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A First System

I’m so much more impressed by good, affordable systems than I am by those costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. I find it difficult to concentrate on music when I’m overwhelmed by the high prices of the gear delivering it. Price should never be the most impressive aspect of hi-fi.

When price is the most impressive aspect of a system, the system sucks. Plain and simple. Is that clear?


My first "system"&#151a Magnavox boombox and CDs.

If your $100,000 speakers and your $80,000 amplifier and your $150,000 turntable do not absolutely knock the…

 

WilcoFest

It may be time to begin appending the words “The Great,” in front of the name of Wilco. At least that’s my unvarnished reaction to their headlining performance at the inaugural edition of their own Solid Sound Festival, held last weekend in North Adams Massachusetts. Where in the hell is North Adams you may ask, why across the Mohawk Trail is the answer. I once had a friend, upper crust Brahmin Bostonian he was, and his mother used to rhapsodize about “motoring along the Mohawk Trail. She must have been speaking about the end of the trail (otherwise known as Mass Highway 2), nearer to…

 

Wilcofest 2

Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Pat Sansone at the Solid Sound Festival, North Adams, Mass. August 14th, 2010. Photo in this and the preceding entry by Charles Harris.

 

Do You Audyssey?

Audyssey, a company specializing in room equalization technologies (ask Kal), has launched a sweepstakes for fans of high-quality sound. There are some cool prizes, including a Marantz NR1601 slimline home theater receiver and an 8GB iPod Touch. To participate, become a fan of Audyssey on Facebook and fill out a short questionnaire. For complete details, click here.

 

Cubicle Life

The move is going fairly well. I’m almost completely settled in. I didn’t feel like waiting for the movers, so I just moved myself. Because all Source Interlink employees at 261 Madison Avenue will now be on a single floor, some people lost their private offices. While some are now sharing offices, I took a cubicle. So I no longer have a view onto sunny decks, no redbrick walls, no green trees; the only thing I can see from my seat is a gray cloth partition.

But, as cubicles go, this one is not bad at all. I actually have more desktop space than I did in my nice office.…

 

Fred Hersch's <I>Whirl</I>

Fred Hersch, one of the top handful of jazz pianists on the scene, spent several months in a coma last year, owing to complications from HIV, with which he’s been living for well over a decade. When he emerged, he had to teach himself how to play piano all over again—not the technique, but the reflexes, the timing, the coordination—but you wouldn’t know it from Whirl (on the Palmetto label), his first album since the return.

It doesn’t have quite the fluency or exuberance of Let Yourself Go or In Amsterdam, my two favorite Hersch albums (both recorded live, in 1998 and 2003, respectively…

 

Now On Newsstands: <i>Stereophile</i>, Vol.33 No.9

The September 2010 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. The cover shows an extreme close-up of the Audio Research VSi60 integrated amplifier, highlighting its beautiful tubes. I was very impressed by this amplifier’s looks, as well as what I (perhaps fancifully) perceived to be its contributions to a very fine system at the 2009 SSI, so I was happy to learn we’d be featuring the VSi60 on our cover.

Our original idea was to use the feature shot (on page 53) for the cover, but we decided to go instead with the more dramatic close-up. I think it worked out. We’ve gotten…

 

Klipsch’s New Synergy Series

Today Klipsch announced the launch of their new Synergy Series loudspeakers. If recent reviews by Wes Phillips (of the $20,000/pair P-39F) and Erick Lichte (of the $4000/pair P-17B) can offer any indication of what to expect from this new Synergy line, we are in for a treat.

There are eight models in Klipsch’s Synergy line: The F-30, F-20, and F-10 floorstanders, the B-20 bookshelf, the C-20 and C-10 center channels, and the S-20 and S-10 surrounds. All of the speakers include Klipsch’s Wide Dispersion Surround Technology, said to provide maximum surround coverage and improved…

 

Proofing the <i>Buyer’s Guide</i>

Each year, while proofing the data which makes up the Stereophile Buyer’s Guide, I come across new and interesting components. At this point in the proofing process, we’re deep into the analog gear, which of course comprises my favorite section of the book. So, while the task can be tedious and draining, it’s fun to discover new products. Here are just a couple that have caught my eye:


The USB-1 from Music Hall

Music Hall has added an inexpensive USB turntable to their product line. The two-speed, belt-driven USB-1 uses an aluminum die-cast platter, has a groovy S-…

 

Puma: <i>Half Nelson Courtship</i>

Puma is Oystein Moen on keyboards and electronics, Stian Westerhus on guitar and electronics, and Gard Nilssen (also of Bushman’s Revenge) on drums. Half Nelson Courtship, an often unsettling piece of work and one that refuses to be ignored, is the band’s third album, and their first for the excellent Rune Grammofon label.

Long passages of trembling guitar and deep drones, like the sounds of crying ghosts or freight trains in the deep distance, are interrupted by little blasts of electronic scrawl and metallic whisper. Tracks run into one another with little or no obvious…

 

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