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TAVES 2013

TAVES 2013 Report Part 3

Robert Deutsch Nov 06, 2013

The design and manufacturing of loudspeakers can be described as falling on a continuum. At one end, we have speakers that use off-the-shelf drivers purchased from driver manufacturers, combined with crossovers based on information in standard loudspeaker design cookbooks and/or loudspeaker design software (perhaps with "voicing" that conforms to the designer's preference). In the hands of a skilled designer, this approach can produce good resultsbut they can't claim any originality.

At the other end of the continuum are speakers that are designed and built from the ground up,, using design principles that, while perhaps not entirely original, represent substantially new application of these principles. This approach is much more rareand much more costly to implement.

The Muraudio Domain Omni ESL ($48,000/pair), which made its debut at TAVES, is squarely in the latter category...

TAVES 2013

TAVES 2013 Report Part 2

Robert Deutsch Nov 05, 2013

Turntables were much in evidence at TAVES, perhaps the most impressive being the TechDAS Air Force One, which had two versions of the famed Graham Phantom Elite arm mounted. Bob Graham himself was on hand, and can be seen in the photo. Bob demonstrated the vacuum hold-down of the turntable, the audible resonance of the LP when tapped being silenced when the vacuum was turned on. Impressive. The worldwide standard price of the Air Force One is $100,000, and the Phantom Elite arm is $15,000, but Bob said that since he's also the distributor of the AirForce One, he can offer a "deal" on the package price.

TAVES 2013

TAVES 2013 Report Part 1

Robert Deutsch Nov 04, 2013

No, you're not accidentally visiting www.motorcyclistonline.com. With some out-of-the-box thinking, Suave Kajko, President of the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show (TAVES), and Simon Au, Vice-President Sales of TAVES, approached Harley Davidson Canada about exhibiting at TAVES 2013 this past weekend, and the HD people agreed to participate.

What does this have to do with audio or video? Well, the top-of-the-line Ultra Limited Harley ($30,000) includes an "infotainment system," with all kinds of audio/video goodies, including surround sound. Here it is, with Suave looking suitably...suave (Sorry!).

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Sonus Faber Venere 2.5 loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson Nov 01, 2013

Sonus Faber is an iconic Italian high-end company whose loudspeakers have always evinced innovative technical design, superb construction, spectacular appearance, and great sound. I was intrigued with the design and performance of their stand-mounted Extrema (reviewed by Martin Colloms in the June 1992 Stereophile, Vol.15 No.6), which combined a proprietary soft-dome tweeter and a mineral-loaded polypropylene-cone woofer with an electrodynamically damped but passive KEF B139 driver that occupied the entire rear panel.

Fred Kaplan

Solo Piano: Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp

Fred Kaplan Nov 01, 2013

I would never have placed Marc Cary and Matthew Shipp in the same category of jazz pianists, but their superb new solo discsCary’s For the Love of Abbey (Motema) and Shipp’s Piano Sutras (Thirsty Ear)find them converging toward close points from different angles.

Headphone Reviews InnerFidelity

I Love These Headphones...The NAD VISO HP50

Tyll Hertsens Nov 01, 2013

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Okay, I know you're not supposed to give away the story in the headline...but I just can't help it. The NAD VISO HP50 is an awesome headphone!

Sweepstakes

Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones from Needle Doctor Sweepstakes

Stereophile Staff Oct 31, 2013

Register to win a Audioquest Dragonfly DAC and Grado SR80i Headphones (MSRP $298) from Needle Doctor we are giving away.

According to Needle Doctor:

Whether you are a budding audiophile or a serious enthusiast in need of a mobile solution, the following package is for you. The Audioquest Dragonfly and Grado SR80s are not only Needle Doctor staff favorites individually, but they work great as a pair.

[This Sweepstakes is now closed.]

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews Budget Component Reviews

GoldenEar Technology Aon 2 loudspeaker

Robert J. Reina Oct 31, 2013

I was introduced to audiophilia by my friend Gary Gustavsen. Although I'd known Gary since I was 13, I didn't discover his passion for music until that day in high school physics lab when I blurted out an obscure line from the Doors' "The Soft Parade," and Gary bounced back immediately with the next line. It turns out I shared my friend's passions for the Doors and Frank Zappa, but not for Mahler. Before long, Gary was dragging me to every audio store in our area to listen to potential speakers for his first high-end audio system. At the beginning of each trip he'd say, "Right now I'm partial to the Rectilinear 3s." Although I heard him say that many times, I never actually got to hear a pair of Rectilinear 3s.

Turntable Reviews

Luxman PD-171 record player

Art Dudley Oct 31, 2013

Much ink has been spilled, and rightly so, on the topic of the LP's recent and apparently durable resurrection as a playback medium. The corpse may not be quite as lively after death as before, but it is nonetheless arguably more Lazarus than Lavoisier (the latter having managed nothing more than to wink at the crowd following his time on the guillotineas he boasted, in life, that he would do).

Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Opera Callas loudspeaker

John Marks Oct 30, 2013

Colleen Cardas strongly urged me to try the Callas loudspeaker from Opera Loudspeakers (whose products she also distributes in the US), which she claimed was an ideal match for the Unison S6 amplifier I reviewed last August. In my experience, the stand-mounted Callas ($5000/pair) is unique among loudspeakers in being the logical contrapositive (inverted and flipped, so to speak) of the usual D'Appolito driver array of midrange-tweeter-midrange (MTM).