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Uptown, Downtown, All Around the Town

Uptown and Downtown are about to merge.

Back in the old days, say, from the mid ‘70s through the late ‘90s, the New York jazz world was engulfed in a Culture War. The scrimmage line was around Houston Street, and the combatants rarely crossed it, except maybe when the Downtowners played some club in the East Village, in which case they rarely strayed west of 2nd Avenue.

Uptown, personified by Wynton Marsalis, his brand of neo-classical jazz, and institutionalized, toward the end of the period, in the founding of Jazz @ Lincoln Center—vs. Downtown, revolving around a disparate crew…

Armed and Ready

A couple of friends came over this weekend to listen to records, and I’m happy to report that we experienced no trouble at all. No static, no distortion, no woman, no cry. Record after record, beer after beer, the Rega sounded just fine. I do believe my days of vinyl misery are over. But just in case the static monster decides to come round again, I also picked up a can of StaticGuard ($4 at DuaneReade). Before the dudes came over, I sprayed the stuff on the rug in front of my system, as well as on the curtains behind the system. The smell wasn’t so bad and the dry mist…

Update

At home, I’ve been playing around a little bit with my new Anniversary Ringmat 330 replacement platter mat for my Rega P3-24 turntable. However, I haven’t been in the best mood for comparative listening sessions&#151I came home from work with a headache the last two nights, and I’ve still been suffering from some post-static stress disorder (PSSD) while playing LPs&#151so I’m not ready to make any value judgments.

This isn’t the best time for inserting new variables into the system.

I did receive the latest LP from Not Not Fun Records, a split 12-inch featuring…

Show Report Coming Soon!

Stereophile will be reporting live from 2010 AXPONA in Jacksonville, Florida - March 5th-7th.

Getting Ready

Axpona's marketing director Steve Davis is also a singer and guitarist who performs locally in The Difference/Mumbleypeg, a North Florida-based rock band. Aware of the importance of the live reference, Davis arranged several live "reference" performances throughout the show. As well as The Difference/Mumbleypeg, Axpona showcased the talents of pianist John Yurick, veteran bass guitarist John Atkinson, and Mikhail Levitsky's Levitsky Violin Orchestra. Here's a photo of Davis rehearsing with his band for a performance that was recorded by Mark Waldrep of AIX Records.

Did You Ever Wonder...

...what happens to all those bed frames and mattresses that are removed from hotel suites in order to make room for exhibits? Here' a shot of the Wyndham Riverwalk Hotel mattress mortuary, which ordinarily serves as a convention meeting place. Missing is the mattress from Robert Robinson's Channel D. He chose to retain the mattress to tame highs bouncing from the side wall of the cozy second-floor hotel room.

Channel D’s Hi-Rez Music Servers

Channel D's Stereophile-recommended Pure Vinyl ($229) is a Macintosh-based music server program that is equipped for both archiving and playback of vinyl recordings at 192kHz/24 bits). One very cool feature allows you to "drag the needle" across the archived record to whatever groove you choose, in much the same way that you can skip ahead on a digital music file by dragging the cursor. What's extra fun is that your computer screen shows a simulated LP and arm, allowing you to drag the needle back and forth without scratching a thing.

In 2007, the company followed with Channel D…

Cardas to the Rescue

Just two months ago at CES, I enthused over the potential excellence of King Sound's China-made Kingsound The King full-range electrostatic loudspeaker ($8500/pair). But as much as VAC's Royal power supplies ($1300/pair), Phi 200 monoblocks ($9900/each), and Signature Mk IIa preamplifier with phono stage and external power supply ($18,000); Accuphase's DP-85 SACD player' and the VPI's Classic turntable equipped with Michael Fremer's fave Ortofon MC-90A cartridge were supplying superior sound, the system planned for Axpona was originally held back by junky interconnects and speaker…

A Willing Audience

Talk about an eye (and ear) catcher. Dominating the Wyndham’s Rope room—all the conference rooms have cute nautical names—and set up by Bill Gibson of Jacksonville-based House of Stereo, loomed Audience's ClairAudient LSA 16+16 line source loudspeaker ($54,000/pair). A one-way bi-pole, it uses an identical array of 16 Audience A3-S 3" drivers in the front and back, and boasts an impressive 99dB sensitivity. With its line-source array, it should image well anywhere in the room, and can be driven to a continuous and deafening 129dB.

Using a highly modified Denon 3930 CD player (not…

Madisound

Madisound, a speaker kit company based in Madison, Wisconsin, demmed a full range of loudspeakers that starts with the recession-buster RB3 ($445/pair). Playing at the time I visited was the astounding for the price Zaph Audio floorstander (with the black face–$1559). Equipped with two Scanspeak drivers, and powered by the Fountek Altitude 3500 23Wpc integrated amp ($1350), the system delivered impressively smooth, full-range sound on a stellar Chesky CD from vocalist Rosa Passos and bassist Ron Carter.