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An enduring aspect of Audio Shows is the meeting up of old friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, who all share a sense of belonging to a single community. Shown here in a chance meeting at the Grand Hyatt's entrance are (l–r): veteran speaker designer Richard Vandersteen, tube amp manufacturer Mark O'Brien of Rogue Audio, and Stereophile's associate publisher Keith Pray.
As Robert Deutsch mentioned in his report from the 2007 Montreal Show, Ofra (left) and Eli (right) Gershman of Gershman Acoustics have been exhibitors at just about every audio/home theater show the past few years. As in Montreal, the Gershmans were demming their new Sonogram speaker at HE2007. More conventional in appearance than their flagship Black Swan, the Sonogram, photographed here by Larry Greenhill, is priced at a very competitive $2500/pair.
Stereophile columnist John Marks brought an encyclopedic knowledge of music and musicians to the magazine when he started his "Fifth Element" column in March 2001. At HE2007, he played some of his favorite recordings in as many rooms as he could, including his own recording of the Herbert Howells organ piece Larry Greenhill mentioned in another posting (Master Tallis's Lament, a personal favorite of mine) and an extraordinary choral recording, When David Heard, from the young composer Eric Whitacre. As you can see from this photo taken in the Egglestonworks, Rogue, and Echobusters room…
Other Stereophile writers, like Wes Phillips and Stephen Mejias, had mentioned how impressed they had been with the sound in the Sjöfn room, but what I had not appreciated until I visited the Swedish manufacturer's room towards the end of the Show was: a) how small these speakers were; b) how good the stereo imaging was despite the speakers being right up against the wall behind them; and c) how much thunderous bass was being produced by just two reflex-loaded 4" woofers! Of course, the Guru speaker ($1800/pair), photographed here by Larry Greenhill, is designed to take advantage of…
At CES, the Vandersteen/Audio Research room always strikes me as being like an oasis—and not just because of the potted plants they have in the room. And so it was in the room sponsored by New Jersey dealer Audio Connection at HE 2007: music presented without hype or bombast, and simply relaxing to listen to. The speakers were the Vandersteen 5As ($16,900/pair +$5000 for carbon fiber cabinets), with Audio Research PH7 phono stage ($5995), CD7 CD player ($8995), Reference 3 line-stage preamp ($9995), and Reference 110 amplifier ($9995). The analog front end was the Clearaudio…
"We had more traffic on Friday than we had all of HE2006," said Dynaudio's Mike Manoussellis.
"Really?" Ayre's Steve Silberman yelped when I told him Mike had said that, "I probably should have been there!"
Yes, Steve, you probably should have. I was stopped time and time again by audiophiles wanting to hear the MX-Rs I wrote about. They'd come to HE2007 to hear the gear they'd read about in Stereophile and almost nothing I've written in the last few years generated more buzz than that review.
Besides, almost everybody who asked that followed up with, "And how's…
Today a rare sun of spring.
—Sebastian Dangerfield
—Sebastian Dangerfield
The sun sets so beautifully through my bare kitchen windows. It does. And, as these days grow longer, I'm able to make it home in time to just catch it, just catch it, the entire space lit with soft sunset.
And so, last night, at home and in love with the light, I decided to cook up some yellow rice and black beans while the sun set so beautifully through my bare kitchen windows. To accentuate the mood, I figured I'd play one of my favorite albums: Buena Vista Social Club. One day, a few years ago, when…
"Man, hemp seed drivers?!"
"Yup."
"And you got all these guys out there doing beryllium and titanium and whatnot."
"Yeah, we've got to bring things back to earth."
"Can you smoke it?"
"No, there's some glue in there."