Accustomed to US shows that close down at 4pm on Sunday, I paced myself to visit the well-over 30 rooms not yet seen in the Sobieski hotel, and then head diagonally across…
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Most US shows experience a big drop in attendance on Sunday. Not at Audio Video 2022. Over 90% of Poland's residents may identify as Catholic, but that didn't stop thousands of them from visiting the Warsaw Show's three sites on the last day of the show. I still had to play musical chairs in many rooms before finally landing in or close to the sweet spot, and there were a few rooms that felt too crowded for comfort.
My best old friend, "David Ray of Today," dropped out of school when he was 15 so that he could stock vegetables on the night shift at the IGA in a small Illinois farm town. By the time he'd turned 25, he owned five houses, 25 Cadillacs, and a barn full of knickknacks.
David chose to work nights so his days would be free to buy objets d'art at the local Salvation Army store. He bought Fiesta Ware, Bakelite radios, homemade quilts, and locally fashioned tin chicken-feeders. The quilts had to be hand-sewn and in perfect condition, with no stains. The radios had to work, have all their…
Inspired by Watch Mr. Wizard, a children's science show that aired on American TV 1951–1965, loudspeaker designer Albert Von Schweikert brought his updated, all-ages loudspeaker installment to Orinda, CA last weekend. Presenting to members of the newly constituted San Francisco Audio Society, who packed SFAS Events Goddess Leslie Lundin's newly renovated listening room, Von Schweikert and his grandson, Devon Von Schweikert, enabled attendees to compare the sound of various midrange drivers and enclosure materials.
"We could measure it, but instead we'll listen and see what we like best,"…
Once, on a cold, dank, soundless day deep in the Eastern bloc, I watched a man spend over a million dollars on an audio system: a turntable, a fancy horn tweeter, a few wires, and some amplification for his modified Klipschorns. I asked him what he did for a living, and he told me he was a notary public.
Everyone there smirked and watched as he excitedly put the tonearm down on the first record, AC/DC's Back in Black. He laughed, he danced, he didn't sit down. He just skipped around the room, grinning and bouncing like a caffeinated child.
I thought, Does this man really need…
As the years pass and I turn into a crotchety old man, I'm reminded of those old TV ads for the Honda Accord: "Simplify." Even though I now have more things going on than at any other point in my life, I try to eliminate complications everywhere I can. I now can't believe that, for over 15 years, I used the Infinity RS-1B as my reference loudspeaker. Sure, I loved it—the RS-1B was the first speaker I'd owned that produced a wide, deep soundstage, the full dynamic range of an orchestra, and bass extension down to 25Hz. But it was ridiculously complex: a five-way design with three different…
It has been six years since we last released a recording on the Stereophile label—a jazz album featuring Attention Screen, the late Bob Reina's free-jazz ensemble. This dry spell was mainly due to the increasing demands made on our editorial team's time by social media and the magazine's website, but also by John Atkinson's recording activities with the Portland State Chamber Choir, who issue their recordings on their own label. Nevertheless, we've been keeping our eyes and ears open for suitable opportunities.
Back in 2011, composer Sasha Matson asked John Atkinson to produce his jazz…
Playing my favorite pipe-organ recordings, I was delighted by the deep-bass response. JA's recording of the Widor Toccata had solid, room-locking pedal notes that lifted the 32Hz display bar of Audio Tool's RTA display higher than adjacent frequencies. The lowest pedal notes underpinning the soprano singing the "Pie Jesu" of John Rutter's Requiem, with Timothy Seelig conducting the Turtle Creek Chorale (CD, Reference RR-57CD), thundered with an authority, solidity, and clear pitch definition that I didn't hear from the Quads alone. The massive pedal note that concludes organist James Busby'…
Integrated Amplifiers & Receivers
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Allnic T-1500 300B: $6900
Made in South Korea and imported by Hammertone Audio, the 12.5Wpc T-1500 boasts exquisite industrial design: polycarbonate chimneys showcase, protect, and ventilate the tubes, while attractively molded handles make for easy lifting. It uses two PCL86 driver tubes, two choke-regulated 300Bs with user-adjustable fixed bias, and output transformers wound around a nickel-permalloy core. Though it lacked bottom-end extension, the T-1500 delivered harmonic richness, excellent transparency, and natural tonal colors, said ST…
The Athena AS-F2 was the first speaker I've heard for less than $2000/pair—let alone $599/pair—that could compete with more expensive floorstanders in definition, articulation, and timbre down to the 30-40Hz region. For the first time in my listening room, I heard the organ-pedal passages in John Rutter's Requiem (Reference RR-57CD) breathe as naturally as I've heard them do through my Alón Circes ($12,000/pair).
The AS-F2s loved percussion recordings. Their flawless reproduction of low-level dynamic articulation and transients with percussion instruments of all timbres and frequency…
The lower highs were more lifelike and relaxed than on the stock unit, and a bit more extended into the top octave. The midbass warmth of the original unit was gone, and the lower bass clarity and extension, especially on well-recorded classical music (Stravinsky, Les Noces, Clarity CCD 1025-G, and Zappa, The Yellow Shark, Barking Pumpkin R271600), were dramatic in their airy realism.
Excellent reproduction of inner detail and ambience: It was very easy to follow individual lines on densely recorded classical passages, and the retrieval of subtle detail cues enhanced image specificity.…