Precision Transducer Engineering MMMC Phono Preamplifier

Precision Transducer Engineering MMMC Phono Preamplifier

Feb 13, 2012 First Published:Oct 01, 2011
The phono preamplifiers reviewed this month are both affordable ($400–$1960) and highly accomplished, and the most expensive of them offers versatility that's unprecedented in my experience. Three of them are designed to be used only with moving-magnet, moving-iron, and high-output moving-coil cartridges, so I installed Shure's V15VxMR cartridge in VPI's Classic 3 turntable and listened in MM mode to all of them, beginning with the least expensive.

Philips Citiscape Downtown

Philips Citiscape Downtown

Feb 13, 2012
This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Generally speaking, my teenage daughter couldn't care less about headphones. But when I brought home a pair of purple Philips Citiscape Downtown headphones, she was almost breathless as she said, "Oh dad! Purple is my favorite color. Those are so cool!" Later, I peeked into her room; she was laying on her bed, knees up with legs crossed, one foot happily tapping the air.

It was with both pleasure and dismay that I realized I had just more fully enabled her connection to Justin Bieber.

Floods on Bandcamp

Floods on Bandcamp

Feb 10, 2012
I’ve mentioned my old band, The Multi-Purpose Solution: We play a type of hard, fast, guitar-driven rock and roll, inspired by all kinds of things, including: New Jersey, Sonic Youth, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, pizza, beer, brotherhood, women, Tom Waits, Kurt Vonnegut, Jim Thompson, anger, desperation, the Cure, and Metallica.

But I also make music with my dear friend, Todd.

Acoustic Geometry Curve System room treatments

Acoustic Geometry Curve System room treatments

Feb 10, 2012
For a few weeks each year in the high summer of Minnesota, the corn sold from rickety roadside stands is so sweet and tender it is best eaten unadorned. For the wise and lucky nibbler willing to forgo condiments, the rewards of eating these naked kernels are the pure taste of Midwestern soil and sun transformed into a juicy, golden confection. I've begun to wonder if the yearly encounter with this magnificent and ephemeral sweet corn reminds Midwesterners of the joys of simplicity and plainness. Though my hypothesis is a stretch, it sure would explain a great deal about the Midwestern mentality. Perhaps Midwesterners subtly learn from this corn that if we get too fancy or try too hard, we can often screw up what nature has already made perfect. Conversely, we learn that no amount of fancy accoutrements will make a bad ear of bland, mealy corn come alive in the mouth.

Book Review: KEF: 50 Years of Innovation in Sound

Book Review: KEF: 50 Years of Innovation in Sound

Feb 10, 2012
KEF: 50 Years of Innovation in Sound
By Ken Kessler and Dr. Andrew Watson. GP Acoustics International Limited, 2011. $89.99. Hardcover, 12" by 12" by 0.9", 216 pp. ISBN 978-988-15427-4-8. Available from selected KEF dealers and Amazon.com.

Ken Kessler's latest "coffee-tabler" (my favorite publishing-industry insider neologism) celebrates the 50th anniversary of the founding of KEF Electronics by documenting the history of the venerable loudspeaker manufacturer. While the book doesn't quite start with a bang, it does start with an evocative vignette. The year was 1979, the place the ballroom of Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty the Queen, about to present KEF's founder, Raymond Cooke, with the medal representing his having been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), inquired, perhaps formulaically, "This is for loudspeakers?"

Subscribe to
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement