducted but did not play on Lumpy Gravy) is probably his greatest recording and perhaps his most uncharacteristic in that his singing voice is nowhere to be heard. The one vocal, "Willie the Pimp," is sung by Captain Beefheart, whose Zappa-produced pinnacle Trout Mask Replica was released the same year (1969).

Audacious Audio Tube Power Amp Reviews

VAC Statement 452 iQ Musicbloc mono/stereo power amplifier

Michael Fremer Apr 18, 2020

VAC's Statement 452 iQ Musicbloc amplifier ($75,000 for a single amp; $150,000/pair mono, as reviewed) is tall, young, and lovely, but unlike the girl from Ipanema, it isn't tan. Nor, at 280lb in its flight case, is it likely to "go walkin'." Getting the pair moved into my listening room required considerable effortfortunately not mine.

Budget Component Reviews Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Fyne Audio F301 loudspeaker

Ken Micallef Apr 17, 2020

Located outside Glasgow, in a geographical area that's also home to Linn Products and Tannoy Ltd.and also near the storied whisky distilleries of Aberfeldy and Blair AthollFyne Audio got off to a fast start. A mere three years after the company's 2017 founding, Fyne already has distribution deals in 50 countries and offers 24 products in seven series.

News

AXPONA Livestream Friday!

Stereophile Staff Apr 16, 2020

AXPONA, the largest high-end audio event in North America, has rescheduled from April to August for 2020, but you can get a sneak peek at the new products audio manufacturers have in store by watching the show's Facebook Live event this Friday, April 17 starting at 10am Central Time—the day AXPONA 2020 was originally scheduled to open at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center in Chicago, IL.

News

Art Dudley, Rest in Peace

Jim Austin Apr 14, 2020

The hi-fi world has lost a giant, and we at Stereophile have lost a brother.

Art Dudley passed peacefully this morning around 4am after a short illness. The cause was metastatic cancer.

Interviews Reference

Going Dutch (& Dutch): a Conversation with Martijn Mensink

John Atkinson Apr 10, 2020

In his review of the three-way, active Dutch & Dutch 8c loudspeaker in the August 2019 issue of Stereophile, Kalman Rubinson concluded that "The D&D 8c demonstrates that active, DSP-empowered speakers are the future." I was equally impressed by the 8c's measured performancea superbly flat on-axis response and an unmatched control of dispersion over the entire audiobandand asked to borrow a pair so I could experience the speakers in my own listening room.

Revinylization

Revinylization #4: Sundazed Music/Modern Harmonic and Speakers Corner

Art Dudley Apr 09, 2020

Singer/actress Nancy Priddy's sole commercial recording, a 1968 album titled You've Come This Way Beforeoriginally issued on Dot Records and now reissued by Sundazed Music/Modern Harmonic (Dot/Modern Harmonic MH-8044)is a period piece. The arrangements, in which strings, flutes, Herb Alpertesque trumpets, a harpsichord, a Vox Continental organ, and New Christy Minstrelstyle backing singers all appear, are somewhat dated. (Indeed, the opening bars of the title song sound like the sort of cheesy electric pop that the producers of This American Life use as incidental music, apparently to express their limitless stockpiles of irony.) And some of Priddy's lyrics make the listener thankful for her poor enunciation.