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Munich 2025
Back in the Groove: Dual’s CS 718Q Builds on ’70s Lineage
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 07, 2025
Dual sales manager Lothar Mertens presented the company’s full line of manual turntables, along with an intriguing prototype: the CS 718Q, a manual direct-drive 3-speed model.
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T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025
Lots of Luxman at Common Wave
Julie Mullins  |  Jun 07, 2025
L.A.-based dealer Common Wave Hi-Fi is presenting in six rooms in Costa Mesa this year. The one I visited was showing a Luxman PD-151 Mark II turntable ($5995) with Luxman's LMC-5 cartridge alongside other Luxman components from the 100-year-old Japanese maker's limited Black Edition Centennial series.
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Munich 2025
Tracking Force of Nature: TechDAS, Kroma, Engström, Wadax, Jorma
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 07, 2025
TechDAS turntables appeared in several rooms. In Room F219, I was particularly taken with the Korf tonearm and the intricate latticework design of the Exquisite Vord Cartridge.
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Munich 2025
Guru Speakers Promise Swede Sound
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 07, 2025
Reporting on High End Munich is like navigating a blizzard. As I pushed from room to atrium to hall to lobby, products seemed to whiz by me, their presenters vying for attention in this international maelstrom of hi-fi. Amid my mad dash, a small speaker manufacturer from Sweden caught my attention: Guru.
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Munich 2025
Storgaard & Vestskov Speakers: Danish and Delicious
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 07, 2025

Danish loudspeaker maker Storgaard & Vestskov, a relatively young company, operates from Bornholm, a small island in the Baltic Sea. Their 150,000ft² production hub handles everything in-house: R&D, milling, varnishing, and final assembly.

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Munich 2025
Heavyweight Vinyl, Featherlight Detail: J. Sikora, EgglestonWorks, EMM Labs, Meitner, Kimber
Ken Micallef  |  Jun 07, 2025
Being an audio reporter definitely has its perks—like when you're in a spacious Munich room, listening to top-tier systems deliver music with astonishing scale and precision.
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T.H.E. Show SoCal 2025
T.H.E. Show Returns to Costa Mesa with Fresh Vision and Broader Appeal
Julie Mullins  |  Jun 07, 2025
T.H.E. SoCal show, held once again at the Hilton Orange County in Costa Mesa, California, kicked off today (Friday, June 6). It will run through Sunday, June 8. It's the show's 3rd year at the venue.
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Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Amphion Krypton 3X loudspeaker
Tom Fine  |  Jun 06, 2025
One of the things I value most in life is clarity. In my work, in my intellectual pursuits, and in my relationships, I try to cut through the noise and find the place where I can clearly see facts, goals, feelings, the big picture. If I can find clarity, it's much easier to form opinions, make plans, and take action. Success becomes more likely.

In audio reproduction, my values are similar. I can't enjoy music if the system is producing a clouded, muddy, overly warm, or otherwise unclear sound. I want the electromechanical representation of music to be richly detailed, sharply focused, and full range in dynamics and frequency. In that kind of all-encompassing and attention-demanding aesthetic, I can truly hear what the music is about. Under those conditions, the nature of the recording—good or bad, craft or crud—is plainly heard.

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MiscellaneousSpin DoctorTurntable Reviews
Spin Doctor #25: The Garrard 301 in a New Light
Michael Trei  |  Jun 05, 2025
They say that with age comes wisdom, and judging by some of my younger self's misguided choices, that adage could be true, at least for me. In 1984, after graduating from college with a degree in audio production, I moved back to England, where I had spent most of my teen years as a boarding school inmate. I had friends and connections there, and despite being a US citizen, I had some kind of sketchy work authorization that allowed me to work legally in the UK for up to six months. I connected with my old school friend Morris Gould, and we found a flat in South London to share as I looked for work.

Morris had been the de facto leader of my high school punk band, The Ripchords. Six years later, he was getting started with a career as ambient chill-out deejay Mixmaster Morris, releasing records as The Irresistible Force. Our apartment became a kind of hub in the South London music scene, with musicians and industry people circling through. Eventually, I found a job working at Music and Video Exchange, the gear-focused branch of the popular Record and Tape Exchange chain of secondhand record shops. At M&VE, the staff had first dibs on any cool gear that came in, and I remember being intensely envious when colleague Andy snagged a rare EMS VCS 3 synthesizer for almost nothing.

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Brilliant CornersPhono Cartridge Reviews
Brilliant Corners #27: Ortofon SPU Royal N phono cartridge (and Patsy Cline)
Alex Halberstadt  |  Jun 04, 2025
Back in the '90s, when I was young and marginally employed, one of the things I looked forward to most was going downstairs to my mailbox and finding a copy of Audiomart. The booklet arrived every two weeks, sometimes monthly, and was filled with classified ads for audio gear typeset in tiny, difficult-to-read print. In those pre-internet days, you needed a reference from a subscriber to sign up for Audiomart, which fostered a sense of community and safety, and if you wanted to respond to an ad, you had to call someone. Mostly I just enjoyed perusing the ads, but the prices for some of the vintage gear, particularly the less legendary stuff, were low enough that from time to time I could afford them.
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