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The Entry Level #14

Playing a Compact Disc is nothing like playing a live show.

Wild, right? This is just the latest of the profundities to explode into my mighty brain as I slouch on the orange couch, staring at stacks of CDs, contemplating life and stuff. It came to me on a lovely Sunday morning. The sun was shining, the birds were cheeping, and I was still high from my band's performance two nights earlier.

If you've ever played music of any kind—but especially rock'n'roll—for a crowd of enthusiastic fans and friends, you know the rush I'm talking about. There's nothing like the energy that erupts…

The Entry Level #14 Page 2

I listened to the C 515BEE CD player with my PSB Alpha B1 loudspeakers ($299/pair), NAD C 316BEE integrated amplifier ($380), and AudioQuest Rocket 33 speaker cables ($299/10' pair) and Sidewinder interconnects ($65/1m pair). The CD player and amplifier sat on shelves in my PolyCrystal equipment rack, plugged into a Furutech e-TP60 power conditioner, itself plugged into a Furutech GTX wall receptacle via an AudioQuest NRG X-3 power cord.

A highly engaging musical experience
Unlike the Emotiva ERC-2, which had impressed me with its dynamic range and muscular overall sound, the C…

Debut of the Mårten Django at David Michael Audio

Saturday, April 7, Noon–7pm: David Michael Audio (4341 Delemere Court, Royal Oak, MI) will host the premiere of the Mårten Django floorstanding loudspeaker ($15,000/pair). Stereophile’s coverage of the Mårten Django started at CES 2012, where JA commented on their “superb low-frequency weight and definition” with Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie. Space at the Django debut is limited. Attendants should RSVP as early as possible. For more info, e-mail info@davidmichaelaudio.com, call (586) 244-8479, or visit David Michael Audio.

Facebook Event: Let people know you're going.

And now, I leave…

Lee Ranaldo: Between the Times and the Tides

I just saw a rainbow fall into the floor
Shattered into pieces, your eyes ask “What for?”
These days I’m all alone out in the middle of the world
These days I’m trying to tell myself you’re just some other girl
&#150"Off the Wall," Lee Ranaldo

It was around noon on Sunday, October 16th, 2011, and I was in the lobby of the Denver Marriott Tech Center. Jennifer Atocha broke the news. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore had separated after 27 years of marriage and 16 awesome full-length albums with their band, Sonic Youth:

the
band
that
had
changed…

Recording of March 1988: Wagner: Lohengrin

Wagner: Lohengrin
Placido Domingo, Lohengrin; Jessye Norman, Elsa; Eva Randova, Ortrud; Siegmund Nimsgern, Telramund; Hans Sotin, Heinrich; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Heerrufer; Vienna State Opera Chorus; Georg Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
London 421 053-1 (4 LPs), 421 053-2 (4 CDs). James Lock, John Pellowe, engs.; Christopher Raeburn, prod. DDD. TT: 222:54

It's always surprised me that Lohengrin, Wagner's most awkward, transitional, and static opera, was, for its first 100 years, his most popular. It didn't help, I suppose, that I began my study of things darkly Teutonic…

Totem Acoustic Beak

Erick Lichte
One aspect of the Totem Forest loudpeakers that LG commented on in his original review was their ability to throw a large soundstage. But while the Forests' imaging greatly improved with the addition of ballast, I never got them to create the truly holographic soundstages LG wrote of. Sound tended to lump up around each speaker instead of being spread evenly between them. When I touched the cabinet of a Forest while playing them at even moderate volumes, I felt a whole lotta shakin' goin' on; those cabinets "sang along" with the music more than I'm used to. I can't help but…

Totem Acoustic Beak Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Passive device, machined from aluminum, to control "parasitic resonances" in loudspeakers.
Dimensions: 2" high by 1.5" diameter.
Price: $125/pair.
Manufacturer: Totem Acoustic, 9165 rue Champ d'Eau, Montreal, Quebec H1P 3M3, Canada. Tel: (514) 259-1062. Fax: (514) 259-4968. Web: www.totemacoustic.com.

Music Hall and Audioengine at Urban Outfitters

I was sort of surprised when I saw that Urban Outfitters, the hipster home and apparel shop, had started selling LPs. I was more surprised to learn that they had a headphone listening station&#151you can actually walk into the store with your iPod and audition a bunch of headphones. But now Urban Outfitters is carrying Music Hall turntables and Audioengine powered loudspeakers. I really like this.

The Music Hall USB-1 turntable and Audioengine’s powered loudspeakers make a quick, versatile, musically engaging, and great-looking system, compatible with both analog and digital media…

Pro-Ject and Grado at CB2

On the topic of real hi-fi in the real world, Pro-Ject Debut III turntables and Grado SR80i headphones are available at CB2, the Crate & Barrel offshoot for modern, affordable home goods. No joke: Hi-fi is hip again.

Bob Reina reviewed the Pro-Ject Debut III ($399) in our February 2010 issue, and Jim Austin reviewed the more affordable Grado SR60i ($79) in our April 2010 issue.

From a 3-Speed Jobbie to the Cutting Lathe: How Bill Pauluh Became an Audiophile

Bill at the cutting lathe.

In our “Becoming an Audiophile” series, readers share stories of how they got into the hi-fi hobby. This is the story of how Bill Pauluh became an audiophile.

I’ve been involved with music, phonographs, and hi-fi going back to when I was four or five years old. I came up at the end of the 78rpm era in the late 1950s. I would guess that I’m in the ballpark age of Michael Fremer. The really big “six oh” is arriving at the end of July&#151scary.

I got my love of music from my mother and my mechanical/troubleshooting ability from my father. Put…