The March 2009 issue of
Stereophile is now on newsstands. I know this because people are
already complaining about the $107,000/pair loudspeaker we put on the cover.
I'm only kidding. I also have our 2009 production calendar tacked to my wall, so I know
everything well in advance. I don't need no reader's complaints to tell me what's going on around here. But, seriously: Don't we know that our country is in the middle of the worst economic breakdown since the Great Depression. What the hell are we doing putting a $107,000/pair loudspeaker on the cover of our magazine?
Um, maybe because it's fun?
Maybe because now, more than ever, we need a little escape. Maybe because, for the last couple of years, YG Acoustics has been boasting that theirs is "the best loudspeaker on earth" and we wanted to put that claim to the test. Maybe because it's
fun.
Fun!
You know what's really fun? Reading readers' complaints. No, seriously: I thought Sam Tellig's column was particularly fun in this issue. Don't try looking for Sam's work on the internet; Sam doesn't know what the internet is. "Sam's Space" is one of the few pieces of
Stereophile that you can't find online. You'll have to buy the magazine to enjoy Sam's excellent prose. Buy the magazine! At least Sam knows that we're in a recession. He spends (ha!) his first 1000 words discussing razors and the fine
affordable art of shaving. Yeah, that's manly. Just like hi-fi. (I've nearly given up on getting women up in here. Where my girls at?)
Strapped for cash, how's an audiophile to shave costs? Take up serious shaving, of course…
What do you think might give you more pleasure: a new shaving brush or a new pair of interconnects?
For a good time, Sam recommends Merkur razors and blades, Proraso soaps, and Omega brushes. Funny thing, though: Sam has a couple thousand more words up his sleeve and he actually spends them on hi-fi components. He reviews the Cambridge Audio DacMagic, a $499 D/A converter that can turn your old frog of a CD player into a real prince. He then reviews the new LFD NCSE integrated amplifier ($5995), an upgraded version of the Integrated Zero Mk.III. But guess what. Sam actually prefers
the cheaper, original model!
Crazy, right?
All of this cost-effective madness in
Stereophile? That's right. And there's more: Michael Fremer digitizes his beloved vinyl LPs with Channel D's Pure Vinyl program ($229); Art Dudley discusses the fascinating Audio Note TT3 Super turntable; Dr. Kal enthuses over Bel Canto's latest digital amps, the Ref1000 Mk.II ($5990/pair, but you
do get two of them!), as well as Pioneer's new BDP-51FD Blu-ray player ($599 and even your non-audiophile uncles will appreciate it).
D'oh! I almost forgot: Keith Howard goes totally berserk and drops the mad science on your ass with his exploration of RIAA LP equalization. Shit, man, this one article alone is worth more than our $6.99 cover price. Buy the magazine! There are colorful graphs and copious footnotes and
freaking equations dude and everything. You would've had to spend like $800 a semester for this kind of information anywhere else.
What else?
We have "Divas of the Diaspora" (I now have a crush on Lura!); in-depth reviews of the Aurum Cantus V2M loudspeaker, the Chord SPM 650 power amp, the Simaudio Moon Evolution P-7 preamp; Follow-Ups on the Hansen Audio Prince V2 loudspeaker, the VTL MB-450 Series II monoblock amplifiers, the Revel Ultima Salon2 loudspeaker, and the Benchmark DAC1 Pre preamplifier; record reviews, news reports, and John Atkinson pays a beautiful tribute to his magazine mentor, John Crabbe.
And more. So there. Go to your nearest newsstand or bookseller and buy the March 2009 issue of
Stereophile. Inside, you'll find cost-shaving tips that even what's-her-face-Suze-Orman can't argue with. (You know Suze's an audiophile in disguise. Where my girls at?) Come on,
please? John Atkinson's got like fifteen kids to put through college; Robert Baird has been smashing grapes in his office because he can't afford Mad Dog; I spent all my money on records and I've been eating dry black beans for weeks. Yeah, I just let them sit there in my mouth for awhile until they soften up a bit and then I swallow them with salt water. Keep us from this madness and stimulate that economy. You don't have to buy the $107,000/pair YG Anat Reference loudspeakers, but you
can read about them.
In
Stereophile.
