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LATEST ADDITIONS

News

Audio Excellence at the Toronto Home Show

Robert Deutsch Feb 22, 2011

How do you convince people that there's more to good sound than MP3s played on an iPod speaker dock? Events like the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and the Montreal Salon Son & Image allow attendees to experience high-performance audio in a no-sales-pressure setting, but they're mostly preaching to the converted. The people who attend these events are already interested in good sound. But what about the general public?

Toronto-area audio dealer Audio Excellence decided to tackle the problem last year by setting up a booth at the annual National Home Show in Toronto, reportedly with great success. I heard that they were planning to exhibit again this year, so I decided to check it out.

Stephen Mejias

Giant-Killer Cables

Stephen Mejias Feb 22, 2011

The Isle of Wight-based company, Artisan Silver Cables, has launched a new brand, Giant-Killer Cables, “a range of painstakingly handcrafted audiophile-quality OFC and silver-plated OFC cables at exceptionally reasonable prices.” There are currently two options available&#151the Ultra-Pure interconnect starts at £49/0.5m pair, while the Quad-Core Silver interconnect starts at £99/0.5m pair&#151but the company plans to also offer HDMI and USB cables.

News

"Professor" Johnson Scores His First Grammy

Jason Victor Serinus Feb 21, 2011

After seven previous Grammy nominations for his engineering efforts, veteran recording engineer and equipment designer Keith O. Johnson has received his first Grammy. Together with producer David Frost, "Professor" Johnson won Best Surround Sound Album (for vocal or instrumental albums) at the 53rd Annual Grammy® Awards.

Solid State Power Amp Reviews Audacious Audio

Luxman B-1000F monoblock power amplifier

Wes Phillips Feb 18, 2011

When Philip O'Hanlon of On a Higher Note, Luxman's US distributor, delivered the B-1000F monoblocks, it took three of us to wrestle their shipping crates into my house and then into the listening room. Once they were unpacked, it still took two of us to maneuver each of them into positionat 141 lbs and 16.9" wide by 11.6" high by 23.3" deep, the B-1000F is far from easy to shift. Fortunately, O'Hanlon had also brought along a pair of Stillpoint stands specifically made for the Luxmans; the B-1000Fs certainly wouldn't have fit into my equipment racks. (The Stillpoints are lovely things. I recommend 'em if you go for the B-1000Fs.)

When O'Hanlon told me the price of the stands$2500/pairI asked what the amps cost.

"Fifty-five," he said.

"You mean the stands are 45% of the price of the amps?"

Stephen Mejias

Auerglass

Stephen Mejias Feb 18, 2011

Today I’ve been enjoying Ring, the recent album from Cameron Mesirow (aka Glasser), and it led me to this enchanting piece of art:

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker

Art Dudley Feb 17, 2011

Two years ago, I was drawn to the Wilson Audio Sophia Series 2then as now, the company's entry-level floorstanderby its good reputation among lovers of low-power tube amplifiers. "Forget the specs," they said. "Sophia is the one to hear." In fact, with its 89dB sensitivity (slightly lower than most of Wilson's other domestic loudspeakers) and mildly challenging impedance curve (less daunting than those of its stablemates, but not by a lot), the Sophia seemed, on paper, no better than average for use with flea-watt amps. But when I tried a pair at home with my 25W Shindo Corton-Charlemagne mono amps, I was impressed: The Sophia Series 2 was, as I suggested in my "Listening" column in the February 2010 issue, the product that will forever mark Wilson Audio's progress toward not merely excellent sound but beautiful sound.

Recording of the Month

Recording of February 2011: Markus Schwartz & Lakou Brooklyn: Equinox

Robert Baird Feb 15, 2011

Markus Schwartz, Haitian Rada & Petwo drums, miscellaneous percussion, loop sampler, conch, vocals; Jean Caze, trumpet, flugelhorn, conch, vocals; Monvelyno Alexis, electric guitar, percussion, vocals; Paul Beaudry, double bass, percussion
Soundkeeper SR1002 (CD). 2010. Barry Diament, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 43:16
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Think of flat, one-dimensional downloads of soulless, AutoTuned music that sounds more manufactured than played. Then feast on this.

Robert Baird

Babs, Mick and The Man From Space

Robert Baird Feb 14, 2011

Las Vegas ruled the night!

As We See It

Music Matters

John Atkinson Feb 14, 2011

I began writing these words on December 1, 2010, 13 years to the day that the magazine's website, www.stereophile.com, emerged from the digital darkness. That first, 1997 edition of our website was to a large extent the brainchild of one man, webmonkey Jon Iverson, who ever since has overseen its design and growth.

Features

Road Trip!

Jonathan Scull Feb 11, 2011

Illustration: Jeff Wong

John Atkinson and I were On the Road, whistling down I-95 in a big, Kona Blue Metallic 2011 Ford Edge Ltd with voice-command everything. To paraphrase Raoul Duke at the very beginning of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, we were somewhere around Princeton, New Jerseynot quite the edge of the desertwhen the drugs began to take hold. Just as in the original text, "there was a terrible roar all around us, and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car . . ." I decided that there was no point in mentioning the bats to JA. He'd bought the Criterion Collection DVD of Terry Gilliam's film version of Fear and Loathing at Princeton Record Exchange. He knew about the bats.