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Long Lines at the Venetian

The last time I attended CES was three years ago. Although many things have stayed the same, there were also interesting changes—some of them profound. At the Las Vegas Convention Center, it seemed that almost every exhibit had to do with 3D, iPods, or tablet computers. At the Venetian, in addition to the traditional areas of speakers and amplification, it was music servers and related products—ably summarized by Jon Iverson in his wrap-up. Cables were big. (More on this anon.)

It was a very crowded show. At the convention center, the scene was at times like being on a subway…

Gallo Classico

Have you ever had the nagging feeling that there was something that you were going to do- but you don’t remember what it was? I got that feeling when I was finishing my blog entries. There was one more such entry that I remember thinking that I must do, but what was it? There was nothing to jog my memory in the little notebook where I scribble information, and I couldn’t find any product literature that would remind me of it.

It was when I was going through the CES photo files on my computer that I ran across the photo that served as a reminder. Of course—Anthony Gallo! I visited his room…

Your Show of Shows

There's something happening here, and what it is is exactly clear. It's a revolution of sorts—a new paradigm for the High End. Despite pessimistic proclamations of the impending death of high-end audio, an unprecedented number of new high-end consumer shows have emerged in North America. Filling the gap left by the demise of Stereophile's Home Entertainment Show in 2007, these seven (!) shows—two new in 2011, two in expanded versions following successful launches in 2010—are reaching out to people of all ages, sexes, and format preferences (footnote 1).

The High End has been crying for…

Recording of January 2011: <I>Funeral Mariachi</I>

Sun City Girls Funeral Mariachi
Abduction ABD 045LP (LP). 2010. Alan Bishop, prod., eng.; Scott Colburn, Randall Dunn, engs. AAA. TT: 37:12
Performance ****
Sonics ****

There are musicians for whom fame and fortune hold no allure, whose goal is to fulfill a more esoteric vision. Nearly 50 albums and 25 years ago, three mad punk polyglots, their brains baked by the Arizona sun, and all of them in love with the Middle East–North Africa axis of what, in the 1980s, was ineptly titled "world music," decided to make music without borders. With no fear of influences and no burning…

The Entry Level #1: The First Time

It's probably impossible to pinpoint the moment at which I became an audiophile. I'm tempted to say it happened when I heard in my home, for the first time, a true hi-fi: an Arcam Solo CD receiver driving a lovely little pair of DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 3 loudspeakers.

I remember the event clearly and fondly. John DeVore had come over to help me set up the system—it took only moments, simple as this system was. We didn't put much effort into speaker placement. I was naïve and even more stubborn than I am now, even more resistant to change, even more afraid of losing the illusion of control…

The Entry Level #1: The First Time Page 2

I've gone from futile attempts at maintaining order in my living room to futile attempts at reconfiguring my listening room to accommodate all my new vinyl. The television is long gone. The turntable is Rega's P3-24, in high-gloss white, the latest iteration of a timeless design. Although Art Dudley's classic Denon DL-103 moving-coil cartridge is waiting patiently to be installed, my current cartridge is Rega's Elys 2 in Rega's RB-301 tonearm, the latest version of a similarly enduring piece of art. John Atkinson has loaned me a DB Systems DBP-10 phono alignment protractor, an indispensable…

David Murray at Birdland

David Murray doesn’t play with a big band much these days, but he’s got one at Birdland in midtown Manhattan through Saturday, so if you’re in the area, check it out.

In the mid-1990s, Murray fronted a big band every Monday night at the Knitting Factory in TriBeCa (in addition to the various quartets and octet he played with all over the city). Then he moved to Paris and experimented with African and Caribbean music, but when he comes back to New York, he usually returns to his distinctive style of jazz.

He started Wednesday night’s early set with an original, “Hong Kong Nights,”…

Kompakt's <i>Pop Ambient 2011</i>

I’ve been listening to Kompakt’s excellent Pop Ambient 2011 compilation, which opens with ANBB’s arresting “Bernsteinzimmer” from their album, Mimikry, and ends with Thomas Fehlmann’s interpretation of Gustav Mahler’s magnificent Symphony No.1. This is heavy stuff, and it forms the perfect bridge from the chaos of Las Vegas and the Consumer Electronics Show to the cold misery of mid-January in New York City. There’s warmth in this music, and it has a sort of transportational power. Meaning: It gets me the hell out of here.

It’s also perfect for compiling the “Recommended Components”…

Don Kirshner R.I.P.

While I know through reading all about Don Kirshner’s work at the Brill Building during its glory years with King and Goffin, Mann and Weil, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka and the rest, my own personal memory of the late rock promoter who died on January 17th, has nothing do with that or his work with the Monkees or in discovering Kansas. Yes, “It Takes a Woman’s Love to Make a Man” Kansas.

My memories center on that hilariously one dimensional voice that came out of those terrible one dimensional built–in speakers that all TV's in the seventies had. Kirshner was something less than dynamic…

dCS Debussy D/A processor

Don't have $80,000 to drop on dCS's four-component Scarlatti SACD stack that I reviewed in August 2009, or $17,999 for their Puccini SACD/CD player that John Atkinson raved about in December 2009? Even if you do, the new Debussy D/A processor ($10,999) might be a better fit for your 21st-century audio system. Sure, you don't get an SACD transport—or any kind of disc play, for that matter—but the odds today are that you already have a player you like that's got an S/PDIF output that can feed the Debussy.

On the other hand, if you're already moving toward server-based digital playback, you…