LATEST ADDITIONS

Saturday October 14, Gig Harbor Audio (3019 Judson Street, Suite D, Gig Harbor, WA 98335), from 1–3pm, and Suncoast Audio (7353 International Place, Unit 309, Sarasota, FL 34240), from 12–4pm, are presenting audiophile events.

Dear reader, please stop for a second to imagine how I could go from the above-mentioned MSB room to the $500 setup without feeling pain.

High fidelity took a giant step forward in 1956 with Peter Walker's introduction of the Quad ESL. Walker's research efforts had been motivated by his firm belief in the superiority of the electrostatic dipole over the box loudspeaker, but actually to take the economic plunge and market such a speaker was surely an act of bravery. After all, those were the pre-stereo, pre-audiophile days of the mid '50s, and the public's tastes and expectations were relatively unsophisticated. The average front end was abominable by today's standards, so that making definitive assessments of loudspeaker quality was a difficult task at best.

Fortunately, in a world of darkness, there is still light. And by light, I mean: hi-fi.

To paraphrase a classic early English song by Thomas Arne, “Where the big boys go, there go I.” Thus to the Marriott’s lobby and mezzanine, where many of the biggest systems found spaces congenial to their size, didst I head.

By the time the show officially launched at noon on Friday, the lines at the two registration tables—one for pay-at-the-door folks, the other for online pre-registrants—were long…

At 8:30am on Friday, my 2017 RMAF began on a solemn note: a moment of silence for Focal's Gérard Chrétien, who passed on October 1st. Along with Jacques Mahul, Monsieur Chrétien was an important member of the Focal team since 1990.