It’s like that t-shirt you were always jealous of your friend for having. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s the one that said “Famous Guitars”, and it had drawings of Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein or Rick Nielsen’s multi-necked Hamer. There was also a “Famous Drumkits” one with Kreutzmann and Hart’s two-man kit or Terry Bozzio’s tom-tom explosion. Gosh, those were cool.

Well now you can be that guy but with the famous hi-fis.

One of the most striking aspects of high-end audio is that you can never take any component for granted. Most of the radical change in audio at present takes place in new front-end and speaker technologies, but other components are changing as well—and with at least as much impact in making recorded music seem believable.

Saturday, November 3, 12pm: Advanced Audio Systems (6450 Tacoma Mall Boulevard, Tacoma, WA) will host a seminar with iconic loudspeaker designer Richard Vandersteen. The event will consist of product demonstrations and a question and answer session with Vandersteen. To register for the event, follow this link.

Friday–Sunday, November 23–25: The Hi-Fi Expo Sofia will be held at the Grand Hotel (1 Gurko Street, Sofia, Bulgaria). More than 250 high-end brands are expected to exhibit. For more info, visit www.hifiexpo.bg.

Although most audio perfectionists look down with scorn on equalizers, there are times when the benefits of such devices can outweigh their disadvantages. I discussed the pros and cons in my review of the Accuphase G-18 in Vol.11 No.4, but a brief recap here won't be amiss.