LATEST ADDITIONS

Robert Baird

The Stones Filmed Live in 2016 and 1972

Robert Baird Jul 08, 2017

If you can put aside the fact that what was once a rock 'n' roll band has now grown into a merciless money machine, and a somewhat creaky repetitive live act that hasn't made a great record since 1978, they still do deserve a nod for never saying die. To borrow a famous line from Midnight Cowboy, those boys are gonna die on the stage. And yes, we will certainly miss them when they're gone!

Jana Dagdagan

Jason Visits VTL: A Video Report

Jana Dagdagan Jul 07, 2017

One day before the Los Angeles Audio Show, Jason Victor Serinus, his fresh haircut, and I visited VTL Amplifiers, Inc. in Chino, California. We were given a tour of the factory by Bea Lam and Luke Manley, who were featured in this 2007 interview by Jason.

Analog Corner Tonearm Reviews Turntable Reviews

Analog Corner #231: Palmer Audio 2.5 turntable & Audio Origami PU7 tonearm

Michael Fremer, Herb Reichert Jul 06, 2017

Palmer Audio's 2.5 turntable, with its laminated plinth of Baltic birch and metallic features, looks Scandinavian but is made in the UK. It shares a few conceptual similarities with the turntables made by Nottingham Analogue, another British brand. The review sample had the optional side panels of cherrywood veneer.

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of November 1981: Citadels of Mystery

J. Gordon Holt Jul 06, 2017

Bernie Krause: Citadels of Mystery
Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-505 (LP).

This is a very hyped, contrived recording, but then nobody ever pretended that this kind of musical construction was supposed to approximate the sound of a live performance. The strings are quite steely on this but, in all other respects, the recording is is stupendousunctuously rich, smooth and limpidly clear, with some awesomely taut low end and cuttingly crisp percussion sounds.

Think Pieces

Cables & the Case for Solder

Peter W. Mitchell Jul 05, 2017

When you graduate from mass-market hi-fi to high-end audio, one of the first things you notice is that audiophile gear dispenses with the gadgets and gimmicks that clutter up the front panels of most stereo receivers and integrated amplifiers. The dominant philosophy in mass-market design is that features sell products: the more functions a product has, the more desirable it will seem in the store. High-end designers, on the other hand, prefer the KISS approach: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Tube Preamp Reviews

TARA Labs Space & Time Passage preamplifier

Dick Olsher Jul 05, 2017

Better known for their speaker cables and interconnects, The Absolute Reference Audio Labs (TARA Labs) has quietly branched out into electronics and loudspeakers. Their Passage is a line-levelonly preamp. I actually favor such a modular approach to preamp design. Standing as we are at the dawn of the digital audio age, the breakup of the traditional preamp into separate phono and line-level stages represents a more flexible, cost-effective design approach.

J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Three Pickups: Which is the Best?

J. Gordon Holt Jul 05, 2017

If you have read my reviews of the Ortofon M-15, the Shure V15-III, and the Decca Mark V, you have probably formed a pretty firm impression of which of the three contenders for the title "Best Pickup" is the winner. In case you haven't, though, here's a capsule wrap-up of our reactions to the three phono cartridges reviewed in May 1974.

Robert Baird

Sousa, Fiedler, and the Fourth

Robert Baird Jul 04, 2017

I tend to gravitate towards Stephen Foster and Scott Joplin.

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt

Don't Tell Your Friends!

J. Gordon Holt Jul 03, 2017

Stereophile's founder, J. Gordon Holt, photographed toward the end of his life by Steven Stone.

Editor's Note: The forthcoming August 2017 issue of Stereophile is No.451, but 55 years ago this summer, J. Gordon Holt was putting together the first issue of what initially was to be called The Stereophile. Here is Gordon's editorial leader from that issue, published in November 1962.

Jason Victor Serinus

The Los Angeles Percussion Quartet Moves Beyond

Jason Victor Serinus Jul 02, 2017

Imagine almost 86 minutes of superbly recorded percussion in which the traditional notions of steady beat, driving rhythms, and attention-catching melody rarely take center stage. Welcome to Beyond, a mind-bending /time-distorting three-disc percussion tour de force from Sono Luminus on which the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet plays a dazzling array of percussion as it explores the eloquence and beauty of color, texture, sustain and decay. Recorded in DXD (24/352.8k), Beyond is available as either a hi-rez download in multiple formats, including DSD, or as a three-disc album that includes two Red Book CDs and a Pure Audio Blu-ray disc.