When the proper number of layers have been "relaxed" and built up, the drivers are placed within gently heated molds and finished. Then they are precision-trimmed with a water jet cutter.
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Another hand process is stretching and fitting various layers of adhesive-impregnated glass-fiber material to the front and back of the foam center. Again, depending on the driver's purpose, different amounts of glass fiber layers are employed. Since Focal controls the flare, drive system, and crossover, the company has massive amounts of control over elements like mass and Q.
Stiff, extremely light "aircraft" foam is stretched over a mold by hand and gently heated to maintain "dimensional stability," according to Dominic Baker, Focal's export sales director. The molds have different flares, depending on the driver's purpose—and they are produced in-house by Opus 42.
Focal combines high-tech work stations with a phenomenal amount of hand labor. Metal drivers and inexpensive dome tweeters are heavily automated, but many drivers are assembled by hand, especially Focal's "W" composite cones.
I never cared much for Santana. (The band, not Johan. Johan, I love.) You know, there was always "Evil Ways" and "Oye Como Va"—fine songs for a stretch of highway when there's nothing else on the radio, but, eh: So what? I shrug my shoulders.
When I saw the album, though, within the dusty bins at Hoboken's Tunes record shop, I had to have it. The black and white cover art, with its cheesy-ass bubble lettering and that fearsome lion roaring out from a jungle of mad crosshatching was like something out of my father's high school yearbook, and I just couldn't resist. I…
Stephen Mejias, our excellent assistant editor, is fully in the grip of vinyl fever. He and I are now having daily conversations about the once and future allure of the long player.
He's going through vinyl fever for the first time and it's a ball to watch. This morning, we began talking about the "break-up" that most of us oldsters had to go through with our vinyl when CDs took over and the prospect now of going back and becoming re-addicted.
My Analogy: You had a long distance romantic relationship across the Atlantic that you had to break off. You had no choice. Then…
Having visited China and witnessed the building boom firsthand, I must admit that I suspected corners were being cut in construction—so I wasn't surprised by how many buildings came down. Considering all the construction accidents happening in NYC this year, who am I to look askance at China?
On Wednesday, Jeff Wong and I went on a shopping expedition to Brooklyn's Chinatown and while eating Banh Mi at a sandwich shop watched Chinese television coverage of the ongoing recovery efforts—very different from the US news snippets I'd seen.
Thanks to The Rage Diaries, I've now…
My copy of Peter, Paul, & Mary's Album 1700, which I had bought many years ago for its Bonnie and Clyde album art, wasn't nearly as dusty as Santana. When I inspected it beneath a lamp, however, I noticed that it was covered by a sort of dull, gray film. The vinyl wasn't black. It was sickly. Indeed, this was one of my many albums that had suffered through the dark, dirty waters of a basement flood. Maybe two or three floods. Maybe four.
I had been living in a small, unfinished room. It wasn't so much of a room, actually, as it was a simple space. More cave-like than…
Sasha Frere-Jones has a fascinating article in the June 9 The New Yorker about Antares's Auto-Tune software. In case you aren't familiar with it, Auto-Tune is pitch correction software that is used almost universally in contemporary pop recordings—sometimes just to "fix" an off note, increasingly frequently as an effect in its own right.
Personally, I'm not a huge fan, although having accompanied John Atkinson on various recording projects, I can attest that on some days even the best musicians in the world just can't hit a certain note or nail a particular passage. Demanding them to…
Where are my LPs? I need a hug.
—George Reisch, Stereophile, September 1997
—George Reisch, Stereophile, September 1997
Hi! Don't you sometimes wish you could just walk up to someone on the street and be like, "Hi! Let's hug. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon and touch me, babe." (?)
The ARChive of Contemporary Music is holding a Record & CD Sale! The sale begins on Saturday, June 7th, and will continue through Sunday, June 15th. Sale hours are from 11am to 6pm each day. Over 20,000 CDs, LPs, cassettes, books, and videos will be available. I can smell it now. ARC members get to shop early during…
Siempre Ser Guajiro, Saoco (1976; Mericana XMX144)
Macho Mumba, Saoco (1977; Salsoul Sal 4117)
Fe, Esperanza, y Caridad, Henry Fiol (1980; SAR SLP 1012)
El Secreto, Henry Fiol (1981; SAR SLP 1026)
Recorded Live in Club Ochentas, SAR All-Stars, includes Henry Fiol's "Maracaibo Oriental" (1982; compilation; SAR SLP 1022)
La Ley de la Jungla Henry Fiol (1983; SAR SLP 1033)
Corazn, Henry Fiol (1984; Corazn CLP 001)
Colorao y Negro, Henry Fiol (1985; Corazn HF 777)
Juega Billar!, Henry Fiol (1986;…