LATEST ADDITIONS

Capital AudioFest 2023News
Justin Webber's Ampsandsound
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 12, 2023  |  0 comments

Ampsandsound is perhaps best known for his amplifiers made to drive either headphones or loudspeakers. (See for example Herb Reichert's Gramophone Dreams #47.) At this show, however, Ampsandsound manufacturer/designer Justin Weber was showing his Arches monoblocks ($50,000/pair), which put out up to 65W each with KT-88 tubes or 85W each with KT-150 tubes.

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
Hear This!
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 11, 2023  |  0 comments

The Hear This room included products from Von Schweikert Audio, WestminsterLab, Lampizator, Small Green Computer, Sonore, and MasterBuilt.

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
Treehaus Audiolab
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 11, 2023  |  5 comments

Can you judge an exhibitor's products by the music he plays? Perhaps not, but when I walk into a room playing "Hotel California," that mad percussion ditty "Music for Bang, Baa-Room and Harp," 90s grunge (footnote 1), or God No! Jazz at the Pawnshop, it's all I can do to stay put and not scream.

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
High Water Sound 2023
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  4 comments

A dependable first stop for any show attendee, Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound room got down to business and quick. Offering a similar system to last year's but with new Cessaro Horn Acoustics’ Wagner II Horn Speakers ($65,000/pair), the system had considerable jump and force paired to a liquid midrange and absolutely clean, nearly medicinal, certainly soul-enriching highs.

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
Rogue Audio with Joseph Audio, Rega, Benchmark, and Darwin Cables
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  2 comments

I have yet to hear a pair of Joseph Audio speakers I didn't marvel at. That includes the small-in-size but huge-of-sound Pulsar2 Graphene standmounts ($9999/pair) in a room commanded by Rogue Audio. I left the room saying "Crazy! Crazy" to Rogue’s Nick Fitzsimmons and Bill Magerman, but before then I sat in dumbstruck silence.

Continue Reading »
News
Gryphon Unveils the Diablo 333 at Two Dealer Events
Stereophile Staff  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  6 comments

Gryphon’s highly anticipated Diablo 333 Integrated Amplifier will make its North American dealer debut on Thursday 16 November, 11am–6pm, at The Sound Environment in Omaha, Nebraska.

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
Old Forge Audio, Phonographe Distribution: Heretic, Thöress
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  0 comments

In room 801, David Cope of Old Forge Audio, in conjunction with Phonographe Distribution, played a joyous-sounding system that included my and Herb Reichert's current favorite loudspeaker).

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023News
AudioQuest Presents the GoldenEar T66
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  2 comments

Presenting the new GoldenEar T66 floorstanding speakers ($6900/pair in Gloss Black, $7200/pair in Santa Barbara Red), Ken Forsythe (AudioQuest), aided and abetted by Chet Pelkowski and Chris Volk (both from GoldenEar), got down and dirty, and insisted I join in. I did!

Continue Reading »
Capital AudioFest 2023
The 2023 Capital Audiofest Is Underway
Ken Micallef  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  3 comments

Like candy to an audiophile baby, Capital Audiofest 2023 is officially in full blast mode, a phantasmagorical thrill ride for listeners of all ages, and this age. The venue as in 2022 is the Hilton Twinbrook Rockville, Maryland.

Continue Reading »
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Snell B minor loudspeaker
Larry Greenhill  |  Nov 10, 2023  |  First Published: Apr 01, 1994  |  0 comments
Few products elicited as much excitement, disappointment, and debate among the Stereophile staff as did the Snell Type B dynamic loudspeaker (footnote 1). Both Peter Mitchell and I praised the Type B for its low-frequency extension, smooth treble, high power handling, and excellent dynamics. Corey Greenberg and Robert Harley faulted the speaker's sluggish and fat bass response, which they felt precluded a recommendation in Stereophile's "Recommended Components." Kickdrum recordings in pop and rock excited the Type B's bass character, a characteristic which was not so noticeable if one only listens to classical music. This bass peak was so prominent in RH's listening room that it colored the rest of the loudspeaker's range. As a result, he found that this otherwise fine loudspeaker was not as transparent as other high-quality dynamic systems in the same price range.

Help was on the way. Within six months of RH's review, Snell Acoustics introduced a smaller version, the B minor, at the 1992 Summer CES.

Continue Reading »

Pages

X