But it wasn't Ryan Adams at all. It was just the illuminating Avid Acutus turntable ($13,000).
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I was fooled into believing that Ryan Adams was in the Mobile Fidelity room. He was telling me he wished I'd steal all of his records and screw all of his friends. This seemed strange, indeed.
Jon Iverson wrote about Bard's wireless system, but I think it worth emphasizing that, although Bard has a USB dongle that will transfer music from your computer to other systems, many audiophiles might be even more thrilled by the Bard One ($850), which inserts between your preamp and power amp and broadcasts to a nearby system, where it plugs into that preamp's line inputs. It's small and unobtrusive and sounded very good at HE2006, I hope to get my mitts on a sample and write about it further.
The guys have posted a couple of entries discussing the very neat Bard wireless music system.
Jon Iverson told me I should go check it out. I was happy I did.
What was most obvious was how simple the system is to set up and use.
"I want my mother to be able to use it," Sonneteer's Haider Bahrani told me, "without having to ask me a million questions."
Southern California's Brooks Berdan, Ltd. continued to affirm the store’s reputation for high-quality sound in its Ayre/Vandersteen room, which had also impressed Wes Phillips in an earlier blog entry. Listening to the Ayre MXR 300W monoblocks ($16,500/pair), K-1x preamp ($7000), C-X5e universal player ($5950), and about-to-be-released power conditioner, connected to each other and the wood-finish Vandersteen Quatro speakers ($10,700/pair) by Ayre's own cabling, I encountered a soundstage whose height and depth had no right to exist in such a small space. But beyond issues of size and depth,…
I'm a guy who loves traditions: I attribute it to growing up in Virginia, a state that reveres tradition, my wife claims it's just OCD. Whatever—I have made it a tradition at every HE Show I can remember to visit Luke Manley's VTL room at the last minute on the last day because it always lets me leave on a high note. Manley did not disappoint this year in the room he shared with dealer Brooks Berdan, the "king of analog."
The room included Wilson Sophia 2 loudspeakers ($14,000/pair), a pair of VTL MB450 monoblocks ($13,500/pair), TL-7.5 Series II preamplifier ($15,000), the prototype…
I joke sometimes at Home Entertainment Shows, as I regard the crowds jostling one another to enter rooms, paw through bins of records, or get the good seats at the musical events, that "these are my people." The thing is, it's true. I do the same things.
You could work up a Jeff Foxworthy routine: You know you're an audiophile if:
•You've ever carried Wet Wipes in your pocket just in case there's a box of records forgotten in some corner of the jumble sale.
•You've ever stayed awake until 4am because the powerlines were quieter.
•You've ever bought that fourth copy of…
Check out how Bob Deutsch took this same. exact. photo. (Almost.) Apparently, Jeff Joseph knows how to strike a pose.
Jeff told me that the RM7xls are the successors to the RM7si we wrote up for our 2002 Joint Loudspeaker of the Year — tied with the $41,500 Rockports.
The RM7xls feature new woofers, tweeters, and crossovers. Only the box remains the same.
"So," Jeff said, "I've raised the price from $1800 to $41,000/pair, to match the Rockports. But I throw in a BMW 7 Series."
We think he was joking.
And so we say goodbye to the Sheraton Gateway and the City of Angels. Home Entertainment 2006 was a good Show, with some great sounds. I echo Wes Phillips's sentiments below. In talking to people, I had a sense that we were all part of a community of individuals with much the same goals, if not always the same way of reaching them. The Show staff were unfailingly pleasant and efficient. The hotel’s facilities served the needs of both exhibitors and attendees well—and by the last day of the show I actually figured out how to go from my room to the escalators without making at least one…
Much as I hate to admit it, the experience of going into a record store, particularly a big glorious mom and pop indie store, is fast becoming a thing of the past.
If record stores are to become extinct, then the Amoeba store on Sunset in Hollywood will be the last dinosaur to expire.
The view from the balcony is what it's really about. Gazing out across a canyon of records, aisle after aisle, people with armloads of CDs and vinyl, is one of LA's finest vistas.
It's no secret that I'm a fan of good writing. Well, if you ask me, Jon Carroll writes more better stuff every day than most writers write ever. This column is great even by Carroll's high standards. Just read it and see why Carroll's column is my first stop every day.