Engström Monica Mk3 line preamplifier

Engström Monica Mk3 line preamplifier

Have you ever walked through fresh snow in the woods with all your senses heightened? When I did, shortly before the New Year, it was as if I was seeing nature for the first time, through a fresh lens. Never had white-coated surfaces appeared so white. Nor had shapes seemed so magical. It felt as if I had happened upon a pristine landscape unexplored by human or beast.

Revinylization #28: Coltrane's Live at the Village Vanguard and Crescent, from Impulse! and Acoustic Sounds

Revinylization #28: Coltrane's Live at the Village Vanguard and Crescent, from Impulse! and Acoustic Sounds

John Coltrane spent his final years with Impulse! Records, from 1961 until his death, in 1967, at the age of 40. Those years were his most adventurous, as he sorted through every sound he could create in his spiritual quest, as he put it, to "get the one essential." His range of recordings in those years spanned from "Greensleeves" to A Love Supreme, from ballads with pop singer Johnny Hartman to multiphonic fireworks with alto saxophonist Eric Dolphy.

Final Words

Final Words

This year's annual audio-industry cocktail/supper ceremony was held in a ballroom-like room that gave the proceedings a bit of an Oscar-night flair. (Our invitation to Will Smith was rescinded in light of current events.)

The Asona – Innuos Room

The Asona – Innuos Room

When I first saw the big black banner on the wall in importer/distributor Asona's room, which was, despite the chronological order of my postings, actually one of the first rooms I'd visited at the show, inscribed in big bold letters with Innuos across it, I thought: "Hey, Innuos, isn't that the company that makes streaming products?

Le Studio du Son

Le Studio du Son

Montreal retailer Studio du Son's room was a blast from the past, complete with peace-sign door beads, a 50s-style wood-framed Black & White TV—okay, technically it was a blast from at least two different pasts—vintage photos of old-school rock stars, and a fat-knobbed radio and record player console. Oh, and KLH speakers.

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