search
In some ways, building an inexpensive yet musical two-way loudspeaker is a greater design challenge than creating a cost-no-object reference product. Although the latter is a much more complex endeavor, the venerable two-way box seems to bring out the creativity and resources of the designer. Rather than throw money at the product in the form of more expensive drivers, enclosures, or components, the designer of a low-cost two-way is forced to go back to the basics, rethink closely-held tenets, and rely on ingenuity and sheer talent to squeeze the most music from a given cost. Consequently,…
I was immediately taken by the Type K/IIs' musical performance. They were very well balanced, open, and had no glaring colorations. The bass was particularly impressive: tight, articulate, tuneful, satisfyingly conveying the weight and rhythm of music. The low-frequency presentation successfully walked the fine line between quantity and quality of bass. I never felt shortchanged of fullness and body, yet found the bass to be very well-defined, punchy, and with good pitch resolution. The Type K/II's low-frequency agility created the feeling of good integration between bass and the rest of the…
Have you noticed how developed the art of the high-end put-down has become?
"I have a high-end system; you listen to mid-fi!"
"You're still listening to old-fashioned single-ended tubes?"
"Listening to rock music on a high-end system is like hauling trash in a BMW."
"Audiophiles who still listen to classical music are museum-music–loving old farts."
"You're just a disillusioned subjectivist; my opinions are totally objective."
And the deadliest of all: "I'm a music-lover; you're only interested in hardware."
Like all put-downs, these reveal…
The very first "Recommended Components" listing appeared in Vol.1 No.5; this is the 16th time I've put the listing together since I took over the task from J. Gordon Holt in the November 1986 'phile. No other Stereophile feature seems to be as popular, or as misunderstood. While it might inform, it never fails to offend, particularly when it involves the dropping, or—horrors!—the not listing at all, of components that the magazine's readers own.
The listing is intended to be the central depository of the collective wisdom of Stereophile's industrious team of equipment reviewers—16 at last…
When I browse through early issues of this magazine, I envy J. Gordon Holt. When he founded Stereophile in 1962, there were aspects of society that stood as solid as the Rockies overlooking his current Colorado home. Back then a magazine was a thing forever; the main means of serious communication would always be the written word; records would always be LPs...recorded in stereo; the US had a large, prosperous consumer electronics industry; computers were huge mainframes made in the USA by IBM (of course), and required air-conditioned rooms and armies of white-coated attendants; everyone…
Last October, in Vol.11 No.10, Stereophile's Founder and Chief Tester J. Gordon Holt stated, in his acerbic editorial "The Acoustical Standard," that, in his opinion, only recordings for which there is an original acoustic reference—ie, typically those of classical music—should be used to evaluate hi-fi components. And that in the absence of a consensus over such a policy, high-end component manufacturers were losing their way over what does and does not represent good sound quality.
Many readers wrote to us agreeing with Gordon's thesis, although its uncompromising nature did surprise…
MILES DAVIS: The Complete On the Corner Sessions
Miles Davis, trumpet, electric trumpet, electric organ, electric piano, synthesizer; Michael Henderson, (electric bass); Badal Roy (tablas); Dave Leibman, Carlos Garnett, Bennie Maupin, John Stubblefield, Sonny Fortune, Sam Morrison (reeds, flute); Wally Chambers (harmonica); Cornell Dupree, John McLaughlin, Dave Creamer, Reggie Lucas, Pete Cosey, Dominique Gaumont (guitar); Al Foster, Bernard Purdie, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, Pete Cosey (drums); Mtume, Don Alias, Billy Hart (congas, percussion); Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Harold…
Miles Davis, trumpet, electric trumpet, electric organ, electric piano, synthesizer; Michael Henderson, (electric bass); Badal Roy (tablas); Dave Leibman, Carlos Garnett, Bennie Maupin, John Stubblefield, Sonny Fortune, Sam Morrison (reeds, flute); Wally Chambers (harmonica); Cornell Dupree, John McLaughlin, Dave Creamer, Reggie Lucas, Pete Cosey, Dominique Gaumont (guitar); Al Foster, Bernard Purdie, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, Pete Cosey (drums); Mtume, Don Alias, Billy Hart (congas, percussion); Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Harold…
It was the strangest feeling: to be part of something yet without any understanding of how what I was doing fit into the whole. Back in the early 1980s, I had graduated from playing miscellaneous instruments in an early-music ensemble to devoting myself to the recorder (the end-blown fipple flute, not the audio archiving machine). My teacher, Nancy Winkelmann, had introduced me to various ensembles, and one Saturday afternoon, an ad hoc group of us was working with a composer of so-called "aleatoric" music; literally, music by chance.
"It is very important in this piece," we were told, "…
Richard Vandersteen was in good form at the 20th-anniversary seminar held by retailer Advanced Audio on November 11, 2006. When asked about his priorities in loudspeaker design, he sat erect in the seat next to me and thundered, "I will not [slams table with open hand] spend one red cent on cosmetics that I could have put into improving the sound of a loudspeaker!"
On one hand, I wasn't shocked. Vandersteen has long been known for his iconoclastic opinions on audio design —views that have led him to wrap his speakers in plain-looking "socks" rather than in exotic veneers. "I…
The percussion and brass fortissimo in Variation VII almost propelled me physically deeper into the room. If you want to hear orchestral power, the Quatro Wood ought to rocket onto your list. At the same time, the strings had delicacy, sheen, and gloss that were convincing and extended.
That high-frequency smoothness and extension were put to the test with the Hot Club of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Bounce (CD, Reference RR-109CD). On track 1, "Mystery Pacific," violinist Evan Price and solo guitarist Paul Mehling leapt into the stratosphere with flurries of notes over the chugging…