search

Thomas J. Norton, February 1996

Thomas J. Norton wrote about the Sennheiser HDC 451 NoiseGuard headphones In February 1996 (Vol.19 No.2):

On my recent trip to the UK (see "Industry Update" in this issue), I brought along the same set of Sennheiser noise-cancelling headphones reported on by Wes Phillips in the November 1995 issue (Vol.18 No.11. p.193).

Since I didn't want to carry along a portable CD player and a large enough collection of CDs to make the effort worthwhile, I used the Sennheiser 'phones either for straight noise canceling or in place of the airline's headset to listen to the in-flight…

Sam Tellig, January 1996

Sam Tellig wrote about the Jadis SE300B in January 1996 (Vol.19 No.1):

You, being a normal person, may find this hard to believe, but hi-fi rags have been known to try to scoop one another with reviews of certain high-profile products. For example, I'd lusted the Jadis SE300B single-ended triode amps since first seeing them in the Juin-Juillet 1995 issue of Haute Fidelite, France's best hi-fi rag. "La magie des 300B," the cover line read. Inside, Messrs. Jean-Philippe Delandre and Alexandre Geoffoy went nuts over the amp—"Vous l'avez compris, mon enthousiasme est sans borne," said one of…

Sam Tellig, February 1996

Sam Tellig returned to the Jadis SE300B in February 1996 (Vol.19 No.2):

Of course, I rushed into print last month with my initial write-up on the Jadis SE300B—I wanted Stereophile readers to get the scoop. Next month, in this very rag, Monsieur Scull will give you the full poop on this fabulous amplificateur francais. Meanwhile, I've had four more weeks to live with the pair.

"Any tube trouble?" Frank Garbie, the importer, wanted to know.

"Not yet," I answered, and yumped to call Yon-o-Ton (footnote 1).

"Yes, tube tsouris all right. One of the Esti 4300 BLX tubes…

TAVES Day 2

The Audio Zone Eliminator speakers ($8900/pair) have a distinctly DIY look, aimed at providing maximum performance with no concession to decor. Bass and midrange are both horn-loaded, the bass using a reproduction of the Electro-Voice DX-15 driver, the midrange a Selenium D330 compression driver, and a Fostex supertweeter. Claimed sensitivity is an astonishing 102dB. The Audio Zone Eliminator is built to order. Audio Zone also offers a variety of amps and preamps (active and passive), at what seem like very reasonable prices (eg, 50W Op-Amp Integrated, $1595), all made in Canada.

…

TAVES Day 2 Part 2

John Atkinson reviewed the Acapella High Violoncello II speaker—an esoteric item with a horn-loaded midrange and ion tweeter—two years ago. His conclusion: "This admittedly expensive German speaker really is one of the finest-sounding speakers I have had the pleasure of using."

How expensive? $80,000/pair. Is that too much for you? Well, TAVES 2012 had a demo of the Acapella Violin 1, which is a "mere" $45,000/pair. In a system with Audio Research Reference electronics, the Acapella Violin 1s sounded magnificent.

Described as "Audio Italian Style," the Casta Model C ($28…

TAVES Day 3

The most expensive audio system at TAVES 2012 was in the main ballroom. With components from Burmester's Reference line, the total cost of the system was $500,000. That's according to the advance write-up in Canada HiFi magazine. At the show, I heard $600,000 mentioned as the price. But I guess that when you're at that level, what's an extra $100,000? The system was playing during the show and served as PA system for the concert by Cindy Gomez. How did it sound? On its own, not at the concert, it sounded very good indeed, especially considering the size of the room (huge) and the lack of…

TAVES 2012That's a Wrap!

Last year's TAVES involved a partnership of Suave Kajko and Simon Au, both from the Toronto area, as well as Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay, organizers of the well-established Montreal Salon Son & Image (SSI). Michel and Sarah also brought with them most of their staff from SSI. Suave and Simon were new to "show" business, so when it was announced that Michel and Sarah were not going to be involved in this year's show, there was some concern. Would these Torontonians have the élan, the savoir faire, the je ne sais quoi needed to run a show like TAVES.

Mais oui! It was a great show!…

Naxos Leaps into the Hi-Rez Stream

Naxos stands poised to release its first 24-bit/96 kHz high-definition audio download. On October 2, one of the label's most important orchestral recordings for the fall quarter, conductor, arranger and composer Peter Breiner's new orchestrations of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Songs and Dances of Death, and The Nursery, will become available, not as a physical CD, but rather as high-resolution and MP3 downloads. Expect the link to appear on iTrax, eclassical, classicsonline, HDTracks, hiresaudio.com, theclassicalshop, and Ariama, with Linn and Onkyo coming on board soon thereafter…

Michael Fremer and Baba Booey Talk Sound

In this video, Stereophile columnist and Analog Planet Editor Michael Fremer and Gary Dell'Abate (aka Baba Booey), producer of the Howard Stern Show, compare the virtues of analog playback to MP3, discuss the release of Nirvana's Nevermind on the spinning black circle, and Mikey coins the phrase 'the viral spread of vinyl.'

B&O Play Announces Release of BeoPlay A9 Active Speaker System

Last night at top floor of the Trump Soho Hotel (New York, NY), the design-oriented firm B&O announced the release of the BeoPlay A9 as part of their new B&O PLAY lineup of products. The BeoPlay A9 is a single active speaker system designed for seamless integration into home environments. The A9 streams music wirelessly from the customers iPhone, iPad or Android device using AirPlay or your DLNA network.

During their presentation to the press, B&O suggested that this product was not necessarily made for the audiophile but instead those interested in design and feeling…