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Totem's The One

Totem Acoustics knows how to do a show. Each year, I'm impressed not only by the sound they achieve in their room, but by the room itself. To enter the Totem room is to leave the hotel behind, is almost like stepping outdoors, into a great, green forest. The ground is soft, the air is fresh and touched with cedar and pine. It's kind of strange, but I like it. I start to worry about bears and other things. Did I bring my compass and flashlight?

Over the last couple of shows, the only things missing were a sleeping bag, s'mores, and some new products. This year, Vince…

Audio Space Mini Galaxy I

Gini Audio Systems was displaying the neat, little Audio Space Mini Galaxy I USB/DAC headphone amp with separate power supply. Its front panel holds knobs for negative feedback and volume control, and the amp provides a nifty 12Wpc. Available now, the Mini Galaxy I goes for $790.

Nice Things From Sweden

Indeed, there were nice things from Sweden in the Sjofn HiFi room. I didn't get a taste of the snittar (Swedish finger sandwiches), but I was very impressed by the powerful bass and deep, wide soundstage created by the diminutive Guru loudspeakers. As Wes mentioned, the Gurus were designed with the room in mind, and are meant to be placed near room boundaries.

Though, Sjofn's online store is temporarily closed, they do have an interesting sales network set up in a major markets across the country. Potential buyers will be able to listen to the Guru speakers in special…

Careful With That Cartridge, Mikey

The program of seminars and workshops has been an important part of the Home Entertainment Show since its inception in 1987. For the past few years, Sunday afternoon has been the time for Stereophile Senior Editor Michael Fremer's guide to getting the best from LP playback. At this year's action-packed session, he showed a packed house to how to mount and align a phono cartridge on a VPI turntable, aided with close-up video help from Dave of Show contractor Moorea Marketing.

You Have <I>Definitely</I> Never Heard This! (part 1)

Well, few people have. In a stunning collaborative effort, Rives Audio, RPG, Modex, Talon, VAC, Wadia, XLO, and Silent Running set up two rooms designed to demonstrate that even the best audio components need a little help from intelligently applied digital EQ and room treatment. Two rooms, almost mirror images of one another, with essentially the same system—only one room used EQ and treatment and the other didn't. Here's the system rundown: Wadia 581i disc player ($9450), 100Wpc VAC Alpha integrated amplifier ($10,000), Talon Thunderhawk loudspeakers ($25,000/pair), XLO Signature 2…

You Have <I>Definitely</I> Never Heard This! (part 2)

We trucked across the hall to the treated room which contained several sets of RPG Variscreen free-standing variable acoustics screen ($700/each), a Modex Plate ($1000)—which offers broadband low frequency absorbtion from 50–500Hz—and two Rives Audio Sub-PARC crossover/EQs ($4500/each). The system also boasted an extra pair of VAC Alphas—Richard Rives explained that he was using the Sub-PARCs as crossovers, bypassing their digital woofer amps to kep the signals equivalent from top to bottom.

Was there a difference? Man, I'll say. We think of room effects as subtle, but they aren't—…

Lipinski and JVC

Lukas Lipinski was happy to present his L-707 speakers ($4990/pair) on special stands which discreetly house the 300Wpc L-301 monoblocks ($6000/pair). Keeping the amps close to the speakers allows for shorter cable runs, and, of course, is a clever space-saving idea. The amps slide vertically into the stands and are held in place by small screws on the back panel. The amps' glass front panel bears the Lipinski logo and can be illuminated.

The room itself was evidence not only of Lipinski's work to cross over from pro-audio to hi-fi, but to bring true hi-fi sound to a larger…

HE 2007

What a great show HE 2007 turned out to be. Large crowds and much good feeling all around. If two channel audio is truly dying then I didn't see it. Lots of good sounding rooms, much impressive, well-priced gear, a successful RAVE awards and a hotel with a key location all made for a very successful show.

Most Encouraging Note from the HE 2007 Show: The Stereophile CDs, new and old, jazz and classical, sold like hotcakes. Congrats to JA for all his fine engineering, A&R and major domo work on them. So does this mean that the shiny, rainbow disc ain't dead yet? At least among…

His Way

Today, May 14, is a momentous day in music history as the anniversary of the passings of Keith Relf (Yardbirds), Chet Baker and one of the humankind's greatest musical talents, the one, the only, the chairman of the board, Francis Albert Sinatra who died in 1998. Somewhere, Frank's still got the world on a string&#151Ring&#150A&#150Ding&#150Ding!

Ale's Well

I'm just here for the beer.